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This work begins: "There have been great and illustrious pontificates in the history of the Church, pontificates that stand prominently forth by the personal holiness of the Pope and the great works he accomplished for the Church of God, or the great sufferings he underwent in her defense. "These pontificates mark distinct epochs in ecclesiastical history; and with them posterity will range the remarkable reign of: Pius IX the length of years during which Divine Providence has sustained him in his eminent position; the personal sanctity which breathes forth in all his actions; the zeal with which he has met the spirit of an unbelieving age, that seeks to destroy alike the organization and the faith of the Church; the defining of an article of faith called for by the piety of a world, the convoking of a general council, the heroism and serenity displayed amid the vicissitudes and misfortunes that have chequered his career; exile, spoliation, imprisonment; a great heart afflicted by the sight of the evils visited on those who adhered to him and to the cause of God; all these conspire to invest Pius IX and his pontificate with a halo peculiarly his own." Pope Pius IX's reign was stormy and long. He defined the dogma of the Immaculate Conception and held the Vatican Council, only to have to leave Rome shortly after the end of the session, which shortened this council, leaving some of its work incomplete. Eventually he became the prisoner of the Vatican.