Feast of St. Pius X
One
Today is the Feast of St. Pius X, the first Pope at the time to be canonized in 340 years, and the first of the 20th C. He was known as a simple, poor, pastor of his flock, the only Pope of the Twentieth Century without a doctoral degree. He was a parish priest, confessor, spiritual director, and boots-on-the-ground diocesan bishop. His rural background and forthright view of the faith lent him a profound sympathy with the faith of the “everyman” who filled the pews on Sunday morning. He typified Jesus’ own teaching that unless we become like little children, we will not enter the kingdom of Heaven. The Pope was simple, trusting, innocent, and loving. Too often we associate childlikeness with naiveté and gullibility, which leaves one vulnerable to the more clever and mischievous con artists. This is not the case, however. Despite his lack of formal education, St. Pius X proved quite formidable and capable in dealing with the theological charlatans of his day, proving that simplicity of spirit brings with it wisdom and tenacity. He condemned the errors of a heresy he called Modernism, and helped the Church avoid collapsing with the pressures she faced at the onset of the Twentieth Century.
Two
St. Pius X had a radical approach to the errors of his day: holiness! His love of Holy Communion and his conviction that this sacrament provides supernatural strength necessary to avoid the ills of the times prompted him to lower the age of First Holy Communion from twelve to seven and encouraged frequent reception of Holy Communion instead of the once-a-year, Easter duty reception that was then typical. He also valued prayer above all else. To encourage a more habitual and effective prayer life for all members of the Church, the Pope simplified the Breviary, the book of Psalms that priests and nuns pray every day, encouraged the use of Gregorian chant at Mass, encouraged the rosary, and mandated that the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine (CCD) be present in every parish in the world to teach catechism to children. He also began the enormous process of gathering and synthesizing the Church’s massive, centuries’ old body of law into a more accessible Code of Canon Law, promulgated in 1917. These were the actions of a simple pastor/Pope, who knew that practical disciplines to foster holiness were more effective in dealing with the problems of the day than money, power, academics, or management. If I worry and grow concerned about the many problems of my day, do I believe that my own personal holiness is the answer?
Three
In 1907, in the face of a rising tide of intellectual errors infecting both theological scholarship and priestly formation, St. Pius X published an encyclical entitled, “On the Doctrine of the Modernists,” followed by a syllabus of errors condemning the falsehoods found in Modernist teaching. Despite the furious push-back he received from some theologians, his corrections proved necessary and prophetic. He dubbed Modernism the synthesis of all heresies, meaning that these errors attacked the very root of faith itself (cf. #39, On the Doctrine of the Modernists). He identified three principal mistakes of Modernism: 1. The claim that human and cultural experience defines truth, including Divine Revelation, and not the other way around; 2. That all religious doctrines and dogmas are merely symbols of belief and they are subject to change since they merely express the experience of the believer or believing community; 3. Thus, the latest is greatest and the newest is truest! This meant that doctrines of Catholic belief and practice which held sway from the time of Christ were replaced with modern, cultural trends. Thus, it’s up to each community, Modernists believe, to search out the meaning of God’s word because, ultimately, His Word remains inaccessible to our reason. Personal or communal experience must interpret its meaning and decide what’s applicable and what isn’t. The Pope recognizes that this has the potential to create a dominant cadre of fashionable elites claiming for themselves the power to form Church belief and practice instead of Christ, relativizing salvific doctrine. The danger this poses is obvious: clerical power is used to impose theological fads, while denying perennial truths. Religious principles become mere symbols for the believing community. This is why this prophetic Pope called for absolute vigilance against such a pernicious foe. By placing the emphasis on human experience over God’s Revelation, Modernism destroys our faith, our prayer life, and our love of the Sacraments. Can you see now why he fought so hard to encourage both a prayer life and holy and frequent reception of the Sacraments? Do you see why we encourage the same?
Four
If this all sounds too familiar, it’s because it is. In the 1960’s, Modernism reemerged after the Second Vatican Council, revealing that too many bishops and seminaries gave too little credence to the warnings and disciplines of the saintly Pope. Modernism teamed with political liberalism making the perfect storm called the sexual revolution. Modern technology aided cultural liberalism, demanding social change regarding sexual morality. Since Church authority and tradition were no longer accepted as a stable and trustworthy source for moral truth, disordered human desires became the standard of moral behavior. The objective clarity of moral truth provided by the Church’s authority was not only questioned but replaced with the subjective and agnostic trends of the culture. This is what Pope Benedict the XVI called, ‘the dictatorship of relativism.’ St. Pius X rightly knew that in the face of such a grave temptation, the only effective response would be that of a saint. He said, “All the strength of Satan’s reign is due to the easygoing weakness of Catholics.” But he followed with this insight, “Truly we are passing through disastrous times, when we may well make our own the lamentation of the Prophet: ‘There is no truth, and there is no mercy, and there is no knowledge of God in the land’ (Hosea 4:1). “Yet in the midst of this tide of evil, the Virgin Most Merciful rises before our eyes like a rainbow, as the arbiter of peace between God and man…Let the storm rage and the sky darken – not for that shall we be dismayed. If we trust as we should in Mary, we shall recognize in her, the Virgin Most Powerful ‘who with virginal foot did crush the head of the serpent.”
Five
St. Pius X’s last will and testament bears the striking sentence: "I was born poor, I have lived in poverty, and I wish to die poor." His simplicity and detachment became the source of his strength. He was free to love God with his whole heart, his whole strength, and his whole being, as well as loving his flock—even when it included the entire Church—as himself! St. Pius X, continue to pray for your little flock, that one day we too will experience the triumph of the Immaculate Heart, and the reestablishment of all things in Christ!