Pope St Pius X (1835-1914) promoter of pastoral liturgy and frequent communion
Pope
St Pius X was regarded as a saint even during his own lifetime. A
peasant by background, his motto as pope was a pastoral one - instaurare omnia in Christo - "to restore all things in Christ".
Early life
Born Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto, the
son of a village postman in Riese, Treviso, in the Veneto region of
northern Italy. Though poor, his parents valued education, and Giuseppe
walked 6 kilometres to school each day. After learning Latin from the
local priest and winning a scholarship for his secondary education, he
completed his studies in the seminary at Padua, and was ordained priest
at the age of 23. After serving as chaplain, parish priest, chancellor
and spiritual director in the seminary, he was ordained bishop of Mantua
in 1884 and became Cardinal Patriarch of Venice in 1893.
Elected pope 1903
Although it was expected that
Cardinal Rompolla, the secretary of State to the late Pope Leo XIII
would be elected pope, during the conclave the Polish Cardinal Jan
Puzyna de Kosielsko from Krakow announced that the Emperor Franz Joseph
(1848–1916) of Austria-Hungary would exercise a veto. Although the
electors resented this interference, the outcome was that Sarto was
elected pope and took the name Pope Pius X, probably linking himself
with Pope Pius IX as a conservative pope.
A pastoral papacy
Pius was a pastoral pope and took as his motto instaurare omnia in Christo,
"to restore all things in Christ". The first fruits of his pontificate
were a number of liturgical reforms - the Breviary, The Mass, Gregorian
chant, more frequent reception of Holy communion and a more active
participation of the faithful in the liturgy. Pius also intorduced a new
Catechism, preached himself every Sunday and ordered the reform of the
Code of Canon Law, which was eventually promulgated in 1917 after his
death.
Anti-modernist
Pius X was rather intransigent
towards every form of liberalism and introduced an anti-modernist oath
for all candidates for ordination. He was adamant in preserving the
separation between Church and State and forbade clergy to be involved in
politics.
Against mixed marriages
In 1908 the papal decree Ne Temere came
into effect which complicated mixed marriages. Marriages not performed
by a Roman Catholic priest were declared invalid. Priests were given
discretion to refuse to perform mixed marriages or lay conditions upon
them, commonly including a requirement that the children be raised in
the Catholic faith. The decree proved particularly divisive between
Catholics and Protestants in Ireland.
Death and canonisation
Pius died with a
reputation for sanctity during the early days of World War I on 20
August 1914. He wrote in his will: "I was born poor, I have lived poor
and I wish to die poor." He was canonised by Pope Pius XII in 1954.