Saint of the Day † (April 30) ✠ St. Pius V ✠ 225th Pope:

 † Saint of the Day †

(April 30)

✠ St. Pius V ✠

225th Pope:

Birth name: Antonio Ghislieri

Born: January 17, 1504

Bosco, Duchy of Milan

Died: May 1, 1572 (Aged 68)

Rome, Papal States

Venerated in: Catholic Church

Beatified: May 1, 1672

Pope Clement X

Canonized: May 22, 1712

Pope Clement XI

Feast: April 30

Patronage:

Valletta, Malta, Bosco Marengo, Italy, Pietrelcina, Italy, Roccaforte, Mondovi, Diocese of Alessandria

Pope Pius V, born Antonio Ghislieri, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 8 January 1566 to his death in 1572. He is venerated as a saint of the Catholic Church. He is chiefly notable for his role in the Council of Trent, the Counter-Reformation, and the standardization of the Roman rite within the Latin Church. Pius V declared Thomas Aquinas a Doctor of the Church.

As a cardinal, Ghislieri gained a reputation for putting orthodoxy before personalities, prosecuting eight French bishops for heresy. He also stood firm against nepotism, rebuking his predecessor Pope Pius IV to his face when he wanted to make a 13-year-old member of his family a cardinal and subsidize a nephew from the papal treasury.

By means of the papal bull of 1570, Regnans in Excelsis, Pius V excommunicated Elizabeth I of England for heresy and persecution of English Catholics during her reign. He also arranged the formation of the Holy League, an alliance of Catholic states to combat the advancement of the Ottoman Empire in Eastern Europe. Although outnumbered, the Holy League famously defeated the Ottomans at the Battle of Lepanto in 1571. Pius V attributed the victory to the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary and instituted the feast of Our Lady of Victory. Biographers report that as the Battle of Lepanto ended, Pius rose and went over to a window, where he stood gazing toward the East. "...Looking at the sky, he cried out, 'A truce to business; our great task at present is to thank God for the victory which He has just given the Christian army'."

Biography:

Early life:

Antonio Ghislieri was born on 17 January 1504 in Bosco in the Duchy of Milan, Italy. At the age of fourteen, he entered the Dominican Order, taking the name Michele, passing from the monastery of Voghera to that of Vigevano, and thence to Bologna. Ordained priest at Genoa in 1528, he was sent by his order to Pavia, where he lectured for sixteen years. At Parma, he advanced thirty propositions in support of the papal chair and against the Protestant Reformation.

He became master of novices and was on several occasions elected prior to more than one Dominican priory. During a time of great moral laxity, he insisted on discipline and strove to develop the practice of the monastic virtues. He fasted, did penance, passed long hours of the night in meditation and prayer, travelled on foot without a cloak in deep silence, or only speaking to his companions of the things of God. As his reformist zeal provoked resentment, he was compelled to return to Rome in 1550, where, after having been employed in several inquisitorial missions, he was elected to the commissariat of the Holy Office.

In 1556 he was made Bishop of Sutri by Pope Paul IV and was selected as inquisitor of the faith in Milan and Lombardy. In 1557 he was made a cardinal and named inquisitor general for all Christendom. His defence of Bartolomé Carranza, Archbishop of Toledo, who had been suspected of heresy by the Spanish Inquisition, earned him a rebuff from the Pope.

Under Pope Pius IV, he became bishop of Mondovi in Piedmont. Frequently called to Rome, he displayed his unflinching zeal in all the affairs on which he was consulted. Thus he offered an insurmountable opposition to Pius IV when the latter wished to admit Ferdinand de Medici, then only thirteen years old, into the Sacred College. His opposition to the pontiff procured his dismissal from the palace and the abridgement of his authority as an inquisitor.

Papal election:

Before Michele Ghislieri could return to his episcopate, Pope Pius IV died. On 8 January 1566, Ghislieri, with the influential backing of Charles Borromeo, was elected to the papal throne, taking the name Pope Pius V. He was crowned ten days later, on his 62nd birthday by the protodeacon.

Cardinal Borromeo wrote to the Portuguese Cardinal Henrique six weeks following the conclave where he recalled the election of the new pope. The cardinal referred to having "high esteem for him on account of his singular holiness and zeal" and saw these qualities as a signal that he would make a good pope "to the great satisfaction of all". On 4 January, a courier from Spain arrived prompting rumours that King Philip II endorsed Cardinal Ghislieri, giving Borromeo and his allies the chance to capitalize on the confusion. This led to an increase in votes for Ghislieri as the cardinals conferred with each other, leading to the election of the new pope in the afternoon of 8 January.

Church discipline:

Aware of the necessity of restoring discipline and morality at Rome to ensure success without, he at once proceeded to reduce the cost of the papal court after the manner of the Dominican Order to which he belonged, compel residence among the clergy, regulate inns, and assert the importance of the ceremonial in general and the liturgy of the Mass in particular.

Three national synods were held during his pontificate at Naples under Alfonso Cardinal Caraffa (whose family had, after inquiry, been reinstated by Pius V), at Milan under Saint Charles Borromeo, and at Machine. In his wider policy, which was characterized throughout by an effective stringency, the maintenance and increase of the efficacy of the Inquisition and the enforcement of the canons and decrees of the Council of Trent had precedence over other considerations.

In the 16th century, at the time of St. Pius V, the Island of Malta was governed by the Knights of the Order of the Hospital of Saint John. It was a religious military order dating from the Middle Ages, founded in Jerusalem in 1080 shortly before the crusaders conquered the Holy Land. They became known as the Knights Hospitaller or Knights of St. John of Jerusalem.

With the loss of the Holy Land, the Knights of St. John moved to Rhodes, and then to Malta at the beginning of the 16th century. There they stayed until the late 18th century when Napoleon expelled the Order from the Island. They moved their headquarters to Rome but conserved the name Order of Malta to this day.

At the time of St. Pius V, Malta was an advanced defence position in the European Mediterranean Sea against the Mohammedan ships. Those ships were based in Turkey and North Africa, occupied by Muslim nations. As tensions increased, St. Pius V addressed Philip II, asking for support for the Knights of Malta. Here is the first part of the Pope’s letter to the Spanish King:

“To Our Most Dear Son in Christ, Philip II, Catholic King of Spain,

“It is certain and secure that Our most powerful enemy, the Sultan of the Turks, is preparing a large fleet, an armada such as none that ever existed before. He is making these preparations with the intent to assault Malta, destroy the Military Order of Saint John and take possession of the Island. It is said that he is eager to conquer it, both for the great strategic advantage it can offer and to repair for the shame suffered by the Turks in the previous siege.

“Since the Order cannot resist against such enormous forces for long, Our most dear son Jean de la Valette, its Grand Master, is obliged to ask the assistance of the Christian Princes against the common enemy, the enemy of Christendom.

“We do not doubt that Your Majesty and your people will willingly come to help him. It is as much for your own interest to act so that an island so close to Italy and Sicily will not fall into enemy hands.”

Comments:

This letter has some beautiful aspects. The first is the way the Pope treats King Philip II. He addresses him with these words: “To Our Most Dear Son in Christ, Philip II, Catholic King.” It is beautiful to see how the Popes of that time, following official protocol, could address all the great powers of the earth as a father addresses his sons. He calls “Our most dear son” the man who was one of the most powerful monarchs in the world, a king in whose domains the sun never sets.

The title of “Catholic King” is also very beautiful. Throughout history, the Holy See granted various sovereigns titles to glorify them when they achieved great deeds for the Church. Thus, to the King of the firstborn daughter of the Church, France, the Church gave the title of “Most Christian King.” To the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, heir of Charlemagne, whose imperial power had been granted by the Church, she gave the title “his Caesarean Majesty;” to the King of Hungary, “his Apostolic Majesty;” to the King of Portugal, “Most Faithful Majesty;” to the King of England, “Defender of the Faith” and to the King of Spain, Rex Catholicus - the “Catholic King,” because Spain had been the Catholic nation par excellence.

You should not imagine that these titles were mere protocol. They also pervaded the practical reality. This letter gives us an example of how the Pope wrote to the King of Spain as a son, giving him very clear reasoning for his request: “The Knights of the Order of Malta, who are so dear to me and who are the support of Christendom, need help. Therefore, you must assist them.” Nothing could be more clear and simple. If the King of Spain is the Catholic King, then he must come to the aid of those few Catholics who defend all of Christendom.

What a sharp contrast this makes with the modern States! Today, if we were to have a Pope like St. Pius V - Alas, how far we are from this! - it would be extremely difficult for him to move any temporal head of State to help the Church of Christendom. At that time, how easy it was!

It is true that the Pope also offered an argument for the temporal interest of Spain: he mentioned that the Spanish possessions in Sicily and Italy would be dangerously threatened by the fall of Malta. But, this was a secondary reason. The fundamental motive was that the Catholic Faith and the interests of Christendom would be threatened.

Those were truly happy times. What grand perspectives! How notably the political life was enlightened by a great Faith! We have a strong nostalgia for those times. There is no greater nostalgia than the one we have for those times that we did not even know, but whose atmosphere we can discern by means of our Catholic sense. It is a great nostalgia, a great joy, and a great hope that much better times will return for the Church and Christendom.

Since today there are no longer Catholic Kings who can support the Counter-Revolution, on this feast day of St. Pius V, let us ask him to intercede with the Princes of Heaven, the Holy Angels so that they might come to help those few knights who fight against the enemies of the Church, so much larger in number and means.