St. Pius X: A Beacon of Traditional Catholic Faith and Leadership
Summary of Headings
- Introduction
- The Life and Legacy of St. Pius X
- Modern Challenges and Comparisons
- The Definition of Peace
- Proclaiming Christ the King
- Stories of St. Pius X’s Leadership
- Personal Reflections and Call to Action
- The True Peace of Christ
- Conclusion
The Life and Legacy of St. Pius X
We look upon the life of Saint Pius X and he is truly admirable in so many different ways. It's impossible to really just focus on one specific story or one particular event. It's impossible to really just focus on one specific attribute that he has. Obviously his generosity, his poverty, his devotion to the faith, his dedication to the reign of Christ the King, which is most perfectly exemplified by the papal motto that he applied, Instaurare omnia in Christo, to restore all things in Christ. There's any number of things that we can say about him. And of course, unfortunately, because he was such an extraordinary poet, it becomes more difficult for us when we consider where we're at today.
Modern Challenges and Comparisons
We look at the Popes that we have been given for the last 60 years, 70 years, and it's a little difficult for us to try to understand how it is that we went from such extraordinary sanctity, and extraordinary virtue, and extraordinary teaching, to the difficulties that we have today. Which are, at best, we can say, the best thing we can say about him. And the only thing we can possibly say about them is that they are a pale imitation. He was a true Pope, to the point that when he died and when Pius XII was trying to move forward his canonization, the Devil's Advocate dug and dug and dug, looking for anything with which they could accuse him of, to at least make the proceedings interesting. And the worst they could come up with was that he seemed to have an inordinate attachment to tobacco because once a day, he would use tobacco. That was the closest thing that they could possibly get him with. Sometimes it was a cigar, sometimes it was snuff. That's the very worst thing that they could say about him. We can say worse things about Saint Peter. That's how good he was.
The Definition of Peace
He was a truly extraordinary saint on so many levels, and he was definitely a pope for our times. He was a final inspiration given to us by God and his providence to help us through the very worst times, to give us a beacon of light and a guiding star by which we could see our way through the storms that were hitting the church as he was pope, but also before, a little before, and all after. He saw so much of the pain and suffering in the world, so much of the loss of faith. He saw the heresies pouring out into the church. He saw so many difficulties ahead for the church and for the world, and he dedicated himself wholly and entirely to one simple thing, and that was to restore all things in Christ, because he understood in a way that probably we do not, that the only solution to all of these problems is our Lord Jesus Christ.
Proclaiming Christ the King
And like I said earlier, it's easy for us to try to draw comparisons with the more current or more recent popes, and unfortunately they will always come up short. And as I said, it's not quite fair, because even Saint Peter seems to be a little bit more short in comparison to Saint Pius X. But what we want to prove in this situation is just simply that what is lacking? Why is it that these comparisons fall short? Well, we can focus on any number of things, by the way. There's all sorts of things that we could draw comparisons from which would glorify Saint Pius X and castigate the modern pontiffs. But specifically, I'd like to talk about something which is a good thing in itself, but definitely not sufficient, which is the pope's recent declarations and prayers for peace.
Of course, every pope should desire peace. Each and every one of us should desire peace. Each and every one of us should lament the many deaths that occur all around the globe because of the thoughtless greed or manipulation or destruction or political maneuvering or anything else that is causing all of these wars across the world. And all of these massacres and slaughters and everything else that is going on around the world, which, by the by, has also been going on since the dawn of man. It's important for us to understand that this is nothing new, but that doesn't make it okay. Of course, we should want it to end. But the problem is, there's only one person who can end it, and that is our Lord Jesus Christ. And there's only one way that he can end it, and that is by his reign, completely and utterly conquering this world. That his reign is established universally. It is the only way that peace can truly be established.
Stories of St. Pius X’s Leadership
And that is the missing part of the equation. Everybody talks about peace. Everybody talks about an end to the killing. Everybody wants everybody to be happy and prosperous and at peace, etc. But the problem is the definition of peace that is used. Peace does not mean a lack of war. But rather, war is the lack of peace. Peace means the tranquility of order. And the only way that there can be a tranquility of order is if our Lord Jesus Christ is king. And if his kingdom is universally recognized and followed. It is the only possible way. This doesn't mean that it can only happen at the end of the world. This does not mean that it can only happen when our Lord Jesus Christ comes back in glory in heaven. But it is rather supposed to mean that this is what our job and our mission must be. To proclaim the order and the peace of Christ wherever we go. To make sure that we are declaring Christ our king through our actions and through our lives and in our households. That is what we are supposed to be gearing towards. That is what we are supposed to be fighting for.
It is unfortunate that we are not what is being taught in Rome. The successor of St. Peter, the successor of St. Pius X, prays for peace and nothing else. Which means ending wars and nobody getting hurt and nothing else. But even this accomplishment, as extraordinary as it would be, would still not be enough. There is no way that peace can be achieved without the prince of peace. If it were, it would be a mockery of peace. It would be a phony peace. A material peace and nothing else. But even that would be impossible. We tend to be divisive at the very best of times. It would be impossible for us to maintain any sort of a peace.
Personal Reflections and Call to Action
As vicar of Christ, St. Pius X understood his job was very simply and univocally to declare Christ the king and to fight for the rights of Christ the king against every possible person who tried to violate those rights. There is the famous story of which some people have tried to tell me, one person tried to tell me, it was actually Pius IX, but I insist it was Pius X. It was Pius X. Because that's all I've ever heard. Of a rather infamous Protestant minister from England trying to proclaim ecumenism throughout the world, was trying to get the endorsement of the Pope for ecumenism and for the establishment of, shall we say, interfaith dialogue, I believe as it's referred to now. And he went to Rome for the purpose of receiving a blessing from the Holy Father, from St. Pius X, and to therefore proclaim to the world that the Pope was a Protestant. The Pope has blessed Protestantism because he was coming as a representative of Protestantism. The Pope knew about this and refused to give him a blessing.
Well, the man persisted and was being rather annoying about it, so St. Pius X gave the same blessing that we give to incense. I bless you in the honor of whom you are to be burned. Very harsh, not nice, but it was necessary. It was necessary to establish the truth of the matter. There is no salvation outside the church, period. Christ is king, period. His sovereignty comes about through the Catholic Church and through no other, period. And that is why I cannot bless Protestantism. That is why I cannot bless you as a representative as such, except in that light. You will serve God. Let none of you look up to God, though. If you totally accept the light of your own body, But only voluntarily if you accept the light of the Catholic Church.
The True Peace of Christ
Again, not nice, but it was necessary. St. Pius X was extraordinarily charitable, extraordinarily so, to the point that after he died, Protestant ministers and the Protestant Governments he had fought against, his entire Pontificate, paid his tribute to him for someone who was unfailingly charitable. And even the person who received that awful blessing recognized that at least he was standing for his principles and not just simply coming to be the nice guy.
He was someone who was so concerned with all the goings on in the world who was carrying upon himself the heavy load of the entire church. And yet, when he chose his secretary of state, Cardinal Mary Duval, there was a child. He found a child in the Vatican crying. And it turned out that because he had taken Cardinal Mary Duval to be a secretary of state, he had taken him away from a youth center where he used to go and hear confessions. And the boy said, how am I going to hear? How am I going to be able to have my confession heard now that you've taken my cardinal away from me? And the pope showed him his own office door and said, if the cardinal's ever too busy, knock on that door and I'll hear your confession. So a man with all the weight of the world upon his shoulders still understood and appreciated the necessity for a pastor to be able to hear confessions and was never going to deprive a single person of that.
Conclusion
He was a man of just of great simplicity and great moment. He was a man of great generosity and great poverty. Nothing he ever proclaimed, nothing he ever was showy or flashy about, as is evident by the fact that he was a man of great generosity and great poverty. He was a man of great generosity and great poverty. And he was a man of great generosity and great poverty. And he was a man of great generosity and great poverty. And he was a man of great generosity and great poverty. And he was a man of great generosity and great poverty. And he was a man of great generosity and great poverty. And he was a man of great generosity and great poverty. And he was a man of great generosity and great poverty. And he was a man of great generosity and great poverty. And he was a man of great generosity and great poverty. And he was a man of great generosity and great poverty. And he was a man of great generosity and great poverty. And he was a man of great generosity and great poverty. And he was a man of great generosity and great poverty. And he was a man of great generosity and great poverty. And he was a man of great generosity and great poverty. And he was a man of great generosity and great poverty. And he was a man of great generosity and great poverty. And he was a man of great generosity and great poverty. And he was a man of great generosity and great poverty. And he was a man of great generosity and great poverty.
He prayed for peace, too, but in a very different way from how we hear the prayers for peace going now. He didn't get all the religions together in Assisi to beg all God through all religions, etc., for peace. Especially not three times. But he did it simply by fighting against the coming World War I. He foresaw it. He received visions and dreams about it. He saw the desolation. He saw the millions of people dead in useless attempts to try to advance a few meters. He saw all the suffering that was to come. And he wept for it. And he suffered for it. And he fought against it. He begged the European leaders to not let Europe be cast into this chaos. He tried to get the US to advocate against any sort of future conflict and to try to get involved in European politics to help stymie this problem that he saw coming. But most importantly, he prayed and he sacrificed. And he went to the one place that we know he needed to be which was at the Holy Mass. That is where he centered all things.
But he never, never, ever just asked for peace as such. He wanted peace in Christ. And that's what he fought for. When the governments of the world were rejecting him. When the governments of the world were rejecting his pontificate. and the Catholic Church, specifically France, the so-called eldest daughter of the Church, with their most recent republic, went on a persecution against the Church, demanding that he accept their word as to who would be a good bishop and who would not, that he accept their candidates for the episcopacy in France, and that he couldn't have the autonomy of choosing who would be good bishops. And if he didn't comply, they would take all the goods of the Church away, all the properties of the Church would now be theirs, and the pensions of the priests and everything else would no longer be theirs.
So St. Pius X warned the faithful, warned the bishops that he was going to consecrate, and told them that I cannot bend on this rule, because Christ is King, and that is that. So he consecrated bishops, and to this day, the Church does not own any property in France. We're practically the only Catholic institution that owns any property in France, because the government took everything because of that simple action, but he did not bend the knee to the Masonic government of France. He did not put Christ the King second. And it's been difficult, of course, because the faithful have to step up and do more, because the priests have to suffer a little bit more. They don't have the protection and the help of the government, to take care of the churches and everything else. So now, they have to do so much more on their own. But it was the right choice, because he chose Christ above politics, Christ above material peace, Christ above this world, because that is what we must all do.
When we contemplate all of these stories of his life, and all the examples that he gave us of how we are supposed to live our faith, it is necessary for us to also contemplate this simple question. How much do I sacrifice to be looked upon with good regard in the world, our co-workers, our friends? How much do we sacrifice on the altar of niceness, just to be able to have somebody's good regard, to have somebody's good opinion, that somebody can look up to us, somebody can smile at us, so that we don't have to deal with the conflicts all around us, and the problems that naturally come from being faithful to God, and from being faithful to the disciples of Christ? How much do we give up for the rights of Christ the King, simply to accommodate ourselves into this world?
And it could be any form. It can be morally. It can be doctrinally. It could be just simply not being as open about our faith. We don't want people looking at us strangely, so we don't make the sign of the cross when we say our grace before meals. Even that much. What do we do, ourselves, to proclaim Christ the King openly and publicly? Again, we don't have to go into the park and be preachers in the middle of the street. But we must still proclaim Him. What do we do to proclaim Him in the house? What do we do to shut out His enemies from our homes? What do we do to make sure that our lives are dedicated to Him? To make sure that our lives are dedicated to His service, and not to our own, and not to the world, and not to the flesh, and not to the devil? Does Christ truly reign? Do we work to restore all things in Christ?
We live in a truly godless society. One that hates the church and hates the world, and is just looking for an excuse to come after His church, and to come after His servants. Does this mean that we are supposed to shut out and shy away from that fact? That we are supposed to make nice, and not rock the boat in any way? Well, obviously we don't have the role of St. Pius X. We can't do so on a global scale. But at the very least, within our own homes, within our own families, within our own personal lives, within our own conscience, we can proclaim Christ the King. We can never shy away from it. We can put Him above all things in our lives, and truly serve Him day in and day out, in all the little, miniscule ways that He asks of us to proclaim Him. And choose Him above everything else, no matter what it may cost us, no matter how difficult it may be, no matter what we may have to sacrifice for it.
We don't look for peace in this world. We look for the peace of Christ. Period. And that doesn't matter if it's in the small way of just having peace within our own soul, of our conscience being united with the will of God, or if it means the violence that is necessary to uphold Catholic law above that of this world. It does not matter what it is we have to sacrifice. The peace of Christ must reign, and is the only peace we must search for. Every other peace is not worth it. Every other peace is a simple ape, a simple imitation of what true peace of Christ is. And so therefore, if we want peace, we must prepare for war. War against ourselves. War against our temptations. War against the flesh and the devil. War against the world. War against all the enemies of Christ, of which we, unfortunately, many times, can be counted. War against all things that are not Christ. Because that is the only battle worth fighting, and that is the only life worth living. And that is the only goal that we must have within our souls. Like St. Pius X, willing to sacrifice so much. Like him, accepting the pontificate as Christ did at Calvary. First running away and asking if it were possible, let this chalice pass from me. But finally at the end embracing it, knowing how bad it was going to be for himself. Like Christ embracing that same cross. We must do the same. If we want the peace of Christ, it comes through the cross of Christ. And every moment of every day, we have that opportunity to embrace it. To restore a little bit more of our lives and our world to Christ. Through our actions and our decisions. Through our intentions and our will. And by doing so, we must follow the example of St. Pius X, the Pope and a leader for our day and age. For our situation in which we find ourselves now. So that we can follow him all the way to heaven. Following and serving Christ the King every step of the way. Que viva Cristo Rey. Father and Son, the Holy Ghost. Amen. army Thank you.