Pope Saint Pius V

His life:

+ Antonio Ghislieri was born in northern Italy in 1504. At the age of 14 he entered the Dominican Order, and he was ordained to the priesthood in 1528.

+ For the next 16 years he served as a professor, provincial, and commissary general of the Roman Inquisition.

+ In 1556 he was ordained a bishop, and in 1558 he was named a cardinal and appointed Inquisitor General for the Catholic world. Despite his unwillingness, he was elected pope in 1566, thanks in large part to the influence of Saint Charles Borromeo.

+ As Pope Pius V he set to work reforming the Church. Known for his charity to the poor, he also insisted on justice and obedience. His liturgical and moral reforms were far-reaching and their success was largely due to the respect that many leaders had for his personal holiness.

+ Concerned with the spread of Protestantism, he was constantly in conflict with Maximilian II of Germany and in 1570 he excommunicated Queen Elizabeth I of England.

+ A controversial historical figure, he left an enduring mark on the Church’s life and worship. He published a new Breviary and Missal, revised the Church’s calendar and ordered a revision of the Roman Martyrology (the Church’s official list of saints). Finally, he issued the Catechism of the Council of Trent, insisting that the catechesis of catechumens and the young be made a priority for all parish priests.

+ Pope Saint Pius V died 1572 and was canonized in 1712.

For prayer and reflection:

“The Lord said: Upon this rock I shall build my Church because Peter has first said: You are Christ, the Son of the living God. The Lord was really saying: I shall build my Church upon the rock which you have acknowledged. For the rock was Christ, and upon this foundation even Peter himself was raised up. Another foundation indeed no one can lay except that which was laid, which is Jesus Christ.”—Saint Augustine of Hippo

Spiritual bonus:

On April 30, we also remember Saint Giuse Tuân. A Dominican priest in Hung Yên, Vietnam, during the persecutions of the Emperor Tự Đức, he was arrested while taking Holy Communion to his sick mother. He was charged as a spy and was executed on April 30, 1861. He was canonized with other Vietnamese martyrs in 1988.

Prayer

O God, who in your providence
raised up Pope Saint Pius the Fifth in your Church
that the faith might be safeguarded
and more fitting worship be offered to you,
grant, through his intercession,
that we may participate in your mysteries
with lively faith and fruitful charity.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever. Amen.

(from The Roman Missal)

Saint profiles prepared by Father Silas Henderson, S.D.S.