St. Pius X - a Great Reformer and Defender of the Church
Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto was born in 1835 near Venice. He came from a poor family of a city messenger and seamstress. He was ordained to the priesthood - thanks to a special papal dispensation - at the age of 23, eight months before reaching the age required by canon law. He was a parish priest until November 1875. Having outstanding pastoral and administrative skills, he was appointed spiritual director of the seminary and chancellor of the archdiocese. In 1884 he was ordained a bishop. He was the bishop of Mantua, and after receiving the cardinal's biretta, he became the patriarch of Venice.
Although he held high positions, Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto remembered about the poorest. He didn’t leave any material things for himself; generously giving out alms for the poor. He would say, "I was born poor, I lived in poverty, and I wish to die in poverty." Many times, being hungry in his childhood, he knew how to understand the need of the poor. He especially cared for the children. He was later called the Pope of Children for this reason.
Pope Leo XIII died in 1903. It seemed then that his successor would be Cardinal Rampolla, former Secretary of State. However, thanks to the veto of Emperor Franz Joseph I, handed over by Prince Cardinal Jan Puzyna from Galicia (Poland) it was possible to elect Cardinal Sarto. This occurred on August 4, 1903, and five days later he was crowned taking the name of Pius. His motto was: “Omnia instaurare in Christo” ("Renew all things in Christ").It is worth emphasizing at this point that the veto announced by Emperor Franz Joseph was the last one in the history of the Church, because in January 1904 St. Pius X abolished this practice on threat of excommunication.
He encouraged the faithful to great Eucharistic devotion and frequent reception of Holy Communion. Pius X was famous for his beautiful, fiery sermons. The faithful admired him for his piety and zeal. He looked after the poor with special care. Moreover, he placed great emphasis on the religious education of children. Pius X loved children and their innocence. He wanted them to meet Jesus in the Eucharist as soon as possible. He lowered the age at which children could receive this sacrament to seven. After the Decree on Early Holy Communion was issued, he received many letters from children. Here is an excerpt from one of them: At times after Holy Communion I feel as if my father was holdingme in his arms. Then I feel so happy that I cannot speak a word. But beloved Savior knows how I love Him! The Pope read this letter with tears and said to the prelate standing next to him: What bishop in the world could say something more beautiful after meeting the Lord in the Eucharist? Every year he invited Roman children who had received First Holy Communion to the Vatican. Then he cried out to them happy: You will help me with your prayers, won't you? The Pope cares so much, but you will help me with your prayers if the Savior lives in your hearts.
Pope Pius X decided with all his power to defend the Church against the heresies of modernism and liberalism that were spreading at that time. On September 8, 1907, he published the encyclical Pascendi Dominici Gregis on the principles of modernists. It condemned the ideological currents of modernism - a heretical doctrine assuming the evolution and changeability of dogmas, questioning the divine origin of the Church and other dogmas of the Catholic faith. On September 1, 1910, Pius X introduced the Antimodern Oath in Motu proprio Sacrorum Antistitium. Newly ordained priests, holders of church offices, and lecturers at Catholic universities are required to do so.
Pius X, saddened by the outbreak of World War I, died on August 20, 1914. He then said: "I would gladly give my life to spare my poor children from these terrible suffering." He was canonized in 1954 by Pius XII.
“Dear brothers and sisters, St Pius X teaches all of us that at the root of our apostolic action in the various fields in which we work there must always be close personal union with Christ, to cultivate and to develop, day after day. This is the essence of all his teaching, of all his pastoral commitment. Only if we are in love with the Lord shall we be able to bring people to God and open them to his merciful love and thereby open the world to God's mercy.” ( Benedict XVI, General Audience, August 18, 2010)
Meditation on the Daily Gospel (Mt 22: 34-40)
God loved us first. It is because He loved us, we exist and we are capable to love - we are loved by other people and we can love others. In the Scriptures it is often said that God loves man more than the most loving mother. Suffice it to recall these frequently repeated words from the Book of Isaiah: " Can a mother forget her infant, be without tenderness for the child of her womb? Even should she forget, I will never forget you.” (49:15).
The Psalmist says the same: " Even if my father and mother forsake me, the LORD will take me in" (Ps 27:10). It is never enough to repeat that God loved us first; if I am loved by people and I love other people, it is because God loved me first. Precisely for this reason, if we love Him with all our heart, strength and thought, then our love for one another is also true.
It is worth recalling two very moving biblical images that show this love of God for people. There was a legal institution in the Old Testament, unknown in the countries of our civilization, which can be called the institution of the closest relative. Even if someone had many brothers, only one of them was his goel, this is the closest relative. This goel was absolutely obligated to arrange a rescue for me if I found myself in captivity, in unpayable debt, or in some mortal danger.
In the Old Testament, God himself is called a goel many times, that is, the closest relative of his people. This meant that God took upon himself the responsibility to save his people from various oppressions. Even more interesting: when the Old Testament was translated into Greek in the second century pre-Christian era, the word Goel was rendered Soter, Savior. This sheds a fascinating light on the person of our Lord Jesus Christ, whom the New Testament so often calls - the Savior. It is worth knowing that behind this title there is a memory that He voluntarily, out of selfless love for us, took the role of being our closest relative.
And the second biblical picture, which shows equally poignantly how much God loves us. Namely, the word "mercy" etymologically in Hebrew comes from the word for the mother's womb - rachamim. So when the Scriptures speak of God's mercy, the intuition behind this expression is that God loves us like a mother; that if he sees how we are wasting ourselves, it is as if his "insides" are turning over out of pity and the desire to help us.
In this, one can see at least a little how a terrible thing sin is. Because our sin shows that we do not believe God who loved us so much.
Until Tomorrow
fr. george