Saint Pius X. Pope. Confessor. Feast Day, Today, 3 September.

Pope Saint Pius X.

Illustration: REGINA

This Article is taken from, and can be read in full at, REGINA

Today is The Feast Day Pope Saint Pius X. “Ora pro nobis”.

Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto was born 2 June 1835, at Riese, Province of Treviso, in Venice. His parents were Giovanni Battista Sarto and Margarita (née Sanson). He was the oldest of eight children. Giovanni Sarto was a postman, and his wife, Margarita, was a seamstress. His humble family background gave the future Pope a lifelong appreciation of poverty and simplicity.

He attended the parish school. The pastor arranged a scholarship for Giuseppe at the High School in Castelfranco, a town two miles from Riese. After completing the course of instruction at Castelfranco, he made known that he had felt the call to the Priesthood. His parents saw that the will of God was in their son's calling, and they did all in their power to encourage him.

His pastor again came to the rescue by arranging another scholarship to the Seminary at Padua. In November 1850, young Sarto arrived at Padua and was immediately taken up with the life and studies of the Seminary. Giuseppe worked hard and finally on 18 September 1858, Father Sarto was Ordained at the Cathedral in Castelfranco.

Father Sarto served as a Parish Priest in a poor area of the Trentino district, assisting a pastor who observed his pastoral gifts. In 1867, he became a pastor in the Treviso Diocese, where he was known for his charity and sound teaching.

For nine years, he was Chaplain at Tombolo, having to assume most of the functions of Parish Priest, as the pastor was old and an invalid. He sought to perfect his knowledge of Theology by studying Saint Thomas and Canon Law.

He established a Night School for adult students, and devoted himself of the ministry of Preaching in other Towns. In 1867, he was named Arch-Priest of Salzano, a large Borough of the Diocese of Treviso. He provided for the enlargement and maintenance of the hospital by his own means, consistently with his habitual generosity to The Poor; he especially distinguished himself by his abnegation during the cholera outbreak.

On 10 November 1884, he was named Bishop of Mantua, then a very troublesome See, and Consecrated on 20 November. His chief care in his new position was for the formation of the Clergy at the Seminary, where, for several years, he himself taught Dogmatic Theology, and, for another year, Moral Theology. He wished the doctrine and method of Saint Thomas Aquinas to be followed, and, to many of the poorer students, he gave copies of the “Summa Theological”; at the same time, he cultivated Gregorian Chant in company with the Seminarians.

The Temporal administration of his See imposed great sacrifices upon him. In 1887, he held a Diocesan Synod. By his attendance at the Confessional, he gave the example of pastoral zeal. The Catholic organisation of Italy, then known as the “Opera dei Congressi”, found in him a zealous propagandist from the time of his ministry at Salzano.

At the secret Consistory of June 1893, Pope Leo XIII created him a Cardinal under the Title of San Bernardo alle Terme; and, in the public Consistory, three days later, he was preconised (proclaimed) Patriarch of Venice, retaining, meanwhile, the Title of Apostolic Administrator of Mantua. Cardinal Sarto was obliged to wait eighteen months before he was able to take possession of his new Diocese, because the Italian government refused its exequatur (official recognition), claiming the right of nomination as it had been exercised by the Emperor of Austria.

This matter was discussed with bitterness in the newspapers and in pamphlets; the Government, by way of reprisal, refused its exequatur to the other Bishops who were appointed in the meantime, so that the number of Vacant Sees grew to thirty. Finally, the Minister, Crispi, having returned to power, and The Holy See, having raised the Mission of Eritrea to the Rank of an Apostolic Prefecture in favour of the Italian Capuchins, the Government withdrew from its position.

The international Eucharistic Congress of 1897, the Centenary of Saint Gerard Sagredo (1900), and the Blessing of the Corner-Stone of the new Belfry of Saint Mark's, also of the commemorative Chapel of Mount Grappa (1901), were events that left a deep impression on him and his people.

Meanwhile, Pope Leo XIII having died, the Cardinals entered into Conclave and, after several ballots, Giuseppe Sarto was Elected on 4 August 1903 by a vote of fifty-five out of a possible sixty votes. His Coronation took place on the following Sunday, 9 August 1903.

In his first Encyclical, wishing to develop his programme to some extent, he said that the motto of his Pontificate would be “Instaurare Omnia In Christo” (Ephesians 1:10). Accordingly, his greatest care always turned to the direct interests of The Church. Before all else, his efforts were directed to the promotion of piety among The Faithful, and he advised all (Decr. S. Congr. Concil., 20 Dec., 1905) to receive Holy Communion frequently and, if possible, daily, dispensing the sick from the obligation of Fasting to the extent of enabling them to receive Holy Communion twice each month, and, even, oftener (Decr. S. Congr. Rit., 7 Dec., 1906). Finally, by the Decree “Quam Singulari” (15 Aug., 1910), he recommended that The First Communion of children should not be deferred too long after they had reached the age of discretion.

The fiftieth Anniversary of The Proclamation of The Dogma of The Immaculate Conception was an occasion of which he took advantage to enjoin devotion to Mary (Encyclical “Ad illum diem”, 2 February 1904); and The Marian Congress, together with the Coronation of The Image of The Immaculate Conception in the Choir of Saint Peter's, Rome, was a worthy culmination of the Solemnity.

As a simple Chaplain, a Bishop, and a Patriarch, Giuseppe Sarto was a promoter of Sacred Music; as Pope, he published, 22 November 1903, a Motu Proprio on Sacred Music in Churches, and, at the same time, ordered the authentic Gregorian Chant to be used everywhere, while he caused the Choir Books to be printed with the Vatican Type-Font under the supervision of a special Commission.

In the Encyclical “Acerbo nimis” (15 April 1905) he treated of the necessity of Catechism Instruction, not only for children, but also for adults, giving detailed rules, especially in relation to suitable Schools for the Religious Instruction of students of the Public Schools, and even of the Universities.

Wherefore, in 1907, he caused the publication of the Decree “Lamentabili” (called,  also, the Syllabus of Pius X), in which sixty-five propositions are condemned. The greater number of these propositions concern Holy Scripture, their inspiration, and the Doctrine of Jesus and of The Apostles, while others relate to Dogma, the Sacraments, and the Primacy of The Bishop of Rome.

Soon after that, on 8 September 1907, there appeared the famous Encyclical “Pascendi”, which expounds and condemns the system of Modernism. It points out the danger of Modernism in relation to Philosophy, Apologetics, Exegesis, History, Liturgy, and Discipline, and shows the contradiction between that innovation and the ancient Faith; and, finally, it establishes Rules by which to combat efficiently the pernicious doctrines in question. Among the means suggested, mention should be made of the establishment of an official body of “Censors” of books and the creation of a “Committee of Vigilance”.