ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS POPE PIE XII
IN HONOR OF POPE PIUS X*
St. Peter's Square - Sunday, June 3, 1951
A celestial joy floods Our heart; a hymn of praise and gratitude to the Almighty breaks forth from Our lips for the Lord having granted Us to elevate to the honor of the altars Our Blessed Predecessor, Pius X. It is likewise the joy and gratitude of the entire Church, whom you visibly represent, beloved sons and daughters, gathered here before Our eyes like a living sea, or who, scattered across the face of the earth, listen to Us in the exultation of this blessed day.
A common wish has been fulfilled. Ever since the time of his pious passing, while devout pilgrimages crowded ever more thickly to his tomb, petitions flowed from all Nations to implore the glorification of the immortal Pontiff. They emanated from the highest ranks of the ecclesiastical Hierarchy, from the secular and regular Clergy, from all social classes, and especially from the most humble, from whom he himself had sprung like a purest flower. And now these wishes are granted; now God, in the mysterious designs of His Providence, has chosen his unworthy successor to fulfill them, and to make shine, in the sorrowful gloom that still obscures the uncertain path of today's world, the resplendent star of his white figure, so that it may light the way and steady the steps of wandering humanity.
Yet, while the joy with which Our heart overflows irresistibly impels Us to sing of God's wonders in him, Our voice hesitates, as though words were to fail Us, insufficient as they are to worthily exalt, even with rapid sketches, the life and virtues of the Priest, the Bishop, the Pope, in the prodigious ascension from the smallness of his native village and the humility of his birth to the summit of greatness and glory on earth and in heaven.
For over two centuries no day of splendor comparable to this had risen upon the Roman Pontificate, nor had the voice of all those for whom the Chair of Peter is the rock upon which their faith is anchored, the beacon that comforts their indefectible hope, the bond that unites them in unity and divine charity, resonated with such vehemence and concord in praise of it.
How many, even among you, still preserve alive in their minds and hearts the memory of the new Blessed! How many still see again in their thoughts, just as We Ourselves see him, that countenance breathing a celestial goodness! How many feel him near, very near to them, this Successor of Peter, this Pope of the twentieth century, who in the formidable hurricane raised by the deniers and enemies of Christ, knew how to demonstrate from the very beginning a consummate experience in handling the helm of Peter's bark, but whom God called to Himself while the storm raged most violently! What grief, what dismay then, upon seeing him vanish, at the height of anguish for a shattered world.
Yet behold, the Church sees him reappear today, no longer as a helmsman struggling laboriously at the tiller against the unleashed elements, but as a glorious Protector, who from heaven envelops her with his watchful gaze, in which shines the dawn of a day of consolation and strength, of victory and peace!
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As for Us, who were then at the beginning of Our priesthood, already in the service of the Holy See, We shall never forget Our intense emotion when, at midday on that 4th of August 1903, from the Loggia of the Vatican Basilica the voice of the Cardinal First Deacon announced to the multitude that that Conclave — so remarkable in so many aspects! — had fallen upon the Patriarch of Venice, Giuseppe Sarto.
It was then that the name of Pius X was pronounced for the first time before the world. What was this name to signify for the Papacy, for the Church, for humanity? While today, after nearly half a century, We review in spirit the succession of serious and complex events that filled it, Our brow bows and Our knees bend in admired adoration of the divine counsels, whose mystery is slowly revealed to poor human eyes, step by step as it fulfills itself in the course of history.
A shepherd, a good shepherd, he was. He seemed born to be one. At every stage of the journey that gradually led him from his humble native hearth—poor in earthly goods, but rich in faith and Christian virtue—to the supreme summit of the Hierarchy, the Son of Riese remained always true to himself, always simple, affable, accessible to all, in his country rectory, in the capitular stall of Treviso, in the bishopric of Mantua, in the patriarchal See of Venice, in the splendor of the Roman Purple, and he continued to be such in sovereign majesty, upon the sedia gestatoria and under the weight of the Tiara, on the day when Providence, the far-sighted shaper of souls, inclined the spirit and heart of his Peers to place the shepherd's crook, fallen from the weakened hands of the great Old Man Leo XIII, into his paternally firm ones. Of precisely such hands the world was in need at that time.
Having been unable to turn aside from his head the terrible burden of the Supreme Pontificate, he, who had always fled from honors and dignities as others instead flee from an unknown and obscure life, accepted through tears the chalice from the hands of the divine Father.
But once his Fiat was pronounced, this Humble One, dead to earthly things and yearning entirely for heavenly ones, demonstrated in his spirit the indomitable firmness, the manly robustness, the greatness of courage, which are the prerogatives of the Heroes of sanctity.
From his very first Encyclical, it was as if a luminous flame had risen to enlighten minds and kindle hearts. Not differently did the disciples of Emmaus feel their breasts burn while the Master spoke and unveiled to them the meaning of the Scriptures (Luke 24, 32).
Have you not perhaps also experienced this ardor, beloved children who lived through those days, and have heard from his lips the exact diagnosis of the evils and errors of the time, and together the ways and remedies indicated to cure them? What clarity of thought! What power of persuasion! It was truly the science and wisdom of an inspired prophet, the intrepid frankness of a John the Baptist and a Paul of Tarsus; it was the paternal tenderness of the Vicar and Representative of Christ, vigilant to all needs, solicitous for all interests, for all the miseries of his sons. His word was thunder, it was a sword, it was balm; it communicated itself intensely to the entire Church and extended far beyond with effectiveness; it drew its irresistible vigor not only from the unquestionable substance of its content, but also from its intimate and penetrating warmth. One felt pulsating within it the soul of a Shepherd who lived in God and of God, with no other aim than to lead his lambs and sheep to Him. Therefore, if, faithful to the venerable secular traditions of his predecessors, he substantially preserved all the solemn (though not ostentatious) exterior forms of the pontifical ceremonial, in those moments his sweetly sorrowful gaze, fixed toward an invisible point, showed that not to himself, but to God, went all the honor.
The world, which today acclaims him in the glory of the Blessed, knows that he traversed the path assigned to him by Providence with a faith to move mountains, with an unshakable hope, even in the darkest and most uncertain hours, with a charity that impelled him to devote himself to all sacrifices for the service of God and for the salvation of souls.
Because of these theological virtues, which were like the fundamental warp of his life and which he practiced to a degree of perfection that incomparably surpassed every purely natural excellence, his Pontificate shone forth as in the golden ages of the Church.
Drawing at every instant from the triple source of these queenly virtues, Blessed Pius X adorned and consumed the course of his entire life with the heroic exercise of the cardinal virtues: fortitude tetragona against the blows of fortune, justice of an inflexible impartiality, temperance that merged with the total denial of himself, prudent foresight, but the prudence of the spirit, which is "life and peace," detached from the "wisdom of the flesh, which is death and an enemy of God" (cf. Rom. 8, 6-7).
Is it perhaps true, as some have claimed or insinuated, that in the character of the Blessed Pontiff fortitude often prevailed over prudence? Such may have been the opinion of adversaries, the majority of whom were also enemies of the Church. To the extent, however, that it was shared by others who were nonetheless admirers of the apostolic zeal of Pius X, that assessment is revealed to be contradicted by the facts when one considers his pastoral solicitude for the freedom of the Church, for the purity of doctrine, and for the defense of Christ's flock from imminent dangers, which certain individuals did not always meet with all the understanding and inner adhesion that should have been expected of them.
Now that the most meticulous examination has thoroughly scrutinized all the acts and vicissitudes of his Pontificate, now that the aftermath of those events is known, no hesitation, no reservation is any longer possible, and it must be recognized that even in the most difficult, harshest, and most responsibility-laden periods, Pius X, assisted by the great soul of his most faithful Secretary of State, Cardinal Merry del Val, gave proof of that enlightened prudence which is never lacking in the saints, even when in its applications it finds itself in painful yet inevitable contrast with the deceitful postulates of human and purely earthly prudence.
With an eagle eye more discerning and surer than the short-sighted vision of myopic reasoners, he saw the world as it was, he saw the mission of the Church in the world, and with the eyes of a holy Pastor he saw what her duty was within a dechristianized society, within a Christendom contaminated or at least threatened by the errors of the time and the perversion of the age.
Illuminated by the clarity of eternal truth, guided by a delicate, lucid conscience of rigid rectitude, he often had intuitions regarding present duty and the resolutions to be taken whose perfect uprightness disconcerted those who were not endowed with the same lights.
By nature, no one was sweeter or more amiable than he, no one more a friend of peace, no one more paternal. But when the voice of his pastoral conscience spoke within him, only the sense of duty mattered: this imposed silence upon all considerations of human weakness; it cut short all procrastination; it decreed the most energetic measures, even if painful to his heart.
The humble "country parish priest," as he has sometimes been called—and not to his detriment—knew how to rise up like a giant, in all the majesty of his sovereign authority, when faced with attacks against the inalienable rights of human liberty and dignity, and against the sacred rights of God and the Church. At such times his "non possumus" made the powerful of the earth tremble and sometimes recoil, while simultaneously reassuring the hesitant and galvanizing the timid.
To this adamantine strength of his character and conduct, manifested from the very first days of his pontificate, must be attributed first the astonishment and then the aversion of those who wished to make him a "signum cui contradicetur" [a sign that is spoken against], thus revealing the dark depths of their own souls.
Not an excessive predominance of fortitude over prudence, therefore. On the contrary, these two virtues, which almost impart a chrism to those whom God chooses to govern, were so balanced in Pius X that, upon an objective examination of the facts, he appears as eminent in the one as he is exalted in the other. Is not this harmony of virtues, in the lofty realms of heroism, the imprint of mature sanctity?
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A man, a pontiff, a saint of such loftiness will hardly find a historian capable of grasping his figure in its entirety and at the same time in its multiple aspects. But even the simple and bare enumeration of his works and virtues, such as We Ourselves can at this moment attempt only in brief and incomplete outlines, suffices to arouse the most vivid admiration.
It can truly be said of him that in every field to which he turned his attention and his hand, he entered assisted by a clear, lofty, and broad intelligence, and by a rare quality of soul that made him equally adept at analysis and powerful in synthesis, stamping every work of his with the imprint of universality no less than of unity, aimed at summing up and restoring all things in Christ.
Defender of the faith, herald of eternal truth, custodian of the holiest traditions, Pius X revealed a most acute sense of the needs, aspirations, and energies of his time. Therefore he has taken his place among the most glorious Pontiffs, faithful custodians on earth of the keys of the kingdom of heaven, to whom humanity is indebted for every true advancement in the right path of goodness and for every genuine progress.
His zeal for the moral influence of the Church made him an incomparable promoter of the sacred and profane sciences. Is it perhaps necessary to recall the new impetus given to biblical studies? the effective increase given to philosophical and theological ones according to the method, doctrine, and principles of the Angelic Doctor? And, in the order of the human sciences, is it perhaps necessary to mention the reorganization of the Vatican Observatory? in the field of the arts, the renewal of sacred music, the rearrangement of the Pinacotheca?
However, he is not a detached patron or a pure theorist, satisfied merely with assigning a purpose, issuing an order, and then leaving the entire execution to others. His work is instead an essential contribution, an effective direction. Wise in refraining from useless minutiae, it nevertheless reaches down to the concrete and the particular, determining with exactness and practical sense the paths to be followed, so that the goal may be achieved easily, quickly, and fully. Thus he worked in the Codification of Canon Law, which can be called the masterpiece of his Pontificate. From the very beginning he resolved upon it with the enlightened courage of the great, boldly confronted the \"arduum sane munus\" and dedicated himself to it with tireless assiduity. And although — to use the words of his Successor Benedict XV (cf. Allocut. Consist. 4 decembr. 1916 - Acta Ap. Sedis vol. 8 pag. 466) — it was not granted to him to bring the immense work to completion, nevertheless he alone is to be considered the author of that Code (is tamen unus huius Codicis habendus est auctor), and therefore his name shall forever be celebrated as one of the most illustrious Pontiffs in the history of canon law, alongside an Innocent III, a Honorius III, a Gregory IX.
If he is always moved to each of these undertakings by zeal for the glory of God and for the salvation and perfection of souls, with what solicitude must he have applied himself to the care of the very pastors of the sacred flock, upon whom the honor of God and the sanctification of souls depend more directly and immediately? This is attested by his constant efforts to endow the Spouse of Christ with a clergy equal in holiness and doctrine to its loftiest mission. And who could reread without emotion the paternal Exhortation Haerent animo (4 aug. 1908), which clearly mirrors his priestly soul, on the jubilee remembrance of his ordination?
Imbued with the thought of St. Paul that the priest is appointed for men in things pertaining to God (cf. Hebr. 5, 1), he neglects nothing that can contribute to the most effective exercise of this sublime office.
First of all in spreading the living knowledge of Christian doctrine. Thus he promulgates wise instructions to confirm its necessity, determine its object, and establish its method (Encycl. Acerbo nimis, 15 apr. 1905). This is not enough for him: he himself oversees the composition of a new catechism to adapt this teaching to all ages and all intellects. Nor is this still enough for him: on certain Sundays he personally explains the Holy Gospel of the day to the faithful of the parishes of Rome. Rightly indeed was he therefore called the Pope of Christian doctrine.
The dry void, which the sectarian spirit of the century had dug around the priesthood, he hastened to fill through the active collaboration of the laity in the apostolate. Despite adverse circumstances, and indeed stimulated by them, Pius X cared for, if he did not actually initiate with renewed directives, the formation of a laity strong in the faith, united with perfect discipline to the various ranks of the ecclesiastical Hierarchy. And what is admired today in Italy and in the world, in the vast field of Catholic Action, demonstrates how providential was the work of our Blessed, which reflects upon him a light that, during his life, perhaps only a few were given to fully foresee. Hence the ranks of Catholic Action, among the chosen souls whom they remember and venerate as forerunners and promoters of their salutary movement, must rightly place Blessed Pius X.
Another obstacle of the utmost gravity opposed the restoration of a Christian and Catholic society: on the one hand, namely, the division within society itself, and on the other, the fracture that separated the Church from the State, particularly in Italy. With the breadth and clarity of vision proper to the saints, without permitting the slightest injury to immutable and inviolable principles, he knew how to trace the rules for the organization of a Christian popular action, mitigate the rigor of the \u00ab non expedit \u00bb, and prepare from afar the ground for that reconciliation which was to bring religious peace to Italy.
But what is singularly proper to this Pontiff is that he has been the Pope of the Most Holy Eucharist in our time. Here the intimate consonance and communion of sentiments in the Vicar of Christ with the very spirit of Jesus shines forth with almost divine reflections. If We were to remain silent on this point, the host of children of yesterday and today would rise up to hosanna to Him who knew how to tear down the secular barriers that kept them far from their Friend of the tabernacles. Only in a soul wisely candid and evangelically childlike like his could find a resolute echo the ardent sigh of Jesus: \u201cLet the children come to me!\u201d and together the understanding of their sweetest desire to run to the embrace of the divine Redeemer. Thus he was the one to give Jesus to the children and the children to Jesus. If We were to remain silent about it, the altars of the Most Blessed Sacrament themselves would speak to testify to the exuberant flowering of sanctity, which through the work of this Pontiff of the Eucharist has blossomed in innumerable souls, for whom frequent and daily Communion is now a fundamental canon of Christian perfection.
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Beloved sons and daughters! An hour of glory passes over us in this luminous vesper. It is glory that closely touches the Roman Pontificate, glory that radiates throughout the entire Church, glory that enfolds right here the prayed-for tomb of a humble son of the people, whom God has chosen, enriched, and exalted.
Above all, however, it is the glory of God because in Pius X is revealed the mystery of the wise and benign Providence which assists the Church, and through her the world, in every epoch of history. What—We asked ourselves in the beginning—would the name of Pius X signify? We seem to see it clearly now.
Through his Person and his work, God willed to prepare the Church for the new and arduous duties that future turbulent times had in store for her. To prepare in a timely manner a Church concordant in doctrine, firm in discipline, efficient in her Pastors; a generous laity, an educated people; a youth sanctified from their earliest years; a Christian conscience diligent regarding the problems of social life. If today the Church of God, far from retreating before the forces destroying spiritual values, suffers, fights, and by divine virtue advances and redeems, it is largely due to the far-sighted action and sanctity of Pius X. Today it appears manifest how his entire Pontificate was supernally directed according to a design of love and redemption, to dispose souls to face our very struggles and to assure our victories and those of the future.
You therefore, who feel him present, alive, and near, in the work carried out in his life, and in the protection that from today shields you, confide in his intercession and pray together with Us, thus:
O blessed Pontiff, faithful servant of your Lord, humble and loyal disciple of the divine Master, in sorrow and in joy, in labors and in cares a tried Pastor of Christ's flock, turn your gaze upon us, who are prostrate before your virginal remains. Arduous are the times in which we live; hard are the toils they demand of us. The Bride of Christ, once entrusted to your care, finds herself once again in grave distress. Her children are threatened by innumerable perils in soul and body. The spirit of the world, like a roaring lion, goes about seeking whom it may devour. Not a few fall as its victims. They have eyes and see not; they have ears and hear not. They close their gaze to the light of eternal truth; they listen to the voices of sirens insinuating deceptive messages. You, who were here below a great inspirer and guide of the people of God, be our aid and intercessor, and that of all those who profess themselves followers of Christ. You, whose heart broke when you saw the world plunge into bloody strife, come to the aid of humanity, come to the aid of Christendom, presently exposed to similar trials; obtain from divine mercy the gift of a lasting peace, and as a way thereto, the return of souls to that sense of true brotherhood, which alone can restore among men and nations the justice and concord willed by God. Amen.
