St Pius Xth

Feastday: 21st August



Saint Pius X was born Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto on the 2nd June 1835. His family, who were very poor, lived in Riesi, Province of Treviso, in Venice, Italy.

He became Patriarch of Venice and in 1903 was elected as the 259th Pope, successor to Saint Peter the Apostle. He took as his motto ‘To restore all things in Christ’.

Pope St Pius X did much to promote and encourage greater participation in the liturgy, especially singing. He taught Catholics how central the Mass is to everything. He taught the importance of receiving communion regularly and lowered the age at which children made their First Holy Communion.

He pushed through reforms in Canon Law and the re-organisation of the Roman Congregations, he fought the evils of ‘Modernism’ and gave great emphasis to studying the bible. He promoted the principles of Catholic Action in one of his encyclicals.

He lived just long enough to see his efforts to avert war frustrated, dying on the 20th August 1914. In his last testament he said “ I was born poor, I have lived in poverty, and I wish to die poor.”