August 21st - Pope St. Pius X
Traudel
Baron von Pastor, the noted papal historian, said of St. Pius X:
"He was one of those chosen few men whose personality was irresistible.
Everyone was moved by his simplicity and his angelic kindness. Yet it was
something more that carried him into all hearts; and that something was the
feeling that all those admitted to his presence had a deep conviction of
coming face to face with a saint."
This future Pontiff was born Giuseppe Sarto, son of a messenger and postman
in the village of Riese in Venetia, in AD 1835. The second of ten children,
his family was poor, but he was able to obtain an education in a local
elementary school, a grammar school, bursary, and then finally entered the
seminary at Padua.
Giuseppe Sarto was Ordained at age 23, and spent 17 years in pastoral
ministry. He went on to become Canon at Treviso, and in AD 1884 he was
consecrated Bishop of Mantua. In AD 1892 Leo XIII promoted Giuseppe as
Cardinal-priest, and he was promoted to the See of Venice, as patriarch.
When Leo XIII passed in AD 1903, it was assumed that Rampolla Cardinal del
Tindaro would succeed him. However, Emperor Joseph of Austria "vetoed" the
choice (the last time this would happen). Ballots processed, and four
ballots later Sarto was elected.
Pope Pius' first action in 'Commissum Nobis' was to outlaw secular
interventions in papal elections. He then had to deal with attempted
resecularization in France. The Concordat of AD 1801 was condemned, and a
separation of Church and State imposed. In a pair of dignified but forceful
encyclicals [Vehementer nos and Gravissimum], the Pope condemned the
separation as well as the Associations Cultuelles. This was established to
liquidate ecclesiastical properties in France. The separation continued,
but at last the Church had free-reign to administer it's own affairs without
secular intervention.
His first encyclical, 'Instuarare Omnia in Christo', dealt with restoration
of all things in Christ. To this end he issued several "wishes": daily
communication of all the faithful is possible, reading of the Bible, the age
of 1st communion lowered to the age of reason (7), and easing the process of
administering communion to the sick. He also issued decrees necessary to
curb musical abuses and reinsert the use of plainchant in the Mass for the
laity, pushed to complete a revision of canon law (1917), and reorganized
tribunals, congregations, and offices of the Curia. In addition, he
established the necessity of revising and correcting Jerome's Vulgate Bible
as well as founding the Institute Biblique under the Jesuits to further
Biblical studies.
Public knowledge of Saint Pius X is strongest when dealing with his
condemnation of Modernism. Abbes Loisy and Duchesne, and Fr. George Terrill
along with others in Western Europe had sought to "update" Biblical
scholarship in light of the new scientific and rational methodologies
present in post-enlightenment academia. This attempt was focused in a
rebuttal of a certain book of the German Protestant scholar Harnack, but in
writing L'Evangelie et L'Eglise Loisy laid a strong foundation for
Modernism's Bible and Tradition destroying philosophy.
Saint Pius X's 'Lamentabile Sane' and 'Paschendi Dominici Gregis' set out
the errors of Modernism and its secular underpinnings. The moans and cries
of "Papal Oppression" of academic freedom and denunciations of Clericalism
lasted for sometime, but after Loisy's excommunication in AD 1907 and the
Oath Against Modernism required by St. Pius X until AD 1962, stemmed the
tide of this heresy for decades.
Pope St. Pius X had to deal with many issues, and many liberal governments,
during his pontificate. However, his devotion to restoring all things in
Christ endeared him to all the faithful. Archduke Ferdinand was killed, and
the proximate cause of the Great War issued forth conflict. Though he
prayed desperately for peace, the war came, and it killed him. On August
19th, fifteen days after the war began Pope Saint Pius X contracted
bronchitis and died.
Pope Saint Pius X was canonized in 1954, the first pope so Canonized since
Pope St. Pius V in AD 1672.
Quote:
Humility, to be true, must be always accompanied by charity; that is,
loving, seeking, and accepting humiliations to please God, and to become
more like Jesus Christ; to do otherwise, would be to practice it in the
manner of the heathen.
-St. France de Sales
Bible Quote
12 Now therefore saith the Lord: Be converted to me with all your heart, in
fasting, and in weeping, and in mourning. (Joel 2:12)
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HOLY FACE PRAYERS
May the most holy, most sacred, most adorable, most incomprehensible
and ineffable Name of God be forever praised, blessed, loved, adored
and glorified in Heaven, on earth, and under the earth, by all the
creatures of God, and by the Sacred Heart of Our Lord Jesus Christ,
in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar. Amen.
O Lord Jesus Christ, in presenting ourselves before Thine adorable Face,
to ask of Thee the graces of which we stand most in need, we beseech Thee
above all, to grant us that interior disposition of never refusing at any
time to do what Thou requirest of us by Thy holy Commandments and divine
inspirations. Amen.
O Good Jesus, who hast said, "Ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall
find, knock and it shall be opened to you," grant us O Lord, that faith
which
obtains all, or supply in us what may be deficient; grant us, by the pure
effect
of Thy charity, and for Thine eternal glory, the graces which we need and
which
we look for from Thine infinite mercy. Amen.
Be Merciful to us, O my God, and reject not our prayers, when amid our
afflictions,
we call upon Thy Holy Name and seek with love and confidence Thine adorable
face.
O Almighty and Eternal God, look upon the Face of Thy Son Jesus. We present
It to
Thee with confidence, to implore Thy pardon. The All-Merciful Advocate opens
His
mouth to plead our cause; hearken to His cries, behold His tears, O God, and
through
His infinite merits, hearken to Him when He intercedes for us poor miserable
sinners.
Amen.
Adorable Face of my Jesus, my only love, my light, and my life, grant that I
may know
Thee, love Thee and serve Thee alone, that I may live with Thee, of Thee, by
Thee, and
for Thee. Amen.
Eternal Father, I offer Thee the adorable Face of Thy Beloved Son for the
honor and
glory of Thy Name, for the conversion of sinners and the salvation of the
dying.
O Divine Jesus, through Thy Face and Name, save us. Our hope is in the
virtue of Thy
Holy Name.
priest
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priest