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PIUS X (1835–1914), Pope from 1903. Giuseppe Melchior Sarto, born of a poor family at Riese in Upper Venetia, entered the seminary at Padua in 1850, was ordained priest in 1858, became chaplain at Tombolo in the same year, and, in 1867, archpriest of Salzano. In 1875 he was made canon of Treviso, where he was also chancellor to the bishop and spiritual director of the episcopal seminary, and, in 1884, he was appointed Bp. of Mantua. In 1893 Leo XIII created him cardinal and Patr. of Venice. Elected Pope in 1903, he chose as his guiding principle ‘instaurare omnia in Christo’ (Eph. 1:10, quoted in his encyclical of 4 Oct. 1903), with the implication that, in contrast to his predecessor Leo XIII, he intended to be a religious rather than a political Pope. Events, however, frequently forced him into political action. When, in 1905, the French government effected the separation of Church and State and proposed the formation of the ‘associations cultuelles’, which were to take possession of the remaining Church property and to be responsible to the civil authorities, Pius X condemned them in two encyclicals (1906), a brave step which, at the price of material ruin, secured the independence of the Church in France from State interference. In 1911 Portugal followed the example of the French government.
In the field of social policy, Pius X laid down the principles of ‘Catholic Action’ in his encyclical ‘Il fermo proposito’ (1905). Social action and the solution of the labour problem were only parts, though important parts, of the whole of Catholic Action, while its chief aim was to restore Christ to His rightful place within the home, the schools, and society in general. In 1910 he condemned the ‘Sillon’, a French social movement which seemed to be attempting to spread and adapt the ideas of the French Revolution. He saw another grave danger, threatening the purity of Catholic doctrine itself, in the spread of Modernism, which he condemned in the decree ‘Lamentabili’ and the encyclical ‘Pascendi’ of 1907, and again by a motu proprio (‘Sacrorum antistitum’) three years later which introduced the anti-Modernist oath, and as an antidote to the new errors particularly recommended the study of Thomism.
In addition to these protective measures, Pius X undertook a series of difficult reforms. Among them were
X the codification of the new canon law (promulgated under Benedict XV in 1917), which occupied almost the whole of his reign,
X and administrative changes which involved esp. the Roman Congregations.
X His interest in liturgical matters showed itself in the Breviary Reform
X and in his decrees on sacred music, notably the motu proprio of 1903 restoring the Gregorian chant to its traditional place in the Liturgy.
X Pius X became particularly popular as the ‘Pope of frequent Communion’, and by recommending daily Communion in the decree of 1905
X and children’s Communion a year later,
he gave a lasting stimulus to the spiritual life of the faithful and laid the foundations of the modern Liturgical Movement.
He was venerated as a saint even during his lifetime, and many miracles have been attributed to his intercession. He was beatified in 1951 and canonized in 1954. Feast day, 21 Aug.
This Webpage was created for a workshop held at Saint Andrew's Abbey, Valyermo, California in 1990
