Robin Anderson - St. Pius V: His Life, Times, Virtues and Miracles

ST. PIUS V

A Brief Account of His
Life, Times, Virtues and Miracles

By
Robin Anderson

Foreword by

Alfredo Cardinal Ottaviani

Copyright 1978 by Robin Anderson.

Originally published in 1973 by St. Michael's Press. Republished in 1978 by TAN Books and Publishers, Inc. Retypeset and republished again in 1989 by TAN Books and Publishers, Inc. Typography is the property of TAN Books and Publishers, Inc., and may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, without written permission of the publisher.

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 88-51510

ISBN: 0-89555-354-6

The photo on the front cover is of the statue of Pope St. Pius V by Leonardo da Sarzana located in the Sistine Chapel of St. Mary Major's Basilica in Rome.

TAN Books
Charlotte, North Carolina
www.TANBooks.com

1989

OTHER WORKS BY THE AUTHOR

Rome Churches for English-Speaking People

The Quiet GraveIntimate Journals

Between Two WarsThe Life of Pius XI

Gleams of English-Language Literature

Pope Pius VIIHis Life, Times, and
Struggle with Napoleon in the
Aftermath of the French Revolution

PRAYER TO ST. PIUS V
from the Dominican Liturgy

O St. Pius V, admirable Pastor, remember thy flock! Before the Supreme Judge of all, come to the aid of thy faithful! Who can better intercede for us? For none labored more intensely to further God's glory on earth.

CONTENTS

SOME PRINCIPAL DATES
IN THE LIFE OF ST. PIUS V

FOREWORD

This book by Prof. Anderson does something truly opportune and praiseworthy in giving an account of the virtues and merits of St. Pius V, great saint, glorious defender of Christian standards, valiant guardian of the treasures of truth, justice and sanctity which the Church was born to spread throughout the world.

And this is all the more opportune in our age when materialism, Communism, humanism and atheism "convenerunt in unum adversus Dominum et adversus Christum ejus."

God's mysterious designs were revealed in a singular way when Michael Ghislieri, withdrawn from the particular and limited duties of a local apostolate, was elected to the Throne of the Supreme Pontificate.

Rome, the Church, the entire world needed a man of the temper, holiness and energetic action such as were proper to him.

Mohammedanism threatened a devastating storm, but Providence raised up the man who might be the worthy and fitting instrument to subdue it.

Lepanto gave Christendom no mere passing victory of restricted range and importance; it was the mainspring of the recovery that freed the Christian world from a disastrous reverse and enabled the Church to carry on her evangelizing mission with security.

And in this regard it should indeed be clearly shown how the Supreme Pontificate was then, and always will be, the effective bulwark of salvation.

I wrote once, and wish to repeat today, this indisputable judgment on the mission of papal Rome: "All sorrow, disaster, darkness or persecution are nothing when we have the certainty that among men there is, and will ever be, a man in whom the light of everlasting truth can never fail. The night of the world is dark for us, but never starless: there is the Pope." And such a light was St. Pius V.

Rome, March 21, 1973

A. Card. OTTAVIANI

Chapter 1

FROM SHEPHERD BOY TO POPE

Michael Ghislieri was born in the township of Bosco, not far from the Piedmontese city of Alesandria, on January 17, 1504, during the reign of Pope Julius II. He was at first called Anthony, but later took the name of Michael, Prince of the Heavenly Hosts, whom he chose as patron. His parents were peasants of deeply Christian faith.

As a boy, he had a special love for the Mother of God and wished to consecrate himself to God's service. His mother encouraged him prudently, telling him to pray to Our Lady. When he was twelve years old, this desire became the certainty that he had a vocation to be a priest. His people were too poor, however, to afford him studies and set him to mind the flocks of sheep.

According to some accounts, a chance meeting with two Dominican Fathers in the fields decided his entry into religion: struck by the boy's piety and intelligence, the Friars suggested his studying Latin with them and trying his vocation. There are also contemporary references to a gentleman of the neighborhood sending him to the Dominicans for schooling, together with his son. His progress was anyway so remarkable that after two years, with his parents' consent, he was allowed to take the habit of the order.

He was professed the following year, then sent to Bologna University, where he obtained the requisite degrees and was appointed professor of philosophy for the province when only twenty years old. As well as having a gift for imparting knowledge, he was able to instill a love of supernatural virtue, more by example than by eloquence. Of his theological teaching it was said he "mingled the thorns of Calvary with those of learning," leading his pupils to the foot of the Cross.

Ordained at twenty-four in 1528, he was to say his first Mass, by the wish of his Provincial, in the parish church of his birthplace. He arrived to find it burnt down, his home half destroyed, and the church desecrated by imperial troops. Rome had been occupied and sacked the previous year, and Pope Clement VII was still the Emperor Charles V's prisoner in Castel St. Angelo. He said his first Mass in Sezze, where his parents had taken refuge.

Four times elected Prior, although he would have refused the responsibility had it been possible to do so without going against the will of God, he never dispensed himself from the least observance of the Rule. Tired out from his teaching work, he practiced additional mortifications to keep himself from becoming vain over the success he had with his students. His government was gentle, but severe; and the open or veiled dislike aroused in some by his sternness caused him acute suffering. His health was not always good, but his stall was never empty during Divine Office in choir, for which he was punctual to the minute. Never leaving the monastery himself except on necessary business, he would not allow the younger monks to go outside the enclosure. "Salt when thrown into water becomes indistinguishable from it," he said, "and religious, by God's grace the salt of the earth, easily absorb the spirit of the world when unnecessarily in contact with it."