Friday, April 30th, 2010
Daily Archive
Pope Saint Pius V (1504-1572)
Posted by Fr. Aquinas on 30 Apr 2010 | Tagged as: Dominican Saints, Liturgical Feasts
Priest of the Most High God,
you were a good shepherd and pleasing to the Lord, alleluia.
Today ends the “Dominican Triduum” that every year closes the month of April. On Wednesday, we remembered St. Louis de Montfort, the missionary priest and Dominican tertiary who renewed devotion to Mary in early eighteenth-century France. Rumors still circulate that he will be proclaimed a Doctor of the Church. Yesterday, we commemorated St. Catherine of Siena, the fourteenth-century Italian Dominican tertiary whose sweet love for Jesus, Mary, and Peter guided her all her prayer and activity. A peacemaker among enemies, Catherine brought peace also to the Church by guiding Pope Gregory XI back to Rome from Avignon. And today we honor St. Pius V, a mid 16th-century Dominican friar charged, after his election to the papacy, with implementing the reforms and directives of the Council of Trent. In the Chair of Peter for less than seven years, Pius fulfilled his mission with decisive action and ardent devotion.
As we end April and look forward to May, we enter the month of Mary strengthened by the witness of three great Dominican devotés of Our Lady.
From the Dominican Ordo:
Antonio Chisliere was born in 1504 at Bosco, in Peidmont, Italy. At the age of fourteen he entered the Dominican Order and took the name Michaele. He taught theology and held several positions of responsibility, first as prior of several communities, then as Commissary General of the Roman Inquisition. In 1556 he was named bishop of Nipi and Sutri and was created cardinal in 1557. In 1566 he was elected pope and took the name Pius. He implemented the decrees of the Council of Trent; published the revised Breviary (1568) and Missal (1570); reformed the Roman Curia; issued the Roman Catechism (1566); and defended Catholic doctrine against the Reformers. His love and devotion to the Virgin Mary was manifest when he entreated her through the rosary to spare the Christian forces in the Battle of Lepanto. Moved by this victory he instituted the feast of Our Lady of Victory. He died May 1, 1572.
Click here and here for more on the life of St. Pius V.
Faithful God,
you called our brother Pius
to defend the faith
and to renew the worship of your Church.
With the help of his prayers
guide us toward that worship in truth
which is faithful to your Word.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, forever and ever. Amen.
