Why St Pius X is Called the “Pope of the Eucharist”

Today is his Feast Day. He is called the “Pope of the Eucharist” because he encouraged frequent Communion and allowed children to receive before Confirmation.

From Aleteia

By Philip Kosloski

St. Pius X is highly regarded for his promotion of the Eucharist, especially the reception of holy communion by children.

Holy communion is the shortest and safest way to Heaven.

St. Pius X

In particular, he wrote in his decree Quam Singulari that everyone should receive holy communion more often, even daily if possible.

At the time, Catholics were accustomed to receiving holy communion only once a year. Very few would receive holy communion on a weekly basis, and typically only priests would receive on a daily basis. St. Pius X wished to correct this practice of abstaining.

The Council of Trent, indeed, teaches otherwise when it calls the Eucharist, “An antidote whereby we may be freed from daily faults and be preserved from mortal sins.” This doctrine was not long ago strongly emphasized by a Decree of the Sacred Congregation of the Council given on December 20, 1905. It declared that daily approach to communion is open to all, old and young, and two conditions only are required: the state of grace and a right intention.

Furthermore, St. Pius X used that same decree to lower the age of First Communion to the "age of reason," which typically is around seven years old, from the usual age of about 12 at the time.

Reinforcing the reality of the children’s innocence and closeness to God, Pius X wrote, “the fact that in ancient times the remaining particles of the Sacred Species were even given to nursing infants seems to indicate that no extraordinary preparation should now be demanded of children who are in the happy state of innocence and purity of soul, and who, amidst so many dangers and seductions of the present time have a special need of this heavenly food.”

St. Pius X's document opened the doors to a more frequent reception of holy communion by a wider array of people and started a "revival" of faith around the Most Blessed Sacrament.

Three Coincidences That Prove God Exists

From The Counsel of Trent

In this episode, Trent Horn examines three major coincidences that make atheism increasingly difficult to accept: the fine-tuning of the universe, the strange reality of objective moral facts, and the massive number of miracle claims throughout history. Taken together, these point toward a universe that looks far more like the product of design, purpose, and divine action than random chance.

Pope’s Newspaper Goes Scorched Earth on Climate Change ‘Deniers’

Is the Vatican in bed with the left-wing WEF globalist elites? Of course! How else can they turn the Church into a left-wing NGO?

From LifeSiteNews

By Doug Mainwaring

Is the Vatican in bed with the World Economic Forum’s globalist elites when it comes to global warming ideology, and does the Holy See envision a carbonless, totalitarian dystopia for God’s children?

In an article presented not as an opinion piece but as hard news, the Vatican’s newspaper published a blistering condemnation of all who don’t embrace man-made global warming ideology.   

On Monday, L’Osservatore Romano’s second in charge, Gaetano Vallani, served up an unevenly reasoned indictment of those who disagree with this pillar of World Economic Forum (WEF)-globalist elite dogma, intended to scare the masses into submission to their will, sentencing all to a miserable carbonless future that promises to be more restrictive, more totalitarian than the western world’s recent COVID-19 lockdown tyranny.  

This begs the question: Is the Vatican in bed with the WEF when it comes to climate ideology?  And is this the future the Holy See wants for God’s children? 

Vallani began by taking aim at “those who persist in claiming that summers have always been hot.”

He then went on to cite a litany of anecdotal evidence from Europe’s long hot summer of 2026: 

The most stubborn deniers of climate change should be reminded of certain incontrovertible facts from 2026: the instances in Europe, even at latitudes usually only grazed by the African anticyclone, where temperature peaks were reached and sustained for periods far longer than the mere days seen in the past; the number of nights when thermometers recorded tropical temperatures; the abnormal warming of Mediterranean waters; the freezing level rising to 5,000 meters in the Alps; the prolonged drought affecting major river basins, such as the Danube; the terrifying wildfires that devastated Spain and France in particular, claiming numerous lives; and the extreme weather events driven by the increased thermal energy accumulating in the seas and atmosphere.

“Faced with such evidence, even climate change deniers are shifting their tactics and introducing a new narrative,” Vallani wrote. “They are increasingly moving away from disputing climate change itself, focusing instead on the costs and risks of the ecological transition in an effort to discredit any action taken in that direction. In short, the shift is from the “climate change hoax” to the “green scam” — a strategy that is no less dangerous, and perhaps even more insidious, because it targets people’s wallets.

Vallani’s screed is no different from former U.S. Vice President Al Gore’s decades of hyperbolic global warming warnings. 

In 2024, Gore compared climate change with the Book of Revelation in a talk about “extreme weather” at the WEF’s annual meeting in Davos. 

Talking about extreme weather events and natural disasters, Gore said that “every night on the television news is like a nature hike through the Book of Revelation, as I’ve said on previous occasions.” 

During his speech, Gore explained that it is essential to use catastrophic images to “convey the meaning of the (climate) crisis.”  

Evidently, Vallani has obeyed Gore’s directive.      

Vallani went on to stunningly argue: 

There remains a hard core of people who maintain that the climate has always changed over the millennia due to various causes — ranging from orbital variations and solar activity to intense, widespread volcanic eruptions and shifts in ocean circulation. They use graphs by taking data out of context or selectively deploying them to refute a specific argument, all while downplaying the present day.

Remaining dismissive of all evidence to the contrary, he reasoned, “Acknowledging that similar phenomena have occurred in the past does not absolve us from asking why they are happening today, what we can do to mitigate their consequences, and, above all, how we can address their root causes.”

“As long as some — even those in high places — continue to deny or ignore the problem out of vested economic interests, we will be heading straight for catastrophe. We are facing a global emergency,” he declared.

Vallani failed to mention that, according to a study by researchers Gianluca Alimonti and Luigi Mariani, the number of natural disasters decreased globally from 2002 to 2022. Moreover, the number of human fatalities from natural disasters fell by more than 90 percent between the 1920s and 2010s. 

In 2023, over 1,600 scientists and scholars, including two Nobel laureates, signed a declaration denying the existence of a climate “crisis.”

READ

• The inconvenient truth about the ‘scientific consensus’ on ‘climate change’ 
• Exposing the carbon dioxide lie: Ending the abortion industry’s alliance with climate alarmists 
• Climate scientists baffled as to why Antarctica has not warmed in 70 years despite rising CO2 levels 
• Nobel Prize winner denounces alarmist climate predictions: ‘I don’t believe there is a climate crisis’ 
• Jason Jones says anti-human ‘climate cult’ responsible for hundreds of deaths in Maui fires 
• Renowned climate scientist blasts ‘anti-capitalist’ climate agenda, ‘manufactured’ consensus
• WATCH: Former climate alarmist Judith Curry debunks the global warming ‘crisis’ narrative
• What Pope Francis gets dangerously wrong in his new climate manifesto ‘Laudate Deum’

St Pius X, Pope & Confessor

Today's Holy Mass from SSPX Australia. You may follow the Mass at Divinum Officium.

St Pius X, Pope and Confessor ~ Dom Prosper Guéranger

St Pius X, Pope & Confessor

From Dom Prosper Guéranger's Liturgical Year:

The primary aim of his pontificate Pius X announced in his first encyclical letter, viz., “to renew all things in Christ.” Here we need but allude to his decree on early and frequent reception of holy Communion; his Motu Proprio on church music; his encouragement of daily Bible reading and the establishment of various Biblical institutes; his reorganization of the Roman ecclesiastical offices; his work on the codification of Canon Law; his incisive stand against Modernism, that “synthesis of all heresies.” All these were means toward the realization of his main objective of renewing all things in Christ.

The outbreak of the first World War, practically on the date of the eleventh anniversary of his election to the See of Peter, was the blow that occasioned his death. Bronchitis developed within a few days, and on August 20, 1914, Pius X succumbed to “the last affliction that the Lord will visit on me.” He had said in his will, “I was born poor, I have lived poor, I wish to die poor”—and no one questioned the truth of his words. His sanctity and his power to work miracles had already been recognized. Pius X was the first Pope canonized since St. Pius V in 1672.

The Roman Breviary has the most concise and beautiful account of this holy Pope’s life:

Pope Pius X, whose name previously was Joseph Sarto, was born in the village of Riese in the Venetian province, to humble parents remarkable for their godliness and piety. He enrolled among the students in the seminary of Padua, where he exhibited such piety and learning that he was both an example to his fellow students and the admiration of his teachers. Upon his ordination to the priesthood, he labored for several years first as curate in the town of Tombolo, then as pastor at Salzano. He applied himself to his duties with such a constant flow of charity and such priestly zeal, and was so distinguished by the holiness of his life, that the Bishop of Treviso appointed him as a canon of the cathedral church and and made him the chancellor of the bishop’s curia, as well as spiritual director of the diocesan seminary. His performance in these duties was so outstanding and so highly impressed Leo XIII, that he made him bishop of the Church of Mantua.

Lacking in nothing that maketh a good pastor, he labored particularly to teach young men called to the priesthood, as well as fostering the growth of devout associations and the beauty and dignity of divine worship. He would ever affirm and promote the laws upon which Christian civilization depend, and while leading himself a life of poverty, never missed the opportunity to alleviate the burden of poverty in others. Because of his great merits, he was made a cardinal and created Patriarch of Venice. After the death of Pope Leo XIII, when the votes of the College of Cardinals began to increase in his favor, he tried in vain with supplications and tears to be relieved of so heavy a burden. Finally he ceded to their persuasions, saying I accept the cross. Thus he accepted the crown of the supreme pontificate as a cross, offering himself to God, with a resigned but steadfast spirit.

Placed upon the chair of Peter, he gave up nothing of his former way of life. He shone especially in humility, simplicity and poverty, so that he was able to write in his last testament: I was born in poverty, I lived in poverty, and I wish to die in poverty. His humility, however, nourished his soul with strength, when it concerned the glory of God, the liberty of Holy Church, and the salvation of souls. A man of passionate temperament and of firm purpose, he ruled the Church firmly as it entered into the twentieth century, and adorned it with brilliant teachings. He restored the sacred music to its pristine glory and dignity; he established Rome as the principal center for the study of the Holy Bible; he ordered the reform of the Roman Curia with great wisdom; he restored the laws concerning the faithful for the instruction of the catechism; he introduced the custom of more frequent and even daily reception of the Holy Eucharist, as well as permitting its reception by children as soon as they reach the age of reason; he zealously promoted the growth of Catholic action; he provided for the sound education of clerics and increased the number of seminaries in their divers regions; he encouraged every priest in the practice of the interior life; he brought the laws of the Church together into one body; he condemned and suppressed those most pernicious errors known collectively as Modernism; he suppressed the custom of civil veto at the election of a Supreme Pontiff. Finally worn out with his labors and overcome with grief at the European war which had just begun, he went to his heavenly reward on the twentieth day of August in the year 1914. Renowned throughout all the world for the fame of his holiness and miracles, Pope Pius XII, with the approbation of the whole world, numbered him among the Saints.

Pope St Pius X - Truth Himself Speaks Truly

A sermon for today. Please remember to say 3 Hail Marys for the Priest.

St Remaclus, Bishop of Maestricht: Butler's Lives of the Saints

St Pius X, Pope & Confessor

St Remaclus, Bishop of Maestricht, Confessor

From Fr Alban Butler's Lives of the Saints:

THIS holy pastor, who was a native of Aquitain, leaving the court of king Clotaire, passed some time in the study of the holy scriptures under St. Sulpitius of Bourges, and was appointed by St. Eligius first abbot of the monastery and seminary which he founded at Solignac, two leagues from Limoges, in the year 631. Our saint was afterward obliged to take upon him the government of the abbey of Cougnon, in the duchy of Luxembourg, but was soon after called to the court of king Sigebert, who, in 645, had succeeded his father, Dagobert I. in Austrasia, leaving all the rest of France to his younger brother, Clovis II. Both these brothers were religious, and their reigns peaceable. Sigebert made use of the advice of St. Remaclus in founding the royal abbey of Stabuletum, now called Stavelo, in the Ardennes, in the bishopric of Maestricht and duchy of Limburg. The same prince founded the abbey of Malmandurium, now called Malmedi, also in the forest of Ardenne. The direction of both these foundations was committed to St. Remaclus, till, upon the resignation of St. Amand, in 650, he was chosen bishop of Maestricht,1 in which charge he labored with great humility and zeal in preaching to his flock, and relieving the poor. Sighing under the weight of exterior employs, and fearing he should, amidst them, forget himself, he procured the consent of his clergy and of king Childeric II. to resign his see to St. Theodord, and to retire to Stavelo, which design he carried into execution in 662. The reputation of his sanctity moved many noblemen and others to embrace a penitential monastic state under his direction in that house. Remaclus walked before them in the narrow paths of true Christian perfection, encouraging them, both by words and example, to fervor in all religious exercises. He remitted nothing in his austerities on account of his old age, but rather strove continually to redouble his pace as he drew nearer to the end of his course, lest, by sloth in the end, he should forfeit his crown. In his last moments he strongly exhorted his religious brethren to the love and practice of perfect self-denial, obedience, holy poverty, patience in painful employments and labors, assiduity in holy meditation and prayer, the most profound humility, and constant peace and union. He died about the year 664, and was buried at Stavelo. His body is still preserved there, and the church, when rebuilt by St. Poppo in 1040, was dedicated to God under the patronage of Saint Remaclus. One arm was given to the abbey of Solignac, in 1268; and some small portions of his relics to the churches of Paderborn and Bamberg. See his life, compiled by a monk of Stavelo, about the year 850, extant in Mabillon (Act. Bened. p. 494.) A second life, written in the following century by Heriger, abbot of Laubs; and The Triumph of Saint Remaclus, in two books, compiled by Geoffrey, prior of Stavelo, in 1070, with an account of many miracles; also a MS. life of this saint, written by Thietmar, abbot of Gemblours, in 1100. See likewise Le Cointe, Annales Eccl. Franc. ad ann. 662, Miræus, Fleury,1. 38, n. 58

St Pius X, Pope & Confessor

From EWTN

Perhaps nowhere in the history of the Church is there a better example of a man possessed of so many of the saintly virtues—piety, charity, deep humility, pastoral zeal, and simplicity—than in one of the newest of God's elect, St. Pius X. Yet the parish priest of Tombolo, who remained a country priest at heart throughout his life, faced the problems and evils of a strife-torn world with the spiritual fervor of a crusader. The inscription on his tomb in the crypt of the basilica of St. Peter's gives the most eloquent testimony to a life spent in the service of God:

"Born poor and humble of heart,
Undaunted champion of the Catholic faith,
Zealous to restore all things in Christ,
Crowned a holy life with a holy death."

St. Pius X was born Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto on June 2, 1835 in the little Italian town of Riese, in the province of Treviso near Venice. His father was Giovanni Sarto, a cobbler by trade, who was also caretaker of the city hall and the town's postmaster; his mother was Margherita Sanson, a seamstress. The family had few worldly goods and the early life of young Giuseppe, eldest of eight surviving children, was a difficult one. He attended the parish school and while there, his intelligence and high moral character attracted the notice of the pastor, who arranged a scholarship for the lad at the high school in Castelfranco, a larger town two miles from Riese. After completing the course of instruction at Castelfranco, he made known that he had felt the call to the priesthood for some time, but had considered the means of attaining this end beyond his grasp. However, his parents saw that the will of God was in their son's calling, and they did all in their power to encourage him, while the pastor again came to the rescue by arranging another scholarship to the seminary at Padua. In November of 1850, young Sarto arrived at Padua and was immediately taken up with the life and studies of the seminary. The same high qualifications of intellect and spirit, later to blossom forth in his work as bishop and Pope, were much in evidence as a seminarian. Giuseppe worked hard and finally on September 18, 1858, Father Sarto was ordained at the cathedral in Castelfranco.

The young priest's first assignment was as curate at Tombolo, a parish of 1500 souls in the Trentino district of Italy. Here, for eight years, Father Sarto labored among his favorite parishioners, the poor. He also organized a night school for the general education of adults, and trained the parish choir to a high degree of skill in Gregorian Chant. His pastor at Tombolo, Father Constantini, recognizing the worth of the young priest, wrote a prophetic summary of his assistant. "They have sent me as curate a young priest, with orders to mould him to the duties of pastor; in fact, however, the contrary is true. He is so zealous, so full of good sense, and other precious gifts that it is I who can learn much from him. Some day or other he will wear the mitre, of that I am sure. After that—who knows?"

In July of 1867, Father Sarto, then 32 years of age, was appointed pastor of Salzano, one of the most favored parishes in the diocese of Treviso. Soon his concern and help toward the poor became well known throughout the parish, and his two sisters, who acted as his housekeepers, were often at wit's end as their brother gave away much of his own clothing and food to the needy. The new pastor arranged for the instruction of young and old in the fundamentals of Christian Doctrine. The firm conviction that devotion meant little if its meaning was not understood was later to be embodied in the encyclical <Acerbo nimis>, "On the Teaching of Christian Doctrine." After nine years at Salzano, Father Sarto was rewarded for his labors by the appointment as Canon of the Cathedral at Treviso and as Chancellor of that diocese. In addition, he became Spiritual Director of the seminary. Canon Sarto took a deep interest in this work of forming Christ in the hearts of young priests. However, in spite of these many duties, he remained ever the teacher; he often journeyed from the seminary into the city to teach catechism to the children, and he organized Sunday classes for those children who attended public schools, where religion was banned. When the diocese of Mantua fell vacant in 1884, Pope Leo XIII named Canon Sarto as bishop of that diocese.

Bishop Sarto found a troubled diocese in which to begin his labors. There was a general opposition of the government to religion manifested in many ways—monasteries had been suppressed, many religious institutions were government-managed, and Church property was heavily taxed. All these political disturbances had a far-reaching effect on both the clergy and the laiety. The seminaries of Mantua were depleted and a general laxity among the younger priests was evident; dangerous errors of thought had crept into the clergy, and the faults of the shepherds had spread to the flock. In general, a pall of religious indifference and secularism had spread over the diocese. With characteristic energy and spiritual strength, Bishop Sarto set to work to put his see in order. He gave first attention to the seminary, where by his own example of zeal and teaching, he won back the clergy to full and faithful service. The laxity of the people was attributed to neglect of parish priests in the instruction of the catechism; Bishop Sarto often taught such classes himself, and in his pastoral visits and letters, he urged the establishment of the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine in all parishes. God blessed this work on behalf of all classes of His flock, and in 1893, His Holiness, Leo XIII, elevated Bishop Sarto to Cardinal and appointed him Patriarch of Venice.

As Patriarch of Venice, it was Tombolo, Salzano, and Mantua all over again, but on a widening scale—the same care for his clergy and for the seminaries, the ever-willing hand and heart given to the poor, the long hours spent in teaching young and old—only the red of his new office had replaced the purple and black of former days. Social and economic problems were of prime concern to the new cardinal, and any worthy social action organization was assured of his help. When the Workingmen's Society was founded in Venice, the name of Cardinal Sarto was at the top of the list and he paid regular dues as a member! Once it seemed that an important diocesan newspaper would go into bankruptcy, and the cardinal declared, "I would rather sell my crozier and my robes of office than let that paper go under."

On July 20, 1903, the reign of Leo XIII came to a close, and the world mourned the death of a great Pontiff. Cardinals from all over the world came to Rome for the conclave which would elect the new Pope, and it is again typical of Cardinal Sarto that, due to his many charities, he was short of funds necessary to make the trip; so sure was he that he would never be elected that the problem was solved by the purchase of a return ticket to Venice! With the conclave in solemn session, the voting began, and with each successive ballot, Cardinal Sarto gained more votes. As his cause continued to gain strength, he all the more strongly pleaded that he was neither worthy nor capable enough for the office. When it was finally announced that he had gained sufficient votes to be elected, he bent his head, broke into tears, and whispered, "Fiat voluntas tua" (Thy will be done). He accepted, took the name of Pius X, and on August 9, 1903, was crowned as Vicar of Christ on earth.

The world was now the parish of the new Pontiff, and in his first encyclical he announced the aim of his reign. It was his desire, in the words of St. Paul, "to restore all things in Christ." (Eph 1:10). The prime means of accomplishing this restoration was dearly seen by Pius to be through the clergy, and throughout his reign, the Pope exhorted bishops to reorganize the seminaries and to obtain the best possible training for these men who would instill in others the knowledge of God. The Pontiff published an encyclical, "Exhortation to the Catholic Clergy," in which he pointed out that only through a trained and disciplined clergy could a program of return to Christ be realized.

The religious instruction of young and old became the second most important means toward the Christian restoration, and in his encyclical <Acerbo nimis>, "On the Teaching of Christian Doctrine," Pius X firmly stated his position. The evils of the world were traceable to an ignorance of God, he said, and it was necessary for priests to make the eternal truths available to all and in a language that all could understand. Ever an example, he himself gave Sunday instruction to the people in one of the Vatican courtyards. However, no reform of Pius' was more widely acclaimed than the Decrees on Holy Communion, and Pius X is often called "the Pope of the Eucharist." These decrees, issued from 1905 through 1910, allowed the reception of first Holy Communion at an earlier age than had formerly been required, encouraged the frequent reception of the Holy Eucharist by all Catholics, and relaxed the fast for the sick.

In the field of Christian social action the Pope had always been an ardent champion, and in 1905, he published <Il fermo proposito>, "On Catholic Social Action." In this work, the Pontiff listed practical recommendations for the solution of the social problem; he reaffirmed the need and power of prayer, but said that society would not be Christianized by prayer alone. Action is needed, he pointed out, as had been shown in the lives of the Apostles and of saints like Francis Xavier. The Pope likewise vigorously promoted reforms within the liturgy of the Church, since he felt that these were long overdue. In his <Motu proprio on the Restoration of Church Music>, he listed the aims of such music to be sanctity, beauty of form, and universality. Gregorian Chant, the Pope felt, was the music best suited to attain those aims. However, he felt that an attempt to make all Church music Gregorian was an exaggerated fad, and modern compositions were always welcomed by the Pontiff as long as they fulfilled the prescribed norms. Pius also reformed the Breviary, and was founder of the Biblical Institute for the advancement of scholarship in the study of the Scriptures. Even more important for the internal structure of the Church, he initiated and closely supervised the construction of the Code of Canon Law.

The familiar notion of Pius X as the Teacher of Christian Truth and the firm guide and staunch foe of error was forceably illustrated in 1907 when he issued more than fourteen pronouncements against the growth of Modernism. This subtle philosophy, in which Pius saw the poison of all heresies, pretended to "modernize" the Church and to make it keep pace with the changing times. In reality, its end would have been the destructions of the foundation of faith. The crowning achievement of the Pontiff's writings and pronouncements against this philosophy came in the encyclical, <Pascendi dominici gregis>, "On the Doctrines of the Modernists." In this work, which was a death blow to Modernism, he gave a systematic exposition of the errors involved, their causes, and provisions for combatting the errors by definite preventive measures.

Pius X labored for the Master until the very last days of his life. His 79 years had not set too heavily upon him, but overwork and anxiety over the impending doom of a World War began to take their toll. Pius saw clearly the horrors of the coming conflict and felt helpless that he could not prevent it. A little more than a month after the outbreak of the war, the Pope was seized with an attack of influenza, and his weakened constitution could not combat the illness. The end for the Christ-like Pius came peacefully on August 20, 1914, and the world, though in the throes of a death struggle, paused to mourn the gentle and humble man whose last will and testament gave such an insight into his character. It read, in part, "I was born poor, I lived poor, I die poor." Shortly after his death, the faithful began to make pilgrimages to his tomb, bringing flowers, prayers, and petitions for favors. Accounts of miraculous favors and cures, some even accomplished during his lifetime and granted through his intercession, were announced and given widespread acclaim. In 1923, the Church, always cautious in such matters, began inquiry into the life and virtues of Pius X, and in February of 1943, the first official step in his Cause was taken when the necessary decree was signed by the present Pontiff, Pius XII. In honor of the work which Pius X had accomplished in its behalf, the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine actively contributed in promoting the Cause for his beatification and canonization. On June 3, 1951, Pius X was declared Blessed, and finally on May 29, 1954, amid the traditional pealing of the bells in the great churches of Rome, Giuseppe Sarto, the humble parish priest of the world, was canonized a saint of God.

<Excerpts from> the Encyclical <Il fermo proposito>, On Catholic Action

. . . <Immense is the field of Catholic action>; it excludes absolutely nothing which in any way, directly or indirectly, belongs to the divine mission of the Church.

It is plainly necessary to take part individually in a work so important, not only for the sanctification of our own souls, but also in order to spread and more fully open out the Kingdom of God in individuals, families, and society, each one working according to his strength for his neighbor's good, by the diffusion of revealed truth, the exercise of Christian virtue, and the spiritual and corporal works of charity and mercy. Such is the conduct worthy of God to which St. Paul exhorts us, so as to please Him in all things, bringing forth fruits of all good works, and increasing in the knowledge of God: "That you may walk worthy of God in all things pleasing; being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God."

Besides these benefits, there are many in the natural order which, without being directly the object of the Church's mission, nevertheless flow from it as one of its natural consequences. Such is the light of Catholic revelation that it vividly illuminates all knowledge; so great is the strength of the Gospel maxims that the precepts of the natural law find in them a surer basis and a more energetic vigor; such, in fine, is the power of the truth and morality taught by Jesus Christ that even the material well-being of individuals, of the family, and of human society, receive from them support and protection.

The Church, while preaching Jesus crucified, who was a stumbling-block and folly to the world, has been the first inspirer and promoter of civilization. She had spread it whenever her apostles have preached, preserving and perfecting what was good in ancient pagan civilization, rescuing from barbarism and raising to a form of civilized society the new peoples who took refuge in her maternal bosom, and giving to the whole of human society, little by little, no doubt, but with a sure and ever onward march, that characteristic stamp which it still everywhere preserves. The civilization of the world is Christian civilization; the more frankly Christian it is, so much is it more true, more lasting, and more productive of precious fruit; the more it withdraws from the Christian ideal, so much the feebler is it, to the great detriment of society....

. . . <To restore all things in Christ> has ever been the Church's motto, and it is specially Ours, in the perilous times in which we live. To restore all things, not in any fashion, but in Christ; "that are in heaven, and on earth, in Him," adds the Apostle; to restore in Christ not only what depends on the divine mission of the Church to conduct souls to God, but also, as We have explained, that which flows spontaneously from this divine mission, namely, Christian civilization in each and every one of the elements which compose it.

To dwell only on this last part of the restoration, you see well what support is given to the Church by those chosen bands of Catholics whose aim is to unite all their forces in order to combat anti-Christian civilization by every just and lawful means, and to repair in every way the grievous disorders which flow from it; to reinstate Jesus Christ in the family, the school, and society; to re-establish the principle that human authority represents that of God; to take intimately to heart the interests of the people, especially those of the working and agricultural classes, not only by the inculcation of religion, the only true source of comfort in the sorrows of life, but also by striving to dry their tears, to soothe their sufferings, and by wise measures to improve their economic condition; to endeavor, consequently, to make public laws conformable to justice, to amend or suppress those which are not so; finally, with a true Catholic spirit, to defend and support the rights of God in everything, and the no less sacred laws of the Church.

All these works, of which Catholic laymen are the principal supporters and promoters, and whose form varies according to the special needs of each nation, and the particular circumstances of each country, constitute what is generally known by a distinctive, and surely a very noble name: <Catholic Action> or <Action of Catholics>....

(trans. in <Publications of the Catholic Truth Society>, vol. 83, London, 1910.)

<Excerpts from> the Encyclical Letter <Acerbo nimis>, On the teaching of Christian Doctrine

. . . <How many and how grave are the consequences of ignorance in matters of religion>! And on the other hand, how necessary and how beneficial is religious instruction! It is indeed vain to expect the fulfillment of the duties of a Christian by one who does not even know them.

We must now consider upon whom rests the obligation to dissipate this most pernicious ignorance and to impart in its stead the knowledge that is wholly indispensable. There can be no doubt, Venerable Brothers, that this most important duty rests upon all those who are pastors of souls. On them, by command of Christ, rest the obligations of knowing and of feeding the flocks committed to their care; and to feed implies, first of all, to teach. "I will give you pastors after my own heart," God promised through Jeremias, "and they shall feed you with knowledge and doctrine." Hence the Apostle Paul said: "Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the Gospel," thereby indicating that the first duty of all those who are entrusted in any way with the government of the Church is to instruct the faithful in the things of God....

. . . Here then it is well to emphasize and insist that for a priest there is no duty more grave or obligation more binding than this. Who, indeed, will deny that knowledge should be joined to holiness of life in the priest? "For the lips of the priest shall keep knowledge." The Church demands this knowledge of those who are to be ordained to the priesthood. Why? Because the Christian people expect from them knowledge of the divine law, and it was for that end that they were sent by God. "And they shall seek the law at his mouth; because He is the messenger of the Lord of Hosts." Thus the bishop speaking to the candidates for the priesthood in the ordination ceremony says: "Let your teaching be a spiritual remedy for God's people; may they be worthy fellow workers of our order; and thus meditating day and night on His law, they may believe what they read, and teach what they shall believe.". . .

. . . In order to enkindle the zeal of the ministers of God, We again insist on the need to reach the ever-increasing number of those who know nothing at all of religion, or who possess at most such knowledge of God and Christian truths as befits idolaters. How many there are, alas, not only among the young, but among adults and those advanced in years, who know nothing of the chief mysteries of faith; who on hearing the name of Christ can only ask: "Who is He . . . that I may believe in Him?" In consequence of this ignorance, they do not consider it a crime to excite and nourish hatred against their neighbor, to enter into most unjust contracts, to do business in dishonest fashion, to hold the funds of others at an exhorbitant interest rate, and to commit other iniquities not less reprehensible. They are, moreover, ignorant of the law of Christ which not only condemns immoral actions, but also forbids deliberate immoral thoughts and desires. Even when for some reason or other they avoid sensual pleasures, they nevertheless entertain evil thoughts without the least scruple, thereby multiplying their sins above the number of hairs of the head. These persons are found, we deem it necessary to repeat, not merely among the poorer classes of the people or in sparsely settled districts, but also among those in the higher walks of life, even, indeed, among those puffed up with learning, who, relying upon a vain erudition, feel free to ridicule religion . . .

. . . What We have said so far demonstrates the supreme importance of religious instruction. We ought, therefore, to do all that lies in our power to maintain the teaching of Christian doctrine with full vigor, and where such is neglected, to restore it; for in the words of Our predecessor, Benedict XIV, "There is nothing more effective than catechetical instruction to spread the glory of God and to secure the salvation of souls."

(trans. by J. B. Collins in Catechetical Documents of Pope Pius X, Paterson, N. J., 1946.)

Collect of St Remaclus of Maastricht, Bishop & Confessor ~ Indulgenced on the Saint's Feast (See Note)

According to the Apostolic Penitentiary, a partial indulgence is granted to those who, on the feast of any Saint, recite in his honour the oration of the Missal or any other approved by legitimate Authority.

V. O Lord, hear my prayer.

R. And let my cry come unto thee.
Let us pray.

O Lord, we beseech Thee, hear the prayers which we offer Thee on the solemnity of Blessed Remaclus, Thy Bishop & Confessor and by the interceding merits of him who worthily attained to serve Thee, absolve us from all our sins.

Through Jesus Christ, Thy Son our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end.

R. Amen.  

Nota bene ~ St Remaclus is not celebrated on the Universal Calendar, but according to the Martyrology, today is his Feast Day. The Collect is taken from the Common of Confessor Bishops.

Collect of St Pius X, Pope & Confessor ~ Indulgenced on the Saint's Feast

According to the Apostolic Penitentiary, a partial indulgence is granted to those who, on the feast of any Saint, recite in his honour the oration of the Missal or any other approved by legitimate Authority.

V. O Lord, hear my prayer.

R. And let my cry come unto thee.
Let us pray.
O God, Who to safeguard Catholic faith and to restore all things in Christ, didst fill the Supreme Pontiff, Saint Pius, with heavenly wisdom and apostolic fortitude: grant in Thy mercy: that by striving to fulfil his ordinances and to follow his example, we may reap eternal rewards.

Through the same Jesus Christ, Thy Son our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end.

R. Amen. 

From Dante’s Inferno to Erasmus’s In Praise of Folly: Papal Magisterium in Support of Satire and Invective Against Popes

"Writers on this site often inveigh against hyper-papalism or ultramontanism, evaluated as vices. Pre- and post-Vatican II popes agree in principle and have even taught it magisterially in a way unfortunately overlooked."

From Rorate Cæli

By Fr Romano Tommasi

Writers on this site often inveigh against hyper-papalism or ultramontanism, evaluated as vices. Pre- and post-Vatican II popes agree in principle and have even taught it magisterially in a way unfortunately overlooked.

Like a journal editor who tears to shreds a scholar’s blood, sweat, and tears, the taskmaster’s list of errata and objections to unsubstantiated, innovative arguments can move a scholar toward self-reflection on his method and call him to humility.

Historically, popes were given a similar choice: Be virtuous (or begin to be virtuous) and accept correction, or bristle and threaten excommunication and anathema. Two wonderful cases are Dante and Erasmus, the first a layman, the second an (unwilling) Augustinian priest. These cases show that traditionalist imitation of the literary form of invective can be righteous, but they also demand from traditionalists at least the secular virtue of learning, and preferably all the theological virtues.

A lacerating stylus against popes is extolled by the magisterium itself—or at other times at least not condemned—if and only if it proceeds from love of the Church and reverence for the Keys of Peter. This obligation exists for an inveighing essayist, not merely for the addressee.

We begin with Dante who, unlike Catholic media and papalist academic culture today, has the ability to attack an individual pope for his antics while revering the apostolic office as his very motivation for doing so. Dante, in a far more dangerous age for such penmanship, attacked three popes, some living and others recently deceased. Let us take a quick look at Inferno XIX.52-57:

Are you already standing there, are you already there, O [pope] Boniface [VIII]? The record has lied to me by several years. Are you so sated with that wealth for the sake of which you did not fear to take by fraud that beautiful Lady [i.e. the Church] and to ravage her?

Traditionalists who author pieces aligned with Rorate today shrink from this language, but like all classically educated men of learning, they celebrate Dante’s every line. Traditionalists see this rhetoric as a bridge too far! Yet, did pre- or post-Vatican II popes see it as an eyesore to be covered up? Minime. Pope Boniface had recently passed at the date of composition, only to be destined by the poet to Hell, in the realm of simony.

Let’s turn to Pope Clement V, the “lawless shepherd” (Inferno XIX.82-87):

For after him shall come one of the fouler deeds, from westward, a shepherd without law, such that he must cover both him and me. A new Jason he shall be, of whom we read in Maccabees, and as his king was indulgent to him, so shall the ruler of France be to this one.

Clement is compared to the wicked high priest Jason befouling the priesthood and Temple and is portrayed as a mere creature of the contemporary political power, groveling to what may be interpreted as the forerunner of the secular state.

Next, we turn to Inferno XIX.90-96, where Dante once again rails against simoniac popes. There, Dante rhetorically asks the Pontiff how much treasure Peter gave to Jesus to purchase his keys?

This culminates in Inferno XIX.97-103 in what would appear to papalists nowadays to be an impossible case: Dante continues his condemnation of Pope Boniface, while professing his utter reverence for the Keys of Peter:

So, stay [to Pope Nicholas] where you are [in Hell], for you are rightly punished; and guard well the ill-gotten money that made you bold against [King] Charles. And were it not that I am still restrained by reverence for the Supreme Keys, which you held in the happy life, I would use words still more severe.

While the traditionalist coterie of Rorate would shrink from writing such things so bald-facedly about recent popes Francis and Leo, Dante recognized the boundaries of proper reverence extended farther than our ultramontane sentiments. Today’s papalists on matters of invective seem analogous to the vestiges of Victorian fashion and taste so popularly lamented.

The affinity between said traditionalists and Dante is most obvious, however, at Inferno XIX.112-114: “You have made yourselves a god of gold and silver; and what difference is there between you and idolaters, except that they worship one and you a hundred?” As the Pachamama papacies proliferate their ecological agenda, we might simply reverse the order: “You have made for yourselves, O Francis and Leo, a god out of [pagan] culture, and what difference is there between you and idolaters, except that they [idolaters] worship their god but you worship yours and theirs together.”

Following the anomalous excommunication of the SSPX, we might apply to the present situation Dante’s prophetic description of Boniface VIII from Inferno XXVII.85-88:

The prince of the new Pharisees having war near the Lateran, and not against Saracens or Jews, for every one of his enemies was Christian.

And why did this medieval pope erringly turn his wrath on fellow Catholics instead of true enemies of the Christian religion? The Supreme Poet gives a diagnosis in Inferno XXVII.91-92:

Neither the highest office nor holy orders did he regard in himself…

Thus, the Fugitive Ghibelline.

Dante’s modern opposites are the papalists-at-all-costs. Fashionable papalists, forbidding the use of reason and revelation together, ought not to be classed among Aquinas’s more noble opponents, the double-truthists of the Parisian Faculty of Arts: Reason—said they—can conclude one thing with scientific certitude but revelation the contrary. Our contemporary papalists hunger only for positive legislation, unacquainted with either natural law or “rational worship” (Romans 12:1). What, instead, does the living magisterium pre- and post-Conciliar judge, irreconcilable with this newfangled incoherence of would-be philosophy?

In answer, enter Pope Benedict XV (In Praeclara Summorum), who directly confronts them, while celebrating the Father of the Italian Language. Ultramontanes in his own day, just as ours, would have found it shocking, were they to understand magisterial teaching better than positive law:

Yet, it will be said: ‘He inveighs with terrible bitterness against the Supreme Pontiffs of his times!’ True! It cannot be denied at that time there were matters on which the clergy might be reproved…

Pope Benedict XV then confronts anti-papal invective, the classical rhetorical form of vituperation (vituperatio):

But, however he might inveigh, rightly or wrongly, against ecclesiastical personages, never did he fail in respect due to the Church and reverence for the “Supreme Keys.”[1]

Io! There it is, in an age of ultramontanism and in spite of anti-Catholic secular European surroundings: The pope refused to adjudicate each case of invective against contemporaneous popes. Why? The Catholic loved the Keys of Peter and wanted them exercised less like Simon and more like Peter. Once the so-called moderates and conservatives integrate the diachronic history of the Church and really give themselves to a hermeneutic of continuity, then an annoying fact manifests itself: the divine gadfly of traditionalism is of great service to the Church, because of its love for the Keys of Peter, not for the acts and character of Boniface VIII.

Lest the papalist remind us that the game has changed since the non-revolutionary Vatican II has made virtue into vice unlike the impolite past, Pope Paul VI taught in Altissimi Cantus (07 December 1965):

Dante is ours! Ours, that is, of the Catholic faith ... ours because he greatly loved the Church ... and ours because he acknowledged and venerated in the Roman Pontiff the Vicar of Christ.

Just to make sure the papalists can’t find so-called distinctions without a difference, by which they exclude laymen (to say nothing of clergy) from lambasting papal actions, the pope (putatively canonized for the sake of Vatican II) spoke more candidly:

Nor do we shrink from recalling that Dante’s voice rose scathing and severe against more than one Roman Pontiff, and that he had harsh rebukes for ecclesiastical institutions and for persons who were ministers and representatives of the Church…. Such fierce attitudes never shook his firm Catholic faith or his filial affection for the Holy Church.

It is too obvious to gloss the reason why the pope does not commend his affection for the three popes, because Dante showed none, depicting them as eternally in Hell, as they were devastating the Lord’s field and sowing tares among the wheat.

Why did Pope Paul VI officially teach that Dante was not schismatic or undermining the papacy? Because he did what he did out of his (Thomistic) understanding of theology and the theological conclusions derived from truths about the Keys of Peter, namely, an axiom whereby St. Peter uttered out of divine revelation the identity of Jesus Christ.

Finally, the sublime irony of Pope Francis completes the magisterial case for severe correction of popes, where the very same liberal darling penned:

Nor does this obligation exempt the Church from accepting also the prophetic criticisms uttered by the poet with regard to those charged with proclaiming the Gospel and representing, not themselves, but Christ.[2]

As we can see, the magisterium designates an unsainted layman to be a prophetic critic of popes of his own time. Should not learned or virtuous traditionalist laymen, and better still those who are both, be appreciated for the same service to Pope Leo XIV today

I fear lest the present pontiff and his entourage might respond thus: “There is one man, Micaiah son of Imlah, through whom we can inquire of the Lord; but I hate him, because he does not prophesy good for me, but evil” (1 Kings 22:8). Yet that is the vocation of Dante, and—according to Francis—an uncanonized layman can be prophetic. “Let him who has ears, hear what the Spirit saith to the churches” (Revelation 3:22), particularly to papalists of Laodicea.

But what of priests? Can the learned, or virtuous, or learned and virtuous priests be of service of the Vatican? Let us highlight the irregular and canonically handicapped Augustinian priest Erasmus of Rotterdam. The Crowning Glory of the Christian Humanists wrote (AD 1511) much against contemporary popes, but his most famous is the marvelous work dedicated to St. Thomas More, In Praise of Folly, which passage I must truncate for want of space:

Now as for the Supreme Pontiffs, who act in the place of Christ: if they were to attempt to imitate his life, namely his poverty, labors, teaching, cross, and contempt for life; if they were even to reflect upon the name “Pope,” that is, “Father,” or upon the title “Most Holy,” what creature on earth would be more afflicted? Or who would purchase that office at the cost of all his possessions [...]?
       How many [worldly] advantages would Wisdom take away from them [i.e. popes], if once she gained entrance! Wisdom, did I say? Nay, even a single grain of that salt of which Christ speaks!
       So much wealth, so many honors [...] so many dispensations, so many revenues, so many indulgences [...] You see what a marketplace, what a harvest, what an ocean of good things [...] in these few words. In place of all these things Wisdom would introduce vigils, fasts, tears, prayers, sermons, studies, sighs, and a thousand miserable labors of this sort. Nor should we overlook what would then happen: all those writers [today’s ghostwriters and consultors], copyists, notaries, advocates, promoters, secretaries, [...] bankers, pimps (lenones) [sic!]. I nearly added something rather more delicate, but I fear it might be too harsh for your ears.
       All this enormous multitude, I say, which burdens, pardon me, I meant to say honors, the Roman See, would be driven to starvation.
       But as things now stand, whatever labor there is, they leave to Peter and Paul, who have plenty of leisure for it. But whatever splendor and pleasure there is, that they take for themselves.
       And thus, through my [i.e. Folly’s] assistance, scarcely any class of men lives more pleasantly or with less anxiety, since they believe they have abundantly satisfied Christ if they play the bishops with mystical and almost theatrical ornamentation [...] titles [...] and with blessings and curses.
       To work miracles is primitive, antiquated, and hardly suited to our times. To teach the people is troublesome. To interpret Sacred Scripture smacks of Schoolmen. To pray is idle. To shed tears is miserable and womanish. [...]
       What remains are weapons and those sweet blessings of which Paul speaks, and these indeed they employ with considerable generosity: interdicts, suspensions, denunciations, aggravated denunciations, anathemas, terrifying pictures, and that dreadful thunderbolt by which, with a mere nod, they cast the souls of mortals down beneath Tartarus itself.
       Yet these thunderbolts the most holy Fathers in Christ and Christ’s vicars hurl against no one more fiercely than against those who, at the devil’s instigation, attempt to diminish or nibble away at the patrimony [viz., rents] of Peter.
       For although Peter says in the Gospel, “We have left everything and followed you,” they call his patrimony lands, cities, taxes, tolls, dominions.
       While they fight for these things, inflamed with Christian zeal [...] they believe that in this way they are apostolically defending Christ’s spouse, the Church [...] As though the Church had any enemies more destructive than impious pontiffs, who allow Christ to disappear in silence, bind him with laws made for profit, adulterate him with forced interpretations, and murder him by their pestilential manner of life. (In Praise of Folly §59; ellipsis mine)

After the virtual condemnation of Pope Julius II by a canonically irregular regular, his successor Pope Leo X wrote thus of Erasmus to Henry VIII in a papal brief: “Erasmus of Rotterdam, whom we reckon among the foremost men of this kind of learning and erudition…”[3] Why? Erasmus’s exceptional reputation for erudition, along with conspicuous virtues, meant that Pope Leo was disposed to praise with paeans, not eschew with excommunication, the irregular cleric who had published the notorious In Praise of Folly. Later, Pope Paul III, in a 31 May 1535 papal brief, lauded Erasmus: “whose famous name we have always loved and whose learning we have always highly esteemed.” Both pontiffs did not judge satire of papal dereliction of duty, even when public and biting, to smack of either schism or disobedience in the least.

Yet, perhaps inspired by the New Ethic from today’s Vatican, someone will quote me the adage: alia tempora, alii mores. Ignoring the locus theologicus of history and even more so Roman magisterium, he refers to the past as passé only thereby making precisely the traditionalist’s point: “What earlier generations held as sacred, remains sacred and great for us too, and it cannot be all of a sudden entirely forbidden or even considered harmful” (Pope Benedict XVI, 7 July 2007, Letter to the Bishops accompanying Summorum Pontificum).

In short, satire and vituperation of whatever is not Catholic, even when directed against popes and their acolytes, are not merely historically but magisterially appreciated in the annals of the Holy See and are not, by themselves, a breach of charity or grounds for the accusation of schism.  

NOTES 

[1] Benedict XV, Encyclical In praeclara summorum (30 April 1921), Acta Apostolicae Sedis 13 (1921): 209–217, especially §6.

[2] Francis, Apostolic Letter: Candor lucis aeternae, 25 March 2021.

[3] Leo X, Leo X to Henry VIII (10 July 1515): Epistle 339, in Collected Works of Erasmus..., 3:142–43