Sacred Calendar

Fourth Lesson - From Parish Priest to Bishop

Pope Pius X, whose former name was Joseph Sarto, was born in a village of Venetia called Riese, of parents humble indeed, but distinguished for uprightness and piety. Enrolled among the students of the seminary of Padua, he advanced so greatly in piety and learning that he was an example to his fellow students and an object of admiration to his superiors. After his ordination to the priesthood, he labored for many years, first in the town of Tombolo as assistant curate, and then at Salzano as parish priest. In fulfilling these duties he excelled in such an outpouring of charity, such priestly zeal, and holiness of life, that the Bishop of Treviso chose him among the canons of the cathedral church and appointed him chancellor of the episcopal curia and, at the same time, spiritual director of the diocesan seminary. Having discharged these offices with great distinction, he was appointed Bishop of the Church of Mantua by Leo XIII, by whom he was held in the highest esteem.

Fifth Lesson - The Good Shepherd Accepts the Cross

Neglecting no part of the duty of a good shepherd, he strove especially that youth called to the lot of the Lord should be rightly trained for sacred ministry, that pious associations should increase with new growth, and that greater dignity and devotion should be added to the rites of divine worship. He never ceased to proclaim more fully the principles upon which Christian society rests; and although he himself led a life of poverty, he never failed to bring relief to the poor. With so many merits commending him, he was enrolled among the Cardinals and created Patriarch of Venice. Finally, after the death of Leo XIII, when the votes of the Cardinal Fathers converged upon him, and when he had tried in vain with entreaties and tears to turn so great a burden away from himself, at last yielding to their persuasion, he said, "I accept it as a cross," and with a humble but courageous spirit received the summit of the Supreme Pontificate as a cross offered to him by God.

Sixth Lesson - The Glory of God and the Salvation of Souls

Seated in the Chair of Peter, he relaxed nothing of his former manner of life. He shone especially in humility, simplicity, and poverty, so that in his testament he was able to write: "I was born poor, I have lived poor, and poor I desire to die." Yet humility of soul nourished courage in him whenever the glory of God, the liberty of the Church, and the salvation of souls were at stake. A man of very keen intelligence and firm purpose, amid the storms at the beginning of the twentieth century he governed the Church steadfastly and adorned her with most excellent institutions. He restored sacred music to its former splendor and dignity; established in Rome a principal institute for the study of the Sacred Scriptures; wisely reformed the Roman Curia; restored the laws for instructing the faithful through the catechism; introduced more frequent, indeed daily, reception at the Eucharistic table, and opened access to it also for children from the first use of reason; diligently promoted the growth of Catholic Action; provided for the solid formation of the clergy, adding seminaries arranged by regions; drew all priests to cultivate the interior life; gathered the laws of the Church into one body; condemned and uprooted the most pernicious errors comprised under the name of Modernism; and rejected the so-called civil veto in the election of the Supreme Pontiff. At last, broken by labors and consumed with grief because of the European war then beginning, on the twentieth day of August in the year nineteen hundred and fourteen, he flew to his heavenly reward. Renowned throughout the world for holiness and resplendent with miracles, he was numbered among the Saints by Pope Pius XII, with the applause of the whole world.