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

The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume XII

Nihil Obstat, June 1, 1911. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor

Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York