Pius X worked night and day for the Church he so loved, while also being
well aware of the enemies of the Church and did all in his power to
thwart the Evil One from penetrating the sanctuary. He first addressed
this in a decree entitled Lamentabili Sane, then followed that up with
his no-nonsense encyclical Pascendi Dominici Gregis on 8 September 1907
which dealt with the condemnation of the evils of modernism. One of the
results of this encyclical was the requirement that all priests take the
Oath Against Modernism, something that also has been lost on the vast
majority of priests and prelates from the lowest to the highest echelons
today. Pius X spoke out repeatedly against the insidious and subtle
attacks of liberals to infiltrate the Church with modernistic theories
that watered down the true teachings as well as Christ's Own words. He
warned of the dangers of those who offer the argument that the Church is
out of touch and needs to modernise in order to relate with today's
culture and society. This Pope was warning the world of what would occur
in less than half a century when one of his successors would pronounce
and adopt aggiornamento which was exactly what Pius X feared, but could
never have imagined would actually occur. It did.
One would have thought, hoped and prayed that the Church he so loved
would not have been pillaged as badly as it has. Pius X adamantly and
wisely refused to be persuaded to the false humanistic manifesto,
re-emphasising over and over that if it was good enough for Jesus, it
was good enough for His Church in the 20th Century. Sadly, John XXIII
thought differently. One was Catholic (Pius X), the other had abandoned
Catholicism. He knew what Christ had set down would be attacked and he
also knew that if he and his flock were loyal to Jesus, Christ's words
in Matthew 16: 18 would encourage them to remain faithful.
Never one to compromise or capitulate when it came to Dogmas, Doctrines
and the teachings of Christ and His Church, Pius X had more than a few
run-ins with world powers Russia, the United States, Germany, Spain,
Portugal, and of course, France. "Diplomacy be damned" was Pius'
watchword if any of these countries promoted liberalism in any way. He
sought to cut this evil off at the roots. He had meticulously studied
Leo XIII's encyclical Rerum Novarum and realised the Communist threat as
well as the even more insidious Freemasonry agenda and the clever way
they had both crept in. Therefore, he sought to prevent any
re-occurrence or allow it to infiltrate the Church by educating the
faithful to the errors of Modernism, Communism and Freemasonry. For this
he made more than a few enemies of the Church. Though he did not die a
martyr, he felt like one as the world press attacked him from all
angles. Yet Pius X stayed the course and would not waver from his
convictions and his total dedication to Christ's holy cause. He cared
not for what people thought, but what his Lord and Saviour thought,
unlike the popes of Vatican II who base their programmes on pleasing man
and incur the rebukes of the Apostle Paul in Galatians 1: 8-10.
Considered a holy person by many, public veneration of Pope Pius X began
soon after his death. Numerous petitions resulted in an early process
of beatification which started in the 1920s, coming to fruition in 1951.
This which resulted in his canonisation on 29 May 1954. The Society of
Saint Pius X, a Traditionalist Catholic group, is named in his honour. A
gigantic statue of him is enshrined within Saint Peter's Basilica,
while the town of his birthplace was also renamed after his
canonisation.
While his reforming efforts bore fruit among the faithful, Pope Pius X was distraught over his inability to prevent the coming World War, which he accurately predicted would be a catastrophe for civilisation and the Church. He died on 20 August 1914, only weeks after the war began.
St Pius X was the first Pope to be declared a saint since the 1712 canonisation of the 16th century Pope St Pius V.
While his reforming efforts bore fruit among the faithful, Pope Pius X was distraught over his inability to prevent the coming World War, which he accurately predicted would be a catastrophe for civilisation and the Church. He died on 20 August 1914, only weeks after the war began.
St Pius X was the first Pope to be declared a saint since the 1712 canonisation of the 16th century Pope St Pius V.
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