TITLE: Saint Pius X: Restorer of the Church (Price: $19.95)
AUTHOR: Yves Chiron
PUBLISHER: Angelus Press
REVIEWER: Mark Fellows
SUMMARY: Yves Chiron presents a detailed, well-balanced portrait of St. Pius X that is well researched, descriptive, objective, and edifying.

The prevailing view on Pius X is that he was devout, but intellectually unequipped to appreciate the modernist contributions to theology. Consequently, his policies were reactionary, even cruel and unjust. Pius X, it is alleged by his more off the rail critics, ran a clerical police state that afflicted suffering upon the innocent–like Maurice Blondel, who upon Pius X's election complained that "reaction had triumphed," and glumly predicted: "We will have much to do, and even more to suffer." A tad melodramatic, perhaps, but Blondel probably did suffer when his modernist theories of Immanentism and "Living Tradition" were condemned by a sainted pope. Interestingly, Blondel is one of a handful of men to be condemned by one pope and exalted by another–for identical reasons. For in 1993 John Paul announced:

This great master displayed his courageous thinking in a letter to Jesuit neo-modernist Henri de Lubac. "It was necessary," Blondel told de Lubac, "to embrace traditional ways and views, so that they may be used as a point of departure or a springboard for a 'renewal...'" (SiSiNoNo, Oct. 1993). Evidently subterfuge is courageous. Much of the confusion over John Paul II stems from his tendency to "pull a Blondel" on us. And you can bet that John Paul's reference to "incomprehension" was not directed at modernists like Blondel, but at the opponents of modernism.

Others have accused Pius X of being "retrograde," an "integrist," and orchestrating a reign of terror against modernism in the Church. The hostility of such characterizations is palpable. When you combine this animosity with disinformation coming from the highest places in the Roman Catholic Church, it is not surprising that the record of St. Pius X becomes muddied, even suspect. It was to combat such insidious history revision that Yves Chiron, a Professor of History, wrote a biography, Saint Pius X: Restorer of the Church, recently translated into English and published by Angelus Press.

Chiron sees his biography of Pius X falling between early hagiography and later hostile assessments. To this end he utilizes a wealth of documents: personal letters, episcopal acts at Mantua and Venice, where Sarto was bishop and cardinal, and documents from the Vatican secret archives concerning the pontificate of Pius X and the Church of his time. While he is clearly sympathetic towards Pius X, Chiron's book achieves a welcome tone of detachment. He is factual rather than polemical, focusing on the words and deeds of Pius X, which he explores in satisfactory detail. In particular, Chiron provides numerous anecdotes that often confirm but sometimes contradict what both admirers and critics of Pius X assume about him.

For instance, some may be surprised that Giuseppe Sarto resented Austria's foreign rule of northern Italy. Like many Italian families, the Sarto's were divided in their opinions on Austria and Italian patriotism. Giuseppe's father was pro-Austrian, and Giuseppe 's brother Angelo served in the Austrian army, fighting against his native Italians. Little is known of Giuseppe's early views; he was only 13 when the Freemasons drove Pius IX out of Rome into exile. One would assume that an aspiring priest would choose Catholic Austria over the Risorgimento. As an adult, however, Giuseppe "did not disguise his dislike of foreign rule; his judgment about it was balanced, but severe" (p. 15).

A benefactor allowed him to attend the seminary in Padua. His first assignment after ordination was a rural parish. His parishioners were rough and coarse, and enjoyed drinking and swearing. Don Sarto admonished the cursers, sometimes with slaps. Those who saw him celebrating Mass or venerating the Blessed Sacrament said his "face bore an almost superhuman expression. With his hands joined, his eyes fixed on the Blessed Sacrament, he seemed to radiate a great faith. There was something extraordinary about him" (p. 31).

Also noted was his heroism during a cholera epidemic. Don Sarto had no hesitation in administering Sacraments to the dying, or otherwise exposing himself to contagion. He paid a price for his youthful heroism: after the epidemic was over Sarto was visibly weaker physically, and prone for a time to fits of weeping. Later he would tell a newly ordained priest that the priesthood was a "way of the Cross, the only way to reach Mount Thabor" (p. 41).

During a very productive 17 years as a parish priest, Sarto developed a catechetical program, began a confraternity devoted to the Sacred Heart, and became a Third Order Franciscan. Simple and pious, he showed remarkable organizational abilities. His bishop made the 40-year-old Sarto spiritual director of a seminary, and Episcopal chancellor. Like all promotions he would receive during his life, Sarto accepted with difficulty. Yet he was a natural spiritual director, telling seminarians, "The priest must be like the Virgin Mary since, every day, the immaculate Lamb is born from his hands" (p. 46).

Amidst all his duties he found time to write for the Catholic press. In 1877 he represented his diocese in Rome for the Episcopal Jubilee of Pope Pius IX. Meeting Pius IX left an imprint on Chancellor Sarto. He returned to Rome in 1881, in a pilgrimage of reparation and protest for the attempts to desecrate Pius IX's body when it was transferred to a new tomb. It was here he met Leo XIII, who remembered Sarto well enough to appoint him Bishop of Mantua three years later. The appointment came as a blow. Sarto wrote a colleague:

In his first letter as Bishop of Mantua, Sarto made the following pledge:

Chiron supplements his chronicle of Bishop Sarto's rise to the papacy with details that give glimpses of the inner man. He slept four hours a night, remarking: "To work is a pleasure, and the soul is a fire which is fed solely by work." He watched his seminary carefully, was particular about who was admitted, and developed personal relationships with many of the seminarians. One recalled: "He loved us dearly, but with a great intransigence...No father could have loved us more. The last time he came to see us, he said: 'Perhaps we won't see each other again; but you must pray for me, because I have loved you'" (pp. 62-3).

Bishop Sarto took pains to reform the clergy of his diocese, and continued his interest in chant and sacred music that began when he was a seminarian at Padua. As a parish priest he had started two different choirs. As Bishop of Mantua he broadened his musical knowledge and began considering what a reform of sacred chant and Church music would involve. His organizational and administrative skills continued to be remarkable, and this as much as anything else explains Pope Leo XIII's nomination of Sarto as Patriarch of Venice.

Although later Chiron strives to minimize the differences between Sarto and Leo XIII, it was clear that Leo was never a mentor to Sarto. Nevertheless, he thought enough of the Bishop of Mantua to make him Cardinal before he went to Venice. The consistory was clearly an ordeal for Sarto, who later wrote a friend: "At the public consistory and even more at the secret consistory, I thought I would die. I held up as well as I could, but, when it came to taking the oath, I could no longer either see or speak; I was ashamed of myself in front of the Pope and the cardinals, because I could not hold back my tears" (p. 85).

Pope Leo died in 1903, almost exactly ten years after making Sarto Patriarch of Venice. Interestingly, Leo predicted in 1898 that Sarto would be his successor (p. 115, n. 4). The Patriarch of Venice apparently never considered this possibility; the tickets he purchased to attend the conclave were round trip. In his description of the conclave Chiron rejects the "Cardinal Rampolla was a Freemason" theory popular in some traditionalist circles, citing instead political reasons for Austria's attempted veto of Rampolla as pope. Chiron acknowledges, however, that as his chance for the papacy faded, Rampolla's determination to block Sarto's election grew (p. 126).

Sarto appeared equally determined to block his election. As the votes in the conclave swung to the Patriarch of Venice, he declared he was not made for the papacy. When the next ballot confirmed he was the leading candidate for pope, Sarto declared again that he was unworthy, and begged his fellow cardinals to elect someone else pope. Midnight found the unwilling papabile kneeling "on the marble floor near the altar" in a "silent, shadowy chapel." A certain young Monsignor made a discreet visit. Sarto was tearful, and firmly resolved not to become pope. "Corragio, Eminenza!"–"Courage, Eminence, the Lord will help you!" whispered the young Monsignor. It was the first meeting between Giuseppe Sarto and Rafael Merry del Val.

The next morning Sarto was elected Pope, "his eyes full of tears, drops of sweat were like pearls on his cheeks, and he seemed close to fainting." He was asked what name he would bear, and he replied, "Pius Decimus," in honor of the "holy pontiffs who have borne this name, and of those who, in recent times, have been persecuted for the Church" (p. 127). A month later he selected Cardinal Merry del Val as his Secretary of State.

Chiron characterizes Pius as "a Pope of Reform," explaining:

The key to Pius's reforms was the password of his pontificate: Instaurare Omnia in Christo–to restore all things in Christ. All his reforms–be they liturgical, curial, or canonical–were done for the glory of God. One example was his lowering of the age for receiving First Communion, a controversial decision at the time (although Pius IX had also favored it). Was it an innovation? Yes. Was it a novelty? No. What were the fruits? Pius was visited by 400 French children who brought an album containing the signatures of 135,000 children who made their first Communion for the Pope's intentions. Pius told them:

By communicating Himself to us in this way, our adorable Saviour gives truth to our minds, justice and holiness to our wills, and goodness to our hearts....the faithful who are united to Jesus Christ in the holy Eucharist find every perfection and all holiness in the virtue of this sacrament. From this well they can draw strength to rise above themselves and to aspire to eternal happiness, despising this world's false goods, since they cannot satisfy their desires. (pp. 292-3)

"You will see, there will be saints among these children," Pius told a French bishop. It was probably more a prophecy than a boast. "I see a great war," Pius told a group of nuns in 1911. Merry del Val confirms that Pius several times predicted a "great war"–his words–years before the Great War began. Reading his encyclicals in another century, one is still struck by the lucidity of thought and the seemingly effortless way Pius X put his finger on many of the difficulties besieging the Church in our time. His condemnation of the Sillon is almost a point for point refutation of the social gospel of Vatican II, particularly as it has been practiced during the present pontificate. He criticized those who believe that "what is false today will be held as true tomorrow," and the "system" of "removing everything that is ancient and promoting everything that is new, almost for no other reason but its novelty, as if scholarship ought to consist in a kind of disdain for antiquity."

Also timeless is the encyclical Pascendi. Coming on the heels of the Holy Office decree Lamentabili Sane (which condemned the modernist errors of Fr. Loisy), Pascendi left nothing unsaid about modernism, and did so thoroughly and succinctly. It is rarely quoted in the conciliar Church for that very reason. Chiron studies the reaction to Pascendi–the vast majority in the episcopate, priesthood, and religious orders were ecstatic about it–and Pius X's "policing" of the modernists. Of note here is Pius's not infrequent admonitions to the "orthodoxy police" to proceed with charity and prudence against those suspected of modernism. It pained him to see Catholics resort to detraction and violence in word and thought. "It is possible," he said, "to defend the good cause without having recourse to such means and without going to such extremes." He set the example with Alfred Loisy, who was finally excommunicated after refusing to submit to the Holy See. Pius told the bishop in Loisy's diocese: "You are going to be Fr. Loisy's bishop. If you have the opportunity, treat him kindly; and if he makes one step towards you, make two towards him" (p. 238).

The contrasts between the reforms of this sainted Pope and the reforms of a recent Council are stark enough not to require elaboration. The former carries the echo of heaven, the latter the din of the world. But the greatest contrast is that of interior disposition. Pius X was not a saint because he was a great pope. He was a great pope because he was a saint. His chief attributes, according to Merry del Val, were "goodness and firmness." The charge that Pius X misused his authority is belied by his habitual custom: "Whenever I have to make a decision, I pray and ask advice." Chiron quotes Merry del Val:

All...speak of his amiable character and the innate goodness of his soul. People are unanimous in extolling his goodness. This goodness, this gentleness, were allied to an invincible strength of character and a power of will to which those who lived with him can bear witness; this strength was all the more striking to us who habitually witnessed his constant gentleness. He knew how to master the impulses of his ardent temperament. (p. 138)

It is almost literally true that the Great War killed Pius X. "I am offering my miserable life as a holocaust to prevent the massacre of so many of my children," he declared (p. 300). He died on August 20, 1914, less than a month after Austria declared war on Serbia. In 1944 his body was exhumed pursuant to the canonization process. It was noted:

In his last testament Pius X had specially requested that his body should not be touched and that the traditional embalming should not be done. In spite of this the body was excellently preserved. No part of the skeleton was uncovered, no bones were exposed. While the body was rigid, the arms, elbow and shoulders were quite flexible. The hands were beautiful and slender and the nails on the fingers were perfectly preserved (p. 304).

Yves Chiron presents a detailed, well balanced portrait of St. Pius X that is well researched, descriptive, objective, and edifying in a cumulative way. He has deepened my own appreciation for this great saint and pope. I can do no better than to close with the quotation Yves Chiron ended Saint Pius X: Restorer of The Church, with remarks made by Pius XII in his canonization address:

Sanctity, which was the inspirer and guide of Pius X in all his undertakings, shone even more brilliantly in his everyday actions. The task he set before him, to unite and bring back all things in Christ, was something he made a reality in himself before bringing it about in others.

 

Mark Fellows is an itinerant Catholic writer who has appeared in Catholic Family News, The Angelus, Catholic, Chronicles, Culture Wars, and The Remnant, among other places. He lives in South St. Paul, Minnesota, with his wife and expanding family.