Vigils Reading – St Pius X

A READING ON ST PIUS X

By Leonard von Matt1

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Pius X, the canonized Pope, holds a special place in the hearts of the

faithful. But this devotion of the faithful did not begin only at his canonization,

when the Church publicly proclaimed the holiness of his life: it began from the

moment when he ascended the papal throne. At once there grew up an

understanding between the Shepherd and his flock. The first to understand him

were the simple, humble people, who recognized him for what he was.

The obvious quality which led to his canonization was his outstanding

holiness. With Pius X, sanctity seemed to be the most natural thing in the

world. It quietly enlivened all that he said or did. Yet it would seem that

Giuseppe Sarto’s natural temperament inclined to a certain violence, easily

inflamed, and no one will ever know how much struggle it cost him to achieve

that gentleness and unruffled goodness for which he was so renowned. We can

follow him on the narrow path which he set himself as church-student, curate,

parish-priest, bishop, cardinal and Pope; but the moment of his vocation to the

priesthood and the beginning of his heroic sanctity are secrets known to God

alone.

A certain holiness seems to have been his from the beginning: his striving

after a virtuous life seems never to have been interrupted, his charity never

diminished. But it was when he began what he called the Ascent of Mount

Calvary, when he became Pope, that his great sanctity became evident. It was

his conscientiousness that turned the enormous responsibility of the office into

a crucifixion: he gave himself unstintingly to the service of the Church, and

spent himself without reserve for the love of God and everyone. His sanctity lay

in this total dedication: it was thus an inner and in a great measure a hidden9

sanctity: there were no spectacular penances, no remarkable practices beyond

those of a normal, good Christian. It might almost be said that Pius X became

a saint in spite of himself by sanctifying himself and his nature and by not

resisting God’s grace that drew him on.