POPE ST. PIUS V
Pope St. Pius V (1506-1572) only ruled the Church for six years (1566-1572), but is nonetheless one of the greatest of all pontiffs.
EARLY LIFE
Michael Ghisleri was born in 1504 at the small Italian town of Bosco. His family was of Bolognese nobility yet modest means. He studied grammar under the Dominicans and by his fifteenth year had donned their habit. One of the principles he always lived by was that apathy in the spiritual life always gave ground to the enemy, yet fervor and zeal is able to overcome all obstacles in the pursuit of virtue and holiness. As a novice, it was his holy ambition to attain as much humility and modesty possible, whilst practicing mortification, obedience and devotion. One author notes, “All his actions were prefect sacrifices of his heart, and the meanest were enhanced by the fervor of his intention.” Constant devotion and study he called the double breast from which religious must draw their spiritual nourishment.
He was ordained a priest in Genoa in 1528. He then taught philosophy and theology for sixteen years and was chiefly responsible for the formation of Dominican novices. Time and time again he was placed in charge of various Dominican convents, in order to reform them and bring them back to the principles of their Founder. He never accepted any priory without reticence and tears, believing himself unworthy of the task. However, his great zeal was absolutely necessary at this crucial time in Europe’s history. There was a great deal of laxity, immorality, and even abuses within the Catholic Church. Martin Luther had posted his Ninety-Five Thesis in 1517 and Pope Leo X had excommunicated him 1521. Calvin had published his heretical Institutes in 1536 and Henry VIII had led England into the Anglican schism during the 1530s. All of Christendom was being devastated by the Protestant Revolutions. It was a time that desperately needed saintly examples to help provide the Catholic Church with moral credibility and doctrinal soundness.
BISHOP AND CARDINAL
In 1556, Pope Paul IV made him Bishop of Nepi and Sutri; this despite his many protestations and earnest attempts to avoid the office. Under his care, the dioceses became havens of authentic Catholicism. A year later the same pope made him a cardinal Nevertheless he continued living a life of abject poverty and humility. For example, he refused to purchase a second tunic to protect himself as he traveled in the rain, saying the rule of a religious – even of a hierarch – would not permit this. Pope Pius IV succeeded Paul IV and sent the good Cardinal to a dilapidated diocese in the Piedmont region. By his zealous endeavors, he reestablished peace and union, reformed abuses, and restored the splendor of that church. He also assisted at the Council of Trent and was one it’s most intelligent voices and enthusiastic promoters. In response to his many efforts, the pope honored our saint by raising him to the office of Holy Inquisitor.
Cardinal Ghisleri was never afraid to stand up to the strongest powers of his day. Emperor Maximilian II wrote to Pope Pius IV requesting that priests be allowed to marry, and no churchman spoke more vigorously against this abominable initiative than Cardinal Ghisleri. He knew that if the Church gave up this discipline, she would also fail on many other points of faith and doctrine. Later, when Pope Pius IV attempted to make his nephew, thirteen year old Prince Ferdinand of the Medicis, a Cardinal and have the youth profit from ecclesiastical benefices, Cardinal Ghisleri adamantly and publicly opposed him (reminiscent of how St. Paul rebuked St. Peter, cf. Gal 2:11-14). He was able to rally the College of Cardinals to the cause of justice, but incurred the ire of the pontiff. Therewith he was banished from Rome and stripped of many of his dignities. Nevertheless, he continued to stand firm against many of the abuses wreaking havoc in the Church, including that of nepotism.
A MODEL POPE
Pope Pius IV suffered a long illness and died in 1565 in the arms of St. Charles Borromeo. At the succeeding conclave, St. Charles Borromeo convinced his peers that Ghisleri ought to be named Vicar of Christ. He vigorously protested, shed copious tears, but eventually yielded to the will of God. He was made pope on Jan 8, 1566.
The many gifts he received upon his coronation he gave to the people of Rome as alms. The sums normally spent to entertain Cardinals and dignitaries he used to establish hospitals and religious houses. He did much to help those in need throughout Rome and his works of charity and alms are too numerous to list. Within the Papal States he forbade many public sins, including excesses in taverns, bull fighting, detraction in public assemblies, and the practices of lewd women (under pain of corporal punishment). His first care though was to discipline and regulate his own family and he encouraged all the cardinals and bishops to do the same. He said Holy Mass every day (usually in tears) and made two daily meditations on his keens before a crucifix and the Blessed Sacrament. He explained this was absolutely necessary if he were to effectively pastor Christ’s flock.
He published the Decrees of the Council of Trent and the Roman Catechism – which was in part written by St. Robert Bellarmine and St. Charles Borromeo – and labored strenuously to have them executed promptly all over the world. In 1571 he published an edict insisting that all pastors make a priority the teaching of the Catechism and Christian doctrine to all the youth under their charge.
One English Protestant converted upon seeing Pius V’s self-abasement in kissing the ulcers upon the feet of a beggar. He is known for having sat at the bedside of the dying in Rome’s hospitals, embracing lepers, and washing the feet of the poor (though never within the context of the Sacred Liturgy or on Holy Thursday). He also pardoned a Spaniard who was scheduled to be executed for having produced a seditious play also filled with bitter calumny against His Holiness. Pius V knew that severity was necessary for public order, but never forgot that mercy is the favorite inclination of Christ and ought to be exercised whenever possible. During a time of great famine, he had corn imported from Sicily and France at his own expense to feed the starving people (the value was estimated at one hundred thousand gold crowns!) Although obliged by the Office to wear magnificent papal robes (at the liturgy and in public), he never ceased to wear beneath them his coarse and penitential Dominican habit.
--- Pope St. Pius V reformed the papal court, relying heavily on the ascetically practices of St. Dominic, his spiritual father.
--- He declared St. Thomas Aquinas a Doctor of the Church (at that time there were only four others!) and helped promote the study of Scholastic Philosophy and Theology by all priests and seminarians.
--- He was a great advocate of Sacred Music and became a special patron for Palestrina, who many consider the Church's greatest musician.
--- He revised the Roman Breviary.
--- He authorized a perfection and codification the Latin Vulgate.
--- He helped reform the Cistercian order.
--- He did much to aid and support Catholics in France, Germany, the Low Countries, and Hungary.
--- He was an avid supporter of the Missions in the New World.
DEFENSE OF THE FAITH
Pope St. Pius was instrumental in deterring the spread of Protestantism in Europe. He especially curbed the malevolent actions of rebellious Huguenots in France. He also publicly tired and reprimanded eight French bishops who had slipped into heresy. He also condemned the errors of Michael Baius in 1567. In 1570, he excommunicated Elizabeth I of England and wrote letters of comfort to Queen Mary of Stuart when she was imprisoned on account of her faith. He also created the Congregation of the Index to help resist Protestant publications and other erroneous books.
St. Pius V generously came to the aid of the knights of Malta when they were besieged by Turkish armies. After repelling the invaders, he generously used the papal treasuries to build up Vallete (the capital of Malta) into an impregnable fortress.
With his bull, In Coena Domini (1568), he unequivocally proclaimed the Church’s traditional teaching of the supremacy of the Holy See over all civil powers. This of course, is ultimate based upon the social and universal kingship of Christ, who exercises His command through His vicar.
When Selimus II, Emperor of the Turks, threatened all of Christendom and claimed he would triumphantly desecrate St. Peter’s in Rome, Pope St. Pius V helped organize the Holy League. Together when Philip II, King of Spain, the Venetians and other Catholic forces, they vowed to check the progress of the Mahometans. Sadly many of the Christian princes refused to support the effort claiming they were suffering from too much domestic turmoil. The Pope called upon all Christians to fast and pray the Rosary on behalf of the soldiers marching under the leadership of Don Juan of Austria. Although their ships numbered only 101, they courageously sailed against a much larger Turkish force – of over 330 galleys. On the Catholic flagship, Don Juan carried a replica of the tilma of Our Lady of Guadalupe which had been given to King Philip II.
The Turks drew their vessels into a crescent formation in order to surround and outflank the Christians. Don Juan had all his soldiers recite the Most Holy Rosary on their knees (all fifteen decades of course) and then gave the signal to attack by lowering the banner given to him by the pope – it carried the embroidered image of Christ crucified. Quite mysteriously, a strong wind created much confusion and damage to the Turkish navy, and after a full day of valiant fighting, the Christians were able to claim the most complete victory ever over the Ottoman Empire. Don Juan captured the Turk’s Standard and personally delivered it as a gift to the Supreme Pontiff. More than 15,000 Christian slaves on the Moslem galleys were freed, must wealth was recovered which had been violently seized by the invaders, and no Moslem navy has ever threatened Christian Europe again. On the day of the Battle of Lepanto, Oct 7, 1571, he was working with the cardinals, when, suddenly, interrupting his work opening the window and looking at the sky, he cried out, "A truce to business; our great task at present is to thank God for the victory which He has just given the Christian army". He had received a heavenly vision of the victory and subsequently declared Oct 7th to be the Feast of Our Lady of Victory. (Later, the name of this feast was changed to our Lady of the Rosary and the entire month of October was dedicated to the recitation of this most powerful prayer.) The pope also added the invocation Auxilum Christianorum (Help of Christians) to the Litany of Loreto in acknowledgement and thanksgiving to Our Lady for her miraculous intercession.
Pope St. Pius V also did much to preserve the glorious Catholic liturgy from succumbing to Protestant errors so widely proliferated throughout Europe at that time. Even some of his cardinals and bishops were clamoring for changes in the Rite of Holy Mass in order to address some of the "supposed abuses" levied as accusations by Protestant revolutionaries. In response, this saintly pontiff codified and immortalized the Catholic Mass so that it could not be diluted, altered or maimed by protestant errors. He restored its purity by effectively stripped the Roman liturgy of all extraneous accretions which were less than two centuries old and standardized the Rite throughout the Roman Catholic Church. This he did through an infallible teaching and everlasting decree in his bull, Quo Primum (1570). [We strongly encourage every Catholic to read and become familiar with his Apostolic Constitution, which enshrined the Traditional Latin Mass for all time: Click here to read Quo Primum.]
A SAINTLY POPE DIES
Pope St. Pius V suffered many terrible illnesses, not the least of which were caused by his austere penances and fasting. Despite his failing health, he began negotiations towards his great home - to put an end to the power of Islam by forming a great alliance of the Italian Cities, Poland, France, the Holy Roman Empire (Germany), Spain and all other parts of Christian Europe. Regrettably, this vision was never brought to fruition. Instead, at age 68, he succumbed to a terminal sickness. After having governed the Church for only six years he entered into his eternal reward on May 1, 1572. His dying words were: “O Lord, increase my sufferings and my patience!"
Though his rule was brief it was filled with magnificent and memorable works which forever changed the course of history and did much to strengthen and preserve the Catholic Church. He left the memory of a rare virtue and an unfailing and inflexible integrity rarely ever found in politically savvy world leaders.
He was beatified by Clement X in 1672 and canonized by Clement XI in 1712. His precious remains lie within St. Mary Major, one of the four major basilicas in Rome, and is still visited daily by hundreds of pilgrims.