This Is A Shepherd

[Donna]

St. Pope Pius X (Guiseppe Sarto) began his religious life "a poor country priest." On account of his talents -includng administration, diplomacy, musical ability- but most of all for his absolute self-denial motivated by charity and zeal for souls, his superiors kept promoting him. Father, then Bishop, and later Cardinal Sarto was mortified by each and every promotion, even writing letters to his superiors to protest his unworthiness. His was a true humility in imitation of Christ Jesus - so much so that he honestly could not see of himself what most (including his enemies) did: a saint.

The Commendation Guiseppe Sarto received from the Seminary of Padua

"In discipline second to none, of the greatest ability, blest with a very great memory, and giving the highest promise." (1)

While Assisitant Priest at Tombolo

"He kept just as much as he absolutely had to have to clothe himself. He ate only what he had to, to keep alive; the rest he gave to the poor." (2)

From Don Constantini, Senior Priest at Tombolo

"He is so zealous, so full of good sense and other precious endowments that I can learn much from him." (3)

From Fr. Sarto's Future Secretary of State, the Saintly Cardinal Merry Del Val

"Truly deep and unaffected humility was, I consider, the prominent characteristic of the Holy Father. It struck me to be so entirely the outstanding feature of his whole temperament as to have become in him a second nature. It cost him no effort to be humble because he had a lowly conception of himself, and the rooted conviction that we owe all our powers to God alone made it easier for him to admire the gifts he discerned in others than to discover any of them in himself..." (4)

To Catholics and of all good will living in our 21st Century:" humility is the mother of all virtues", and this most necessary of all virtues is anathemitized as "low self esteem" by the world. It has also been said that humility is the ability to see things and ourselves (reality) as they really are.

Sancte Pio Decimo, ora pro nobis!

(St. Pius X, pray for us!)

Edited July 4, 2003 by Donna

[God Conquers]

Great post Donna! Thanks! I went to St. Pius X high school!

[Donna]

Notes:

(1). Father Hieronymo Dal-Gal, Pius X, The Life Story Of The Beatus, Dublin, M.H. Gill And Son Ltd., 1954. Page 8.

(2). A Symposium On The Life And Work Of Pope Pius X, Prepared Under the Direction of the Episcopal Committee of The Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Published by The Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, D.C., 1946. Page 275.

(3). Giordani Tobin, Pius X, Bruce Publishing Company, 1954. Page 17.

(4). Cardinal Merry del Val, Memories of Pope Pius X, London, Burns, Oates and Washbourne, 1939. Page 62.

[Donna]

Father Sarto was raised to a bishop (diocese of Mantua) after 25 years of being a priest.

Bishop Sarto's First Pastoral Letter

"For the good of souls I will spare neither toil, watching, nor fatigue, and nothing will be closer to my heart than your salvation. Some, perhaps, will wonder what is my basis for making such promises. It is hope, the emblem of which, the anchor, I have had displayed on my Episcopal coat of arms; as Scripture says (Heb. 6:19), hope is the soul's sure and firm anchor; hope is the sole companion of my life, the greatest support in uncertainty, the strongest power in situations of weakness.

"Hope, yes; but not human hope, which is imagained to be the source of the greatest happiness even in the midst of the greatest misfortune; but the hope of Christ, which culminates in the heavenly promises and can strengthen the feeblest man with the greatness of soul and the help of God... I know that, for the salvation of my sheep, I shall have to fight battles, face dangers, accept insults, suffer storms, struggle against the plague which is attacking morality; but my flock... my flock will always find me gentle, kind and full of charity." (5)

(5). Quoted in Yves Chiron, St. Pius X, Restorer of the Church, Angelus Press, 2002. Emphasis in original. Page 54.

Edited July 7, 2003 by Donna

[Donna]

[The following sources are from Dal Gal. Pages 92-93 and 67-68; respectively. For the full source see post three of this thread].

Concerning Bishop Sarto and Charity

"The Mantuans were unanimous in asserting that charity to the poor was the characteristic note of the Episcopate of Mgr. Sarto. His motto was 'Little for self and all for the poor', and this he carried into practice with an inexhaustible generosity which excluded no one, not even his own adversaries or the enemies of the Church..."

Upon A Second Visitation To The Mantuan Seminary He'd Reformed:

"I do not deny that this [implimenting the diocesan catechetical program Bishop Sarto also reformed] will be for me and for you a wearisome labour, but reflect that we did not enter the priesthood to seek a life of comfort. We must work! This is our duty. To be obliged to labour constantly and to be a priest are the same thing. [bishop Sarto also quoted St. Charles Borromeo, who, warned of failing health should he not slow down, 'What use is my health if I don't work?'].

[Donna]

Bishop Sarto warned his priests of liberalism on the rise during the pontificate of Pope Leo XIII:

"No type is more dangerous than this, and to be persuaded of it, it is sufficient to consider the obstinancy with which so-called 'Liberal Catholics' cling to their false doctrine, trying to lure the Church herself into their way of thinking. Priests must watch against that hypocrisy which attempts to enter into the fold of Christ preaching Charity and Prudence, as though it were Charity to let the wolf tear the sheep to pieces, or Virtue to practice that prudence of the flesh which is reproved by God... Priests must watch, for the faith is threatened, less by open denial than by subtlety and falsehood of those perfidious Liberal-Catholics, who, stopping scarcely on the brink of condemned error, find their strength in the appearance of pure doctrine.

"Let priests take care not to accept from the Liberal any ideas which, under the mask of good, pretend to reconcile Justice with Iniquity. Liberal Catholics are wolves in sheep's clothing. The priest must unveil to the people their perfidious plot, their iniquitous design. You will be called Papist, clerical, retrograde, intolerant, but pay no heed to the derision and mockery of the wicked. Have courage; you must never yield, nor is there any need to yield. You must go into the attack whole-heartedly, not in secret but in public, not behind barred doors, but in the open, in the view of all." (1)

(1). Dal Gal, page 68.

[dUSt]

What is Bishop Sarto's definition of a Liberal Catholic?

[cmotherofpirl]

Liberals in Leo's time were a whole diffrent can of worms from liberals today.

[hyperdulia again]

donna i'd pay money to peak at your library..where do you get these things?

[Donna]

Hyper, you're sweet. Most things have come upon me (like that little gal searching for truth that came upon a seminarian of good will ("An Interesting Night").

"Vain Fears", for example was given to me by an acquaintance. It belonged to her father. God bless him!

dUSt, that is a good question. I'm sure the encyclical 'On the Doctrine of the Modernists' (Pascendi) has relevant stuff. I'm thinking #3. "Characteristics of the Modernists" (I posted it once on the old phorum, on Theo's thread about Pscho-something-or-other).

Have you heard of Lamenais (I'm sure I didn't spell it right). Well he was from the 19th century, and on about the church of the future. Pio Nono (Blessed Pope Pius IX) was also concerned about liberals (and referred to 'em by that name: liberal).

I'll try to post an answer on that.

[Donna]

Please refer to "Solemn Invitation" thread.

[Donna]

Bump!

[Donna]

An overview of Modernism, "the synthesis of all heresies" is contained in

The Oath Against Modernism of St. Pope Pius X.

This oath was substituted for a "Profession of Faith" by the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith on May 31, 1967.(My emphasis in red).

THE OATH AGAINST MODERNISM

Sacrorum Antistitum September 1, 1910

To be sworn to by all clergy, pastors,

confessors, preachers, religious super-

iors, and professors in philisophical-theo-

logical seminaries.

I... firmly embrace and accept each and every

definition that has been set forth and declared

by the unerring teaching authority of the Church,

especially those principal truths which are directly

opposed to the errors of this day.

And first of all, I profess that God, the origin and

end of all things, can be known with certainty by

the natural light of reason from the created world,

that is, from the visible works of creation, as a

cause from its effects, and that therefore, His

existence can also be demonstrated.

Secondly, I accept and acknowledge the external

proofs of revelation, that is, divine acts and

especially miracles and prophesies as the surest

signs of the divine origin of the Christian religion and

I hold that these same proofs are well adapted to

the understanding of all eras and all men, even of this time.

Thirdly, I believe with equally firm faith that the Church,

the guardian and teacher of the revealed word, was per-

sonally instituted by the real and historical Christ when

He lived among us, and that the Church was built upon

Peter, the prince of the apostolic hierarchy, and his suc-

cessors for the duration of time.

(to be continued)

[Donna]

Oath Against Modernism continued:

Fourthly, I sincerely hold that the doctrine of faith

was handed down to us from the Apostles through

the orthodox Fathers in exactly the same meaning

and always in the same purport. Therefore, I entirely

reject the heretical misrepresentation that dogmas

evolve and change from one meaning to another,

different from the one which the Church held previous-

ly. I also condemn every error according to which,

in place of the divine deposit which has been given

to the spouse of Christ to be carefully guarded by

her, there is put a philosophical figment or product

of a human concience that has gradually been devel-

oped by human effort and will continue to develop

indefinitely.

(to be continued)

Edited August 5, 2003 by Donna

[Donna]

(OATH AGAINST MODERNISM continued); to be sworn to by all clergy and professors of philosophical-theological seminaries by St. Pope Pius X, Sept. 1, 1910. My emphasis in red).

Fifthly, I hold with certainty and

sincerely confess that faith is not

a blind sentiment of religion welling

up from the depths of the subconscious

under the impulse of the heart and the

motion of a will trained to morality;

but faith is a genuine assent of the intellect

to truth received by hearing from an external

source. By this assent, because of the author-

ity of the supremely truthful God, we belive

true that which has been revealed and attested

to by a personal God, our Creator and Lord.

Furthermore, with due reverence, I sub-

mit and adhere with my whole heart to the

condemnations, declarations, and all the

prescripts contained in the encyclical

Pascendi and in the decree Lamentabili,

especially those concerning what is known

as the history of dogmas.

I also reject the error of those who say that

the faith held by the Church can contradict

history, and that Catholic dogmas, in the

sense in which they are now understood, are

irreconcilable with a more realistic view of

the origins of the Christian religion.

Edited August 18, 2003 by Donna