St Pius X.
1835-1914 ~ Giuseppe Melchoir Sarto was born in Riese, Italy, one of ten children born to a poor working class cobbler. Giuseppe went to school in Riese and then attended a seminary college in Padua for the next eight years training to be a priest. After his ordination, he was assigned to do pastoral work in Tombolo and Salzano, remaining there for the seventeen years. He was chosen to be the bishop of Mantua and also the diocesan chancellor. Mantua was a run-down and neglected diocese and Giuseppe, began the job of reviving and re-organising it. After nine years as bishop, he was elected cardinal of Venice. Pope Leo XIII died in 1903 and Giuseppe was elected to take his place as pope, taking the name, Pius X.
During his reign, he revised and revitalised the Catholic Church by improving church music, encouraging more laity involvement, frequent receiving of Holy Communion, once a day if possible and he opened the way and encouraged for children to take an active part in the liturgy. His motto was “to restore all things in Christ”. Pius was totally against a new wave that was sweeping into the church called “modernism”. A group of intellectuals brought about the movement to bring Catholic beliefs into line with modern philosophy and ideas. He regarded this as a heresy and said all priests teaching theology or working in the parish should take an oath on anti-modernism. The movement eventually died out. At this time, the start of World War I was almost certain to be imminent and he did all he could to prevent it starting. The demands on him were immense and he became ill with pneumonia and died a few days after the war was declared. Some say this stress killed him. He was canonised in 1954.