“I love Pope Pius very much and have always loved him,” Pope Francis wrote in the preface to a recent book about the Pontiff who shepherded the Catholic Church from 1903 to 1914.  This isn’t surprising, as the two men shared many characteristics with regard to the role of the papacy in the Church and in the world.

 

Pope Pius X was born in Italy in 1835, the oldest of nine children of a mailman and a dressmaker.  Baptized Giuseppe Sarto, he was known in the family as Bepi and throughout his life, he never forgot his humble origins.

At age eleven, he told his father that he wanted to become a priest and, with the help of their pastor, he was sent to be educated at a Catholic high school just outside of town.  From there he went directly to the seminary and was ordained after graduation in 1858.

Father Sarto was devoted to both the Eucharist and the education of the young, especially those who came from poor backgrounds.  He developed popular catechism programs for both children and adults and is often credited with laying the foundations for modern parish catechetical programs.

 

A pastor for nine years, Father Sarto was elevated to Bishop of Mantua in 1884, a move that he protested.  When he asked the Vatican to reconsider his elevation, it is said that the Pope responded with a single word.  “Obey.”  For his part, Bishop Sarto used his position to promote the education of priests and to work for the renewal of the Church.  So successful was he in Mantua that he was promoted once again, this time to the cardinalate.  Upon the death of Pope Leo XIII in 1903, Cardinal Sarto was elevated once again, this time to the position of Pope.  He took the name Pius because he felt he would suffer as had the popes before him who took that name. Much like Pope Francis, Pope Pius eschewed the pomp of the papal court.  “Look how they have dressed me up,” he once remarked, in tears, to an old friend.  He preferred the simplicity of the poor.

One of Pius’ first acts as Pope was to end the supposed right of governments to interfere in papal conclaves.  His motto, “To restore all things in Christ,” lead him to inaugurate both liturgical and Eucharistic renewal.  He lowered the age when children could receive the sacrament and encouraged frequent – even daily– reception of the Eucharist.  He also condemned false approaches to the interpretation of Scripture, which he labeled “modernism.”

 

In his personal life, was known to sneak out of the Vatican in order to visit the sick.  He argued forcefully against war and foresaw the coming of WWI.  Saying that he would gladly give his life to “save my poor children from this ghastly scourge”, Pope Pius died on August 20, 1914.

 

Upon his death, the Italian press wrote, “Saint is Dead.”  Canonized in 1954, Pope Pius X’s feast day is celebrated on August 21.