pius x: some of his activities

Irish Jesuit Province

Pius X: Some of His ActivitiesAuthor(s): Charles DawsonSource: The Irish Monthly, Vol. 41, No. 478 (Apr., 1913), pp. 185-190Published by: Irish Jesuit ProvinceStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20503373 .

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[x&:I5 X

'PIUS X

SOME OF HIS ACTIVITIES

T HE interest in the life and work of His Holiness Pius X.,

1;ceowing

to the unfounded rumour

of his death

some time

ago, became so

intense, that I am induced

to supplement aprevous memoir of his earlier career by recounting his work since the, 4th August, 1903, the day of his coronation.

Some of his- critics have said that His Holiness has been influenced in his many and marvellous works and reforms. by the- various Congregations surrounding the Roman' Pontiff.; but -that assertion is'contradicted by the fact' that in the, very' first pronouncement, in 1903, he sketched the exact programme which he intended to pursue, and which, bit by bit, by decree Motu Proprio, he has since carried out. Other critics aver that he has differed fronuhis immediate predecessor in his views .and in his 'acts. Nothing is more delusive. The desires, of Leo XIII. were for the same ends-but the.times were different.

The late Pope was the exponent of necessary conciliation; and. during .his pontificate-he had to. exercise all' his patience whilst there was hope of realising. his ends. Pius ,_X.'is. the Pope of affirmation, when a11 hope was gone., There 'is no con flict between the teaching of the Encyclical of February. i6, 1892,. on Christian Democracy and the condemnation of Modernism

or the discourse on Joan of Arc. The anti-Papal. a.nd anti clerical action of the enemies of the Holy See and of Chris tianity postponed the exercise of their hatred to both during the lifetime of Leo-and only gave full rein to their fury when, as they hoped, they had' a less able and weaker.Pontiff to. deal

with; but they -reckoned without, their host. The son of the simple peasant of -JRiese was a match for them. He. strength ened the ranks of the "ep'iscopal hierarchy, and rallied them more closely round the Chair of Peter; he increased the responsibility and the mission of the clergy; he regulated the ranks of the laity,- especially of those which displayed a tendency, under the guise of independence, to resist 'authority; and thus, like a great general, his first act was " to close the ranks in the sight of the enemy-and he has won the victory.

Outside the domain of matters connected with the Church, by reforms, or rather resumptions of purely ecclesiastical 'ad

ministration, the Holy Father met the increasing efforts of the



186 THE IRISH MONTHLY

anti-clerical party to alienate the affection and obedience of the laity from legitimate control. -This insidious policy was

most rampant in France. It was declared by the enemies that they bore no hatred to the French Church as such; but their desire was to separate it from Rome, that rock on which, in the person of St. Peter, our Lord built not only the Church of France but of the world. They wanted a Gallican, but not a Roman, Church: they declared the clergy should get their stipends and exercise their functions if they only cut off their connexion with the See of Rome; their hope was Divide et impeaer. But the poor

peasant's son was firm as the rock on which he stood. And, worsted in their attempt at seducing the French clergy

from the path of duty, the Government and not the Pontiff snapped the diplomatic connexion which for centuries bound the First Daughter of the Church to the court of Rome. They dismissed the Papal ambassador ignominiously-a thing they dare not have done in the case of a ruler with big battalions. But a higher power than theirs raised up big battalions in his aid throughout the land of France itself, and the aged Pontiff has been spared to see her more Catholic than she has been for years; the generous people have come to the relief of the clergy,> whilst the funds withdrawn from them, as was proved by recent inquiries, have been feloniously appropriated to the private lust of unprincipled Ministers.

And it is allowed by many eminent French writers that the separation has been a blessing instead of an infliction to the Church. The clergy are now, as in our counitry of Ireland, cheerfully supported according to Holy Writ, by their flocks, and no longer the paid servants of the State.

In the controversy preceding the violent suspension of the Concordat the Holy Father took care to show that he sought no interference with the political government of France, or indeed of any other country. This same principle has been very lately clearly announced by His Grace the Archbishop of Dublin, in his historic pamphlet on the Motu Proprio Quantavis Diligentia, in which he has clearly indicated the same policy. At a time when the Unionist party here would raise the cry of clerical influence as an argument against constitutional changes in Ireland, his Grace says: " I have been asked how I can sup pose that any opinion of mine could be regarded by Protestants whether in England or Ireland as a sufficient assurance to them that in the event of Home Rule being granted the recent Motu Proprio will not be put in motion in such a way as to make impossible in many cases, either the assertion of civil rights or



*HUS X ~~~i87

*the enforc-ement of the crimnal law-in the courts of the realm. It," he continues, "had nothing to do with satisfying the Pro testants of England or Ireland. as to how the Motu Proprio or anything else will work out, whether under a- Home Rule system ;of government or any other f-orm of government."

The Motu Proprio of the-Pope is applicable only in every country where it is operativre, and not made specially for Ireland. Evidently His Grace has keenly graspedl the reasons of the recent scare, for he says further on: " I can have little doubt, however, that the attempt to raise an outcry on the Motu Proprio

Will be renewed in the hope of making some political capital out of it when the coming Home Rule Bill is under discussion.

Was ever a declaration more clear, or:more consonant with the policy of the Holy See, or more prophetic. So it appears

neither by the teaching of the Holy See, or by the interpreta tions -of,it by the Archbishop of Dublinis there any intention of interferin'g with the forms of civil government: their only care is to preserve the rights and freedom of the Church in the conduct of her own affairs.

But, apart from the troublesome obstruction to the.exercise of these rights, --Pius X. has had Po5contend with many diffi culties in his efforts for reform in his own administration. One of his first efforts was to tackle the unbridled licence and mis representation -of the anti-Papal press in Rome. R These con tinued unnoticed and uncontradicted in the preceding reign. "Quidnuncs " and "special- correspondents" could, with impunity, say anything, no matter how absurd, about the Vatican/.

But Pius X. took thebull, by the horns.. He requested the representatives of the press to communi

cate with the Vatican before publishing matter regarding him or it, and that they would get every information. But 'he did

more. -One morning (May 23, 1907) a paper, La Correspondenza Romana, made its appearance, and at once nailed every lie as fit appeared-truly the-'student of the ancient classics did not forget the maxim, Nemo me 'imfiune lacessit. But it was not only with

unscrupulous foreign members or local calumniators that the Pope- had to contend. Some younger clergy, "' Christian Democrats," as they called themselves, attacked his circular letter of July 28, 1904, through the columns of the Liberal press. The Encyclical I1t Jermo proposito provoked a new agitation, and they endeavoured to convoke a Congress at Bologna; the Pope, in a letter to Cardinal Zvampa, forbade the Congress. But

he established instead a Catholic Organisation Society. -Its objects were (i) Popular Union; (2) Economic and Social Union;



I88 THE IRISH MONTHLY

and (3) an Electoral Union; and to these was added the Young Catholic Italian Union, existing since I869.

In 1908 all these societies were federated under -the title of General Directory. What a marvellous orgamser is Pius X. Opposition did not -cease. At the election of igog candidates. to whom the Pope objected were supported, even by eminent -ecclesiastics. But they met with a complete check, and only .played into the hands of the revolutionary party who gained seats in Rome, Turin, and Florence. In his action regarding this state of things the Pope adopted the -attitude and followed the example of his illustrious predecessor, Gregory -the Great, -who, he said, "' excited piety -amongst the laity, strict rule in the monasteries, discipline among the clergy, and the pastoral solicitude of the Roman Pontiff. He extended far beyond the

walls of Rome the fruitful activity of his will, consecrated his whole being to the good of civil society: he resented the unjust pretentions of the Byzantine Emperor, for he was the champion of social justice."

Like Gregory, does Pius X. set himself to define the mission of bishops and of priests: these are contained in the two great Encyclicals, E sup remi Apostolatus and Jucunda. But his greatest opportunity of telling not only ecciesiastics, but the whole world,. his views, was on the occasion of the beatification of Joan of Arc, in his discourse of April i9, i9IO. On this great national and political subject he repeated-the opinion expressed by his pre

decessor, Pius IX. (who never objected to:a republic, or any other form of government established by any country, provided it were Christian), his great ambition, was to knit closer the -bonds between the people and the clergy, between the clergy and the bishops, and between the bishops and the Sovereign Pontiff.

What a similarity of policy characterises the actions of PopeS. so wide apart as Gregory in the ninth and Pius X. in the twen tieth century ? The tearing asunder of these bonds is the work

set out for themselves by the anti-clerical and anti-Christian statesmen now, as in every age of the Church. Instead of cen suring the people of France for carrying out, even by force of

arms, the liberation of their country from foreign rule, Pius X. applauded them. Notwithstanding this liberal and statesman like pronouncement he was attacked by the Freemasons of

France, led by M. Briand: in fact Rene Bazin has very properly called the struggle for Christianity against paganism as the

eighth crusade of France. But not only in France, but aH over the Christian world-P



PIUS x. 1i89 .~~~~~~~~Pu

X. -I

he has had to grapple-with the -new craze of. Modernism, which, by the way, was nothing new at all. This movement is as old as the hills: it was but the revival of t-he old heresy of Pelagian ism the substitition of the natural for the supernatural. In

his Encyclical Lamentabile, the Pope made regulations to crush the revived heresy, and they have morst effectually done it.

This ghost of an old enemy was scarcely laid when the Ne Temerto decree struck such fear amongst the non-Catholics, always so solicitous about the rights and liberties of Catholics themselves,

whose own business it would appear to have been, as there is no pressure to bring non-Catholics within its purview; if they voluntarily come within it they must abide the consequences.

Then this over-solicitude is followed by the panic caused by the publication of the Pope on the Privilegium For. The.in junction not. to appeal to the civil courts cases where Catholics and ecclesiastics are concemed until they had endeavoured to arrange. them between themselves does not prevent appeal to

civil courts where these efforts have failed. One. would think such a doctrine was never heard of before; but it is not only a principle, but it is an enactment, in Trinity College, Dublin, still in full force that, by the charter- of C-harles I., "Any member of the College citing any other member to the civil courts- is ipso facto expelled the College." So this charge, like all the others

we have cited, falls miserably to the ground. And now having endeavoured to demonstrate the untiring

and unerring exercise of his pastoral care, let me mention some, other achievements which adorn the reign of Pius X. He has established the Biblical Commission; he has revised the breviary; but, above all, he has followed his Divine Founder in crying. out

with a loud voice

"SUFFER LITrLE CHILDREN To COME TO ME."

This is, religiously and socially speaking, the acme, the climax, of his momentous works. As to the moral effect of begin ning the early training and enrolment of children, he has put in practice the advice,of a Kempis: " Withstand the first beginnings, too late comes the after remedy." The admission of the innocent little children to the Holy Table is only putting-in- practice now the custom existing in t-he early Church, when little children

were allowed this privilege. There is a pious legend relating how some little child suffered martyrdom in her efforts to pre serve from profanation the consecrated elements she was

permitted to carry. The effect of this early taking the children in charge in time will



190 THE IRISH MONTHLY

also have a social effect which cannot be over-estimated. There is no doubt that juvenile crime is very rife-reformation and cor -rection come when the ,mischief is done and the judges of the

land, including, lately,,Mr. Justice Madden, have dwelt upon their inefficacy. A 0

But this Supreme Head of the ChristianwChurch, the enthroned sovereign -of many millions of men, not only carnes out -his glorious missionf which no man can imitate, but also in his holy and daily life sets an example which the humblest of us all can follow. In the language of Liguori he "discharges the duties

of each day with all his heart, leaving the results to God." He is on his feet from 5.30 every morning, and occupies the early hours- with his prayers, sermons, and holy Mass. Then he 4evotes. a few minutes to his frugal breakfast; until ten o'clock lhe studies all the pressing questions of the, Church.

Next he receives the Secretary of State, with his portfolio and all the documents requiring immediate attention. There stands before 'him the young Cardinal Merry del Val, not more than forty years of age, but with a knowledge of Church affairs from alpha to omega, to consult the aged Pontiff approaching his eightieth year. All questions of interest not only to the (Church but to manldnd in.general are discussed. For he said a1 his children are " one in Christ Jesus," and their eternal salvation and temporal happiness is the care of this great worker until the -hour of his short rest.

Since I commenced this paper His Holiness has added another proof of his universal sympathy for those -who suffer from spiritua Ineglect. Witness his last Motu Proprio, for almost all suggestions for relief spring directly 4rom himself. Regarding

this question of emigration he has instituted a department for the care of emigrants. "It shall," he says, " be the function of this office to investigate, and make provision in all necessary smatters to better the condition as regards the salvation of souls

of the emigrants of the Latin Rite." The emigrants of Oriental rite are also provided for, and

the-authority of the Divine office orders priests to ascertain the necessities of the emigrants according to their various regions,

a4nd to apply such remedies as may seem most suitable for existing evils.

Long may God spare him to accomplish all the objects of

his Divine mission. CHIARLES DAWSON.



pius x: some of his activities

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