Portrait of a Pope, possibly Pope Saint Pius V (1504 – 1572).
Artist: Palma il Giovane (1550–1628).
Collection: Museo d'Arte di Chianciano Terme.
Source/Photographer: https://www.bonhams.com/
(Wikimedia Commons)
By: Abbot Guéranger, O.S.B.
Volume 8.
Paschal Time.
Book II.
We have already met with the names of several Pontiffs on The Paschal Calendar. They form a brilliant constellation around our Risen Jesus, Who, during the period between His Resurrection and Ascension, gave to Saint Peter, their predecessor, The Keys of The Kingdom of Heaven.
Anicetus, Soter, Caius, Cletus, Marcellinus. All these Pontiffs held in their hands The Palm of Martyrdom: Leo was the only one who did not shed his blood in the cause of his Divine Master.
Today, there comes before us a Holy Pope who governed The Church in these latter times; he is worthy to stand amidst the Easter group of Pontiffs. Like Leo, Pius V was zealous in combating Heresy; like Leo, he save his people from the Barbarian yoke.
The whole life of Pius V was a combat. His Pontificate fell during those troubled times when Protestantism was leading whole Countries into Apostasy. Italy was not a prey that could be taken by violence: Artifice was therefore used, in order to undermine The Apostolic See and, thus, develop the whole Christian World in the darkness of Heresy.
Pius V defended the Peninsula [Editor: Italy] with untiring devotedness from the danger that threatend her. Even before he was raised to The Papal Throne, he frequently exposed his life by his zeal in opposing the preaching of False Doctrines. Like Peter the Martyr, he braved every danger and was the dread of the emissaries of Heresy.
When seated on The Chair of Peter, he kept the innovators in check by fear, roused the Sovereigns of Italy to energy and, by measures of moderate severity, drove back beyond The Alps the torrent that would have swept Christianity from Europe had not The Southern States thus opposed it.
Pope Saint Pius V.
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From that time forward, Protestanism has never made any further progress: It has been wearing itself out by Doctrinal Anarchy. We repeat it: This Heresy would have laid all Europe waste, had it not been for the vigilance of the Pastor who animated the Defenders of Truth to resist it where it already existed, and who set himself as a wall of brass against its invasion in the Country where he, himself, was the master.
Another enemy, taking advantage of the confusion caused in The West by Protestantism, organised an expedition against Europe. Italy was to be its first prey. The Ottoman fleet started from The Bosphorus. This, again, would have meant the ruin of Christendom but for the energy of The Roman Pontiff, our Saint.
He gave the alarm, and called the Christian Princes to arms. Germany and France, torn by domestic factions that had been caused by Heresy, turned a deaf ear to the call. Spain, alone, together with Venice and the little Papal fleet, answered the summons of The Pontiff.
The Cross and The Crescent were soon face to face in The Gulf of Lepanto. The Prayers of Pope Saint Pius V decided the victory in favour of The Christians, whose forces were much inferior to those of The Turks. We shall return to this important event when we come to The Feast of The Most Holy Rosary of The Blessed Virgin Mary, on 7 October.
But we cannot omit to mention, today, the prediction uttered by the Holy Pope, on the evening of the great day of 7 October, 1571. The battle between The Christian fleet and The Turkish fleet lasted from six o'clock in the morning until late in the afternoon. Towards evening, The Pontiff suddenly looked up towards Heaven, and gazed upon it in silence for a few seconds. Then, turning to his attendants, he exclaimed: “Let us give thanks to God ! The Christians have gained the victory !”.
The news soon arrived at Rome; and, thus, Europe once more owed her salvation to a Pope ! The defeat at Lepanto was a blow from which The Ottoman Empire never recovered: Its fall dates from that glorious day.
The zeal of this Holy Pope for the reformation of Christian morals, his establishment of the observance of the laws of discipline prescribed by The Council of Trent, and his publication of the new Breviary and Missal, have made his six years' Pontificate to be one of the richest periods of The Church's history.
Protestants, themselves, have frequently expressed their admiration of this vigorous opponent of the so-called “Reformation”. “I am surprised”, said Bacon, “that The Church of Rome has not yet Canonised this great man”. Pius V did not receive this honour till about a hundred and thirty years after his death; so impartial is The Church, when she has to adjudicate this highest of Earthly honours even to her most revered Pastors !
Of the many Miracles which attested the merits of this Holy Pontiff, every during his life, we select the two following: As he was one day crossing The Vatican piazza, which is on the site of the ancient Circus of Nero, he was overcome with a sentiment of enthusiasm for the glory and courage of The Martyrs who had suffered on that very spot in the first persecutions. Stooping down, he took up a handful of dust from the hallowed ground, which had been trodden by so many generations of the Christian people since the peace of Constantine.
He put the dust into a cloth which the Ambassador of Poland, who was with him, held out to receive it. When the Ambassador opened the cloth, after returning to his house, he found it saturated with blood, as fresh as though it had been that moment shed: The dust had disappeared. The Faith of The Pontiff had evoked the Blood of The Martyrs, which thus gave testimony against the Heretics that the Roman Church, in the 16th-Century, was identically the same as that for which those brave heroes and heroines laid down their lives in the days of Nero.
The Heretics attempted more than once to destroy a life which baffled all their hopes of perverting The Faith of Italy. By a base and sacrilegious stratagem, aided by treachery, they put a deadly poison on The Feet of The Crucifix which the Saint kept in his Oratory, and which he was frequently seen to kiss with great devotion.
In the fervour of Prayer, Pius was about to give this mark of love to the image of this Crucified Master, when, suddenly, The Feet of The Crucifix detached themselves from The Cross and eluded the proffered kiss of the venerable old man. The Pontiff at once saw through the plot, whereby his enemies would fain have turned the life-giving Tree into an instrument of death.
In order to encourage The Faithful to follow The Sacred Liturgy, we will select another interesting example from the life of this great Saint. When, lying on his bed of death, and just before breathing his last, he took a parting look at The Church on Earth, which he was leaving for that of Heaven, he wished to make a final Prayer for the flock which he knew was surrounded by danger; he therefore recited, but with a voice that was scarcely audible, the following stanza of The Paschal Hymn: “We beseech Thee, O Creator of all things! That, in these days of Paschal joy, Thou defend Thy people from every assault of death!”
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