Today is April 30, the Optional Memorial of Pope St. Pius V.
In today’s Mass, we read, “But whoever lives the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be clearly seen as done in God.” (Jn 3:21)
Today, the Church honors one of her great reformers: Pope St. Pius V, a Dominican friar whose holiness and courage helped steer the Church through some of her most turbulent waters.
Just yesterday, we celebrated St. Catherine of Siena, another towering Dominican. And now, with Pius V, we continue to walk in the footsteps of truth lived in charity. I hold a special devotion to St. Pius V, not only because he was a son of St. Dominic but because my first assignment as a priest was at St. Pius V Parish in Providence, Rhode Island. At the church entrance there, a striking mosaic shows the saint on his knees, clutching a rosary while the great Battle of Lepanto rages in the background. It captures so well his life of prayer and action, love and truth.
Fierce in truth but gentle in heart
St. Pius V was a reformer of discipline and doctrine, a man of deep personal holiness. He worked tirelessly during the Counter-Reformation to renew the clergy, uphold sound teaching and shape the liturgy that would nourish the faithful for centuries. He lived simply, even as pope — wearing his Dominican habit and giving away his coronation feast to the poor.
St. John Henry Newman once described him as “stern and severe, as far as a heart burning and melted with divine love could be so.” That’s the paradox of the holiness of Pius V: fierce in defense of the truth but gentle in heart. He was, as Newman said, a soldier of Christ in a time when the Church needed courage and clarity.
Pope Francis himself made a quiet, powerful gesture at the beginning of his pontificate by praying at the tomb of Pius V. It was an act of homage to a pope who knew that reform doesn’t begin in policies; it begins in the heart, melted by divine love.
As we continue to celebrate the Easter season, may the intercession of St. Pius V obtain for us the grace to live the truth, to come fully into the light and to serve Christ’s Church with courage and simplicity.
Let us pray,
O God, who in your providence raised up Pope Saint Pius the Fifth in your Church that the faith might be safeguarded and more fitting worship be offered to you, grant, through his intercession, that we may participate in your mysteries with lively faith and fruitful charity. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.
