Pope Pius X
(Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto).
Born 2 June, 1835, at Riese, Province of Treviso, in Venice. His
parents were Giovanni Battista Sarto and Margarita (née Sanson);
the former, a postman, died in 1852, but Margarita lived to see her son
a cardinal. After finishing his elements, Giuseppe at first received
private lessons in Latin from the arch-priest of his town, Don Tito
Fusaroni, after which he studied for four years at the gymnasium of
Castelfranco Veneto, walking to and fro every day. In 1850 he received
the tonsure from the Bishop of Treviso, and was given a scholarship of
the Diocese of Treviso in the seminary of Padua, where he finished his
classical, philosophical, and theological studies with distinction. He
was ordained in 1858, and for nine years 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 prefect his knowledge of theology by
assiduously studying Saint Thomas and canon law; at the same time he
established a night school for adult students, and devoted himself of
the ministry of preaching in other towns to which he was called. In 1867
he was named arch-priest of Salzano, a large borough of the Diocese of
Treviso, where he restored the church, and 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. He showed great solicitude for the
religious instruction of adults. In 1875 he was made a canon of the
cathedral of Treviso, and filled several offices, among them those of
spiritual director and rector of the seminary, examiner of the clergy,
and vicar-general; moreover, he made it possible for the students of the
public schools to receive religious instruction. In 1878, on the death
of Bishop Zanelli, he was elected vicar-capitular. 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 St. Thomas to be
followed, and to many of the poorer students he gave copies of the
"Summa theologica"; at the same time he cultivated the
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 organization 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, Leo XIII created him a
cardinal under the title of San Bernardo alle Terme; and in the public
consistory, three days later, he was preconized 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, 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. Its opposition had not been caused by any objection
to Sarto personally. At Venice the cardinal found a much better
condition of things than he had found at Mantua. There, also, he paid
great attention to the seminary, where he obtained the establishment of
the faculty of canon law. In 1898 he held the diocesan synod. He
promoted the use of the Gregorian Chant, and was a great patron of
Lorenzo Perosi; he favoured social works, especially the rural parochial
banks; he discerned and energetically opposed the dangers of certain
doctrines and the conduct of certain Christian-Democrats. The
international Eucharistic Congress of 1897, the centenary of St.Gerard
Sagredo (1900), and the blessing of the corner-stone of the new belfry
of St. Mark's, also of the commemorative chapel of Mt. Grappa (1901),
were events that left a deep impression on him and his people.
Meanwhile, Leo XIII having died, the cardinals entered into conclave and
after several ballots Giuseppe Sarto was elected on 4 August by a vote
of 55 out of a possible 60 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" (Ephes., i, 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. It was
by his desire that the Eucharistic Congress of 1905 was held at Rome,
while he enhanced the solemnity of subsequent Eucharistic congresses by
sending to them cardinal legates. 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 St. Peter's, 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 font of type under the
supervision of a special commission. In the Encyclical "Acerbo
nimis" (15 April, 1905) he treated of the necessity of catechismal
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. He caused a new catechism to be published for the Diocese
of Rome.
As bishop, his chief care had been for the formation of the clergy,
and in harmony with this purpose, an Encyclical to the Italian
episcopate (28 July, 1906) enjoined the greatest caution in the
ordination of priests, calling the attention of the bishops to the fact
that there was frequently manifested among the younger clergy a spirit
of independence that was a menace to ecclesiastical discipline. In the
interest of Italian seminaries, he order them to be visited by the
bishops, and promulgated a new order of studies, which had been in use
for several years at the Roman Seminary. On the other hand, as the
dioceses of Central and of Southern Italy were so small that their
respective seminaries could not prosper, Pius X established the regional
seminary which is common to the sees of a given region; and, as a
consequence, many small, deficient seminaries were closed. For the more
efficient guidance of souls, by a Decree of the Sacred Congregation of
the Consistory (20 August, 1910), instructions were given concerning the
removal of parish priests, as administrative acts, when such procedure
was required by grave circumstances that might not constitute a
canonical cause for the removal. At the time of the jubilee in honour of
his ordination as a priest, he addressed a letter full of affection and
wise council to all the clergy. By a recent Decree (18 Nov., 1910), the
clergy have been barred from the temporal administration of social
organizations, which was often a cause of grave difficulties.
The pope has at heart above all things the purity of the faith. On
various occasions, as in the Encyclical regarding the centenary of Saint
Gregory the Great, Pius X had pointed out the dangers of certain new
theological methods, which, based upon Agnosticism and upon Immanentism,
necessarily divest the doctrine of the faith of its teachings of
objective, absolute, and immutable truth, and all the more, when those
methods are associated with subversive criticism of the Holy Scriptures
and of the origins of Christianity. 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 the Holy Scriptures, 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 Sept., 1907, there appeared the famous Encyclical
"Pascendi", which expounds and condemns the system of
Modernism (q. v.). 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".
Subsequently, by the Motu Proprio "Sacrorum Antistitum",
Pius X called attention to the injunctions of the Encyclical and also to
the provisions that had already been established under Leo XIII on
preaching, and proscribed that all those who exercised the holy ministry
or who taught in ecclesiastical institutions, as well as canons, the
superiors of the regular clergy, and those serving in ecclesiastical
bureaux should take an oath, binding themselves to reject the errors
that are denounced in the Encyclical or in the Decree "Lamentabili".
Pius X reverted to this vital subject on other occasions, especially in
those Encyclicals that were written in commemoration of St. Anselm (21
April, 1909) and of St. Charles Borromeo (23 June, 1910), in the latter
of which Reformist Modernism was especially condemned. As the study of
the Bible is both the most important and the most dangerous study in
theology, Pius X wished to found at Rome a centre for these studies, to
give assurance at once of unquestioned orthodoxy and scientific worth;
and so, with the assistance of the whole Catholic world, there was
established at Rome the Biblical Institute, under the direction of the
Jesuits.
A need that had been felt for a long time was that of the
codification of the Canon Law, and with a view to effecting it, Pius X,
on 19 March, 1904, created a special congregation of cardinals, of which
Mgr Gasparri, now a cardinal, became the secretary. The most eminent
authorities on canon law, throughout the world, are collaborating in the
formation of the new code, some of the provisions of which have already
been published, as, for example, that modifying the law of the Council
of Trent on secret marriages, the new rules for diocesan relations and
for episcopal visits ad limina, and the new organization of the
Roman Curia (Constitution "Sapienti Consilio", 29 June, 1908).
Prior to that time, the Congregations for Relics and Indulgences and of
Discipline had been suppressed, while the Secretariate of Briefs had
been united to the Secretariate of State. The characteristic of the new
rule is the complete separation of the judicial from the administrative;
while the functions of the various bureaux have been more precisely
determined, and their work more equalized. The offices of the Curia are
divided into Tribunals (3), Congregations (11), and Offices (5). With
regard to the first, the Tribunal of the Signature (consisting of
cardinals only) and that of the Rota were revived; to the Tribunal of
the Penitentiary were left only the cases of the internal forum
(conscience). The Congregations remained almost as they were at first,
with the exceptions that a special section was added to that of the Holy
Office of the Inquisition, for indulgences; the Congregation of Bishops
and Regulars received the name of Congregation of the Religious, and has
to deal only with the affairs of religious congregations, while the
affairs of the secular clergy are to be referred to the Congregation of
the Consistory or of that of the Council; from the latter were taken the
matrimonial cases, which are now sent to the tribunals or to the
newly-created Congregation of the Sacraments. The Congregation of the
Consistory has increased greatly in importance, since it has to decide
questions of competence between the various other Congregations. The
Congregation of Propaganda lost much of its territory in Europe and in
America, where religious conditions have become regular. At the same
time were published the rules and regulations for employees and those
for the various bureaux. Another recent Constitution relates to the
suburbicarian sees.
The Catholic hierarchy has greatly increased in numbers during these
first years of the pontificate of Pius X, in which twenty-eight new
dioceses have been created, mostly in the United States, Brazil, and the
Philippine Islands; also one abbey nullius, 16 vicariates Apostolic, and
15 prefectures Apostolic.
Leo XIII brought the social question within the range of
ecclesiastical activity, Pius X, also, wishes the Church to co-operate,
or rather to play a leading part in the solution of the social question;
his views on this subject were formulated in a syllabus of nineteen
propositions, taken from different Encyclicals and other Acts of Leo
XIII, and published in a Motu Proprio (18 Dec., 1903), especially for
the guidance of Italy, where the social question was a thorny one at the
beginning of his pontificate. He sought especially to repress certain
tendencies leaning towards Socialism and promoting a spirit of
insubordination to ecclesiastical authority. As a result of ever
increasing divergences, the "Opera die Congressi", the great
association of the Catholics of Italy, was dissolved. At once, however,
the Encyclical "Il fermo proposito" (11 June, 1905) brought
about the formation of a new organization consisting of three great
unions, the Popolare, the Economica, and the Elettorale. The firmness of
Pius X obtained the elimination of, at least, the most quarrelsome
elements, making it possible now for Catholic social action to prosper,
although some friction still remains. The desire of Pius X is for the
economical work to be avowedly Catholic, as he expressed it in a
memorable letter to Count Medolago-Albani. In France, also, the Sillon,
after promising well, had taken a turn that was little reassuring to
orthodoxy; and dangers in this connection were made manifest in the
Encyclical "Notre charge apostolique" (15 Aug., 1910), in
which the Sillonists were ordered to place their organizations under the
authority of the bishops.
In its relations with Governments, the pontificate of Pius X has had
to carry on painful struggles. In France the pope had inherited quarrels
and menaces. The "Nobis nominavit" question was settled
through the condescension of the pope; but the matter of the appointment
of bishops proposed by the Government, the visit of the president to the
King of Italy, with the subsequent note of protestation, and the
resignation of two French bishops, which was desired by the Holy See,
became pretexts for the Government at Paris to break off diplomatic
relations with the Court of Rome. Meanwhile the law of Separation had
been already prepared, despoiling the Church of France, and also
prescribing for the Church a constitution which, if not openly contrary
to her nature, was at least full of danger to her. Pius X, paying no
attention to the counsels of short-sighted opportunism, firmly refused
his consent to the formation of the associations cultuelles. The
separation brought some freedom to the French Church, especially in the
matter of the selection of its pastors. Pius X, not looking for
reprisals, still recognizes the French right of protectorate over
Catholics in the East. Some phrases of the Encyclical "Editæ Sæpe",
written on the occasion of the centenary of St. Charles, were
misinterpreted by Protestants, especially in Germany, and Pius X made a
declaration in refutation of them, without belittling the authority of
his high office. At present (Dec., 1910) complications are feared in
Spain, as, also, separation and persecution in Portugal; Pius X has
already taken opportune measures. The new Government of Turkey has sent
an ambassador to the Pope. The relations of the Holy See with the
republics of Latin America are good. The delegations to Chile and to the
Argentine Republic were raised to the rank of internuntiatures, and an
Apostolic Delegate was sent to Central America.
Naturally, the solicitude of Pius X extends to his own habitation,
and he has done a great deal of work of restoration in the Vatican, for
example, in the quarters of the cardinal-secretary of State, the new
palace for employees, the new picture-gallery, the Specola, etc.
Finally, we must not forget his generous charity in public misfortunes:
during the great earthquakes of Calabria, he asked for the assistance of
Catholics throughout the world, with the result that they contributed,
at the time of the last earthquake, nearly 7,000,000 francs, which
served to supply the wants of those in need, and to build churches,
schools, etc. His charity was proportionately no less on the occasion of
the eruption of Vesuvius, and of other disasters outside of Italy
(Portugal and Ireland). In few years Pius X has secured great,
practical, and lasting results in the interest of Catholic doctrine and
discipline, and that in the face of great difficulties of all kinds.
Even non-Catholics recognize his apostolic spirit, his strength of
character, the precision of his decisions, and his pursuit of a clear
and explicit programme.
U. BENIGNI
Transcribed by David M. Cheney
Dedicated to Ceil Holman (1907-1996), my grandmother
From the Catholic Encyclopedia, copyright © 1913 by
the Encyclopedia Press, Inc. Electronic version copyright © 1998 by New
Advent, Inc.
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