The Scourge of the Modernists

A Man of True Humility

Pope Saint Pius X:
Defender of the Faith, Model of Heroic Holiness

September 3 marks the annual feast of St. Pius X, Pope and Confessor. Born on June 2, 1835, Giuseppe Sarto (English: Joseph Tailor) was ordained a priest on September 18, 1858 and consecrated a bishop on November 16, 1884. Pope Leo XIII created him a cardinal on June 12, 1893. When Pope Leo died in 1903, the conclave elected Cardinal Mariano Rampolla del Tindaro to succeed him. However, due to a veto issued against Rampolla before the conclave by the Austrian emperor Franz Joseph — a right that had been granted to the emperor by the rules of the conclave then in force — Rampolla’s election was void, and the conclave had to choose a different candidate.… READ MORE