Friday, April 30
ST.PIUS V (b Italy 1504, Pope 1566-1572), Dominican, Pope and Confessor
Any first reading of the basic facts about Pius V's life is bound to raise the question, why is he not called Pius V the Great? He was a thoroughly holy man who faced great political and ecclesial challenges decisively, beginning with having to implement the epochal Council of Trent (which sat from 1545 and ended in 1563, just three years before he became Pope). What he did in the six years of his papacy, at the peak of the Counter-Reformation, defined the outward identity of the Church for the next 400 years. Born Antonio Ghislieri to a poor family near Turin, he took the name Michele when he became a Dominican friar, distinguishing himself as a professor of theology in Pavia for 16 years. Strongly committed to the defense of the faith, he asked to be named an Inquisitor and caught the attention of Paul IV who made him a cardinal and the Supreme Inquisitor. He was opposed by the next Pope, Pius IV, who deprived him of his office, only to be elected as his successor in 1566 - without the support of any Catholic monarchs, as was usual at the time, but championed by the man many thought would have been elected Pope, the future St. Charles Borromeo, Archbishop of Milan. Pius V inherited a Church that was plagued by corrupt clergy and the immediate consequences of the Protestant Reformation, as well as a Holy Roman Empire under threat from the Turkish armies, and constant bickering among the new nation states of Europe. At the same time, it fell to him to implement the Counter-Reformation measures of the Council of Trent. He established seminaries for the proper formation of priests; he published a Catechism of the Catholic Church during his first year as Pope; he promulgated a standard Roman Missal in 1570 by purging the existing Roman liturgy of non-essential additions over the centuries - a Missal which remained in use, except for minor revisions, until Paul VI's liturgical reform of 1969-70); he revised the breviary for priests; he legislated against clerical abuses; and he served the poor of Rome by using papal funds for banquets to build and fund hospitals. He proclaimed Thomas Aquinas a Doctor of the Church and promoted the liturgical music of Palestrina. He dismissed eight French bishops for heresy and declared Elizabeth I of England a heretic. He organized the Catholic states of Europe into the Holy League that defeated the Turks in the 1571 Battle of Lepanto against all odds, a victory he attributed to Our Lady of the Rosary, also called Our Lady of Victory after Lepanto. Interestingly, he helped Malta in its role as an outpost of Christian defense by sending his architect to design the fortifications of La Valletta, the capital. Yet all his life, he kept strictly to the Dominican Rule of prayer, fasting and austerity. Like a previous Dominican Pope, Innocent V, he preferred to wear his white Dominican habit, and ever since, Popes have worn white. Because of his enlightened defense of the faith, he is the patron saint of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. He is buried in the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore and was canonized in 1712.
Readings of today's Mass: www.usccb.org/nab/readings/043010.shtml
OR today.
Benedict XVI speaks to the new ambassador from the Democratic Republic of the Congo about
Reconstructing the social fabric in a country embroiled in civil war
The Pope indicates criteria for respect of human rights and national reconciliation
Other Page 1 stories: The Pope's address to the bishops of the western African nations of Gambia, Liberia and Sierra Leone; the US and Germany push for immediate aid to debt-strapped Greece; and US doubts about Afghan President Karzai and what he can do to fight corruption. In the inside pages, an article on the publication in France of two volumes putting together all known legends and historical writings by and on Francis of Assisi, and an essay on Catherine of Siena as the first female Doctor of the Church. Also, the text of Cardinal Tauran's address to the fifth World Summit of Religious Leaders held recently in Baku, Azerbaijan.
THE POPE'S DAY
The Holy Father met today with
- The five bishops who conducted the Apostolic Visitation of the Legionaries of Christ
- Participants of the plenary assembly of the Pontifical Academy for Social Sciences. Address in English.
- Cardinal George Pell, Archbishop of Sydney
In the evening, he visited the offices of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, to bless
its newly renovated Chapel. He also visited the relocated Archives and the new offices of Ecclesia Dei.
Afterwards, he addressed the officials and staff of the Congregation.
Earlier, the Holy Father sent a telegram of condolence to the Primate Abbot of the Benedictine Confederation,
Dom Notker Wolf, for the death today of Cardinal Paul Augustin Mayer, O.S.B., emeritus Prefect of the
Congregation for Divine Worship, and of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei.
The Vatican announced that a Mass of Suffrage will be offered for Cardinal Mayer at St. Peter's Basilica
on Monday morning, May 3. Cardinal Sodano will preside at the concelebrated Mass. The Holy Father
will conduct the last rites and deliver the eulogy.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 30/04/2010 17:18]