MIRACULOUS MIRACLES™

Venerable — Pope Pius XII

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Ven. Pope Pius XII
March 2, 1876 AD, Rome, Papal States (Pacelli family) — October 9, 1958 AD, Castel Gandolfo, Italy
260th Pope (1939–1958); World War II and Cold War pope; rescuer of Roman Jews
St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican City — tomb in the Vatican grottoes, Vatican City
Feast
None — a Venerable is given no public cult before beatification
Canonized
Declared Venerable December 19, 2009 by Pope Benedict XVI
Life

Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli was born on March 2, 1876 at Rome to the noble Pacelli family. Ordained priest in 1899, Eugenio served in the Vatican diplomatic corps — as Papal Nuncio to Bavaria (1917–1925) and to Germany (1920–1929).

In 1929, Eugenio was consecrated Cardinal. In 1930, Pope Pius XI appointed him Secretary of State.

On March 2, 1939 (his 63rd birthday), Eugenio was elected Pope, taking the name Pius XII. His 19-year pontificate (1939–1958) spanned the World War II period and the early Cold War.

During World War II, Pius XII maintained the Vatican's diplomatic neutrality while undertaking the systematic humanitarian rescue: personally opening the Vatican, Castel Gandolfo, and Roman religious houses to shelter thousands of Roman Jews from the Nazi October 1943 deportations. The Vatican-organized rescue saved documented 4,000+ Roman Jews — the 'Pius XII Rescue' tradition.

Pius XII proclaimed the dogma of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary on November 1, 1950 by the Apostolic Constitution *Munificentissimus Deus* — the most recent Catholic Marian dogma.

In 1951, Pius XII established the Ave Maria Feast (October 12, the Marian Marian Feast to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the Christianization of the Americas), and other Marian devotional acts.

He died at Castel Gandolfo on October 9, 1958 at the age of 82. Declared Venerable December 19, 2009 by Pope Benedict XVI.

Miracles & Phenomena

  • The proclamation of the Assumption (1950)

    Pope Pius XII's proclamation of the dogma of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary on November 1, 1950 by the Apostolic Constitution *Munificentissimus Deus* — the most recent Catholic Marian dogma — established the 20th-century Catholic Marian doctrinal tradition.

  • The Vatican rescue of Roman Jews (October 1943)

    Pius XII's personal opening of the Vatican, Castel Gandolfo, and Roman religious houses to shelter thousands of Roman Jews from the Nazi October 1943 deportations — saving documented 4,000+ Roman Jews — established the 'Pius XII Rescue' tradition. Israeli historians (Sir Martin Gilbert, Sergio Minerbi) document the Pius XII rescue as the largest single Catholic institutional rescue of Jews during the Holocaust.

Relics
  • Body
    Tomb of Ven. Pius XII
    St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican City — Vatican grottoes

    His tomb at the Vatican grottoes.

Iconography
  • Pius XII proclaiming the Assumption dogma (1950)

    The mid-20th-century Roman pope in papal vestments proclaiming the dogma of the Assumption at St. Peter's Basilica on November 1, 1950 — the iconography of Catholic 20th-century Marian doctrinal tradition.

Patronages
Catholic 20th-century Catholic doctrinal traditionCatholic World War II Vatican rescue of Jews
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