Pius X, Saint, 1835–1914, pope (1903–14), an Italian named Giuseppe Sarto, b. near Treviso; successor of Leo XIII and predecessor of Benedict XV. Ordained in 1858, he became bishop of Mantua (1884), a cardinal (1893), and patriarch of Venice (1893). Soon after his accession to the Holy See he found himself in major conflict with the French government over the latter's regulation of church affairs. The government finally decreed (1905) the separation of church and state and sequestered church property. Pius was more conciliatory toward the Italian government, relaxing the church's strictures on participation by Roman Catholics in political life. In the decree Lamentabili (1907) and the encyclical Pascendi (1907), Pius condemned religious modernism modernism, in religion, a general movement in the late 19th and 20th cent. that tried to reconcile historical Christianity with the findings of modern science and philosophy.
..... Click the link for more information. , and disciplinary measures were taken to stamp out what he called the "synthesis of all heresies." The pope set up a commission to recodify the canon law; he encouraged the use of plainsong; he set up the new Roman breviary as the norm for the whole church; he made the Roman congregations more efficient; he set up a commission to translate the Bible anew; and he regularized the position of the hierarchies in many countries. Known for his interest in the poor, he was widely venerated during his lifetime. He was canonized (1954) by Pius XII. Feast: Sept. 3.

Bibliography

See All Things in Christ: Encyclicals and Selected Documents of Saint Pius X (ed. by V. A. Yzermans, 1954); biographies by M. G. Dal-Gal (tr. 1954), L. von Matt and N. Vian (tr. 1955, repr. 1963), and J. O. Smit (tr. 1965).

Pius X, Saint

orig. Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto

(born June 2, 1835, Riese, Venetia, Austrian Empire—died Aug. 20, 1914, Rome, Italy; canonized May 29, 1954; feast day August 21) Pope (1903–14). Born in the Italian region of Venetia, he became bishop of Mantua in 1884 and patriarch of Venice in 1893. He was elected pope in 1903 and soon became known both for his piety and for his staunch religious and political conservatism. Pius suppressed the Catholic intellectual movement known as Modernism and opposed the political movement for social reform known as Christian Democracy. He worked to organize the laity for collaboration in the church's apostolic work, and he reformed the Catholic liturgy. His decision to systematize canon law led to the publication of the new code in 1917, which became effective in 1918.