Pope Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto aka Pius X
(4.08.1903 – 20.08.1914)
Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto was elected Pope on August 4, 1903.
He took the name “Pius” (Pious) and the motto “Omnia instaurare in Christo” (To restore all things in Christ).
In order to fulfill the motto of his pontificate, Pope Pius X encouraged the faithful to great Eucharistic devotion and to the frequent reception of Holy Communion.
He sharply condemned modernism, describing it as “the synthesis of all heresies”.
He gave expression to this in the decree “Lamentabili”, the encyclical “Pascendi Dominici Gregis”, and the Motu proprio “Sacrorum antistitum”. From September 1, 1910, all candidates for the clergy were required to take the Oath against Modernism.
In all his actions, he felt in a certain sense isolated. He did not find adequate support in pursuing the goals connected with his pontificate. He himself expressed it in these words:
De gentibus non est vir mecum (Of the nations there is not a man with me) – Is. 63, 3.
He always remembered the poorest, distributing alms and generously leaving little or nothing of material goods for himself. He often used to say:
I was born poor, I lived in poverty, and I desire to die in poverty.
The end of his life was marked by great sorrow because of the terrible attacks carried out against the Catholic Church and the outbreak of the First World War. He said:
I would gladly give my life to spare my poor children such terrible sufferings.
In 1954, he was canonized by the last Pope Pius XII.
Motu Proprio “Tra le sollecitudini” – On sacred music
Sacred music must be holy, and must therefore exclude all profanity not only in itself, but also in the manner in which it is presented by those who execute it. (…) The language proper to the Roman Church is Latin. Hence it is forbidden to sing anything whatever in the vernacular in solemn liturgical functions, much more to sing in the vernacular the variable or common parts of the Mass and Office. (…) On the same principle it follows that singers in church have a real liturgical office, and that therefore women, being incapable of exercising such office, cannot be admitted to form part of the choir.
Encyclical “Pascendi dominici gregis” – On the doctrines of the modernists
But since the Modernists, as they are commonly and rightly called, employ a very clever artifice, namely, to present their doctrines not in order and systematic arrangement as one whole, but scattered and disjointed one from another, so as to appear to be in doubt and uncertainty, while they are in reality firm and steadfast, it will be of advantage, Venerable Brethren, to bring their teachings together here into one group, and to point out the connection between them, and thus to pass to an examination of the sources of the errors, and to prescribe remedies for averting the evil.
The Oath against modernism
I firmly embrace and accept each and every definition that has been set forth and declared by the unerring teaching authority of the Church.
(…)
I sincerely hold that the doctrine of faith was handed down to us from the Apostles through the orthodox Fathers in exactly the same meaning and always in the same purport.
Encyclical “Iucunda sane” – On Saint Gregory the Great
He who, uplifted by vain pride, raises his head against Almighty God and against the ordinances of the Fathers – I trust in the same Almighty God – shall not bend my head to him, not even by the sword.
I am ready rather to die than to permit that the Church of Saint Peter should degenerate in my days. Thou knowest well my character, that for a long time I have been patient; but when once I have resolved no longer to endure something, I go forth with cheerfulness to meet every danger.
