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 Pope Pius X: Centenary of Death Scott 1572 (2014) August 21 marks the Feast of Pope Saint Pius X. His feast day falls one day after the anniversary of his death on August 20, 1914. The future Pope Pius X, Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto, was born to a poor family in Riese (Venetia) in 1835. His early years were outlined in a Daily Email for his birthday on June 2. Cardinal Sarto was elected to follow Pope Leo XIII in the conclave of 1903. He took the title of Pius X, and is motto was "Restore all things in Christ". Historian David Farmer states that in "contrast to some of his predecessors, he was both a peasant and a pastoral pope." During his pontificate, Pius X encouraged frequent participation in the sacrament of communion, including for children, and he lowered the age for receiving First Holy Communion to age 7. He favored reform of Church music, the use of polyphony (a musical texture that features two or more independent melodic lines playing or singing at the same time), and especially Gregorian Chant in the liturgy. He also began recodification of Canon Law (to be concluded under Benedict XV). The pope favored Catholic Action, a movement to bring Catholic principles into public life, as did a future successor, Pius XI. The theological movement of Modernism was condemned by Pius X. Modernism brought recent scholarship and secular ideas into traditional Catholic theology, which Pius challenged because of their secular, relativist origins, and therefore a danger to the integrity of traditional faith. Historian Russell Shaw sums up the position of those opposed to Modernist ideas: Modernism…began among a loosely linked network of scholars and intellectuals who wished to adapt Catholicism to the currents of secular thinking of the day in Scripture studies, history, and other disciplines. Although their intentions were good, even admirable, the tendency of the Moderniist spirit…was toward replacing the elements of faith with tenants that, although culturally relevant, reflected more the philosophical fashions of the late nineteenth century than teachings of the Gospel.Pius condemned Modernism in the decree Lamentabili (1907), followed by the encyclical Pascendi dominici gregis (Feeding the Lord’s Flock). The encyclical required clergy to take an oath against Modernism. Pius was also embroiled in a Church-State conflict with the French Republic. The anti-clerical government of Emile Combs abrogated the 1801 Concordat (signed by Napoleon and Pius VII) and passed the Law of Separation, in which Catholicism was no longer the official religion of state, Catholic education was outlawed, and Church property confiscated (this is why it is the French government was responsible for restoring Notre Dame Cathedral after its fire in 2019). Therefore, the ‘independence’ of the Church in France was ensured, but with the loss of its property. Thousands of priests, nuns, and sisters were forced to leave France. This legislation occurred in the years following the Dreyfus Affair in which conservative and monarchist factions tended to support Dreyfus’ wrongful conviction, a dispute which severely split French society and politics at the turn of the century. Pius X suffered a heart attack in 1913 and was in poor health thereafter. He died on 20 August 1914 as World War I was breaking out in Europe. David Farmer states that Pius had 'a reputation for miracles, simplicity, and poverty.' Pius famously stated in his will: 
 Beatification of Pope Pius X Scott 145-148 (1951) 
 Canonization of Pope Saint Pius X Scott 182-184 (1954) Pope Pius X was beatified on June 3, 1951, and the canonized on May 29, 1954, both events officiated by Pope Pius XII. He is entombed among other recent popes in the necropolis below St. Peter’s Basilica. REFERENCES: |
