Pope St. Pius X
Feast day: August 21
Born in 1835 in northern Italy, Giuseppe Sarto was ordained a priest at age 23. After being ordained for the Treviso Diocese, he served in small parishes before being named diocesan chancellor and spiritual director of the seminary. Pope Leo XIII named him bishop of Mantua in 1884 and a cardinal and patriarch of Venice in 1893. He was elected pope in 1903. Taking the name Pius, his papal motto was “To restore all things in Christ.” During his pontificate, he lowered the age of first Communion and opposed the heresy of modernism. For his dedication to promoting daily Communion, he was called the “Pope of the Eucharist.” He was canonized in 1954 by Pope Pius XII.
Collect
O God, who to safeguard the Catholic faith
and to restore all things in Christ,
filled Pope Saint Pius the Tenth
with heavenly wisdom and apostolic fortitude,
graciously grant
that, following his teaching and example,
we may gain an eternal prize.
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.
