Antonio
Ghislieri was born in 1504 in Bosco, in the Tortona diocese. He
received the Dominican habit at age fourteen, and after his ordination
in Genoa, taught theology and philosophy for some years. He was Prior
and Novice Master of several priories during a time of great moral
laxity.
In 1556, he was consecrated Bishop of Nepi and Sutri and,
the following year, was made Inquisitor General and raised to the rank
of Cardinal.
Pope Pius IV transferred him to the bishopric of
Mondovi in Piedmont, a diocese that had suffered much from the ravages
of war. Under the care and guidance of the new bishop, the region was
soon restored to peace and prosperity.
Recalled to Rome at the
death of Pius IV, he was chosen as his successor, due in great part to
the efforts of St. Charles Borromeo who saw in him the reformer the
Church needed.
Taking the name of his predecessor, Pius V
immediately introduced a new austerity and sobriety in the Papal States,
re-directing sums customarily used for celebrations and festivities to
aiding hospitals, poor convents and the truly indigent. He also
initiated the tradition of the pope wearing white, as he continued to
wear his white Dominican habit after being raised to the papal throne.
With
zeal and apostolic energy, he launched numerous reforms, from ridding
the Papal States of brigands to passing legislation against
prostitution. In countering the widespread practice of granting favors
and nominations to family members, or nepotism, he kept relatives at a
distance.
Pope Pius V also had the best edition of Thomas Aquinas’ Summa Theologica
published and, in 1567, he declared him Doctor of the Church. He
promulgated the Catechism of the Council of Trent and had it translated
into foreign languages. He also imposed on all parish priests the duty
of using the Catechism to instruct the young in the tenets of the Faith.
Politically,
materially and prayerfully, he supported Don Juan of Austria and Marc
Antonio Colonna in the war against the Turkish fleet at Lepanto, the
maritime battle that broke the Ottoman power in the Mediterranean. From
the very onset of the conflict, the Pope had prayed almost continuously,
often with arms raised like Moses on the mountain. At the decisive hour
of victory, as a Rosary procession wound its way through Rome, the Pope
interrupted his work, walked over to a window, and with radiant face,
exclaimed, “The Christian fleet is victorious!”
To
commemorate the great deliverance on October 7, 1571, he instituted the
title of “Our Lady Help of Christians” and the feast of the Holy Rosary.
In
the following year the pope was struck with a painful disorder from
which he had long suffered, but which his austerities aggravated. He
died on May 1, 1572, at the age of sixty-eight.
Friday, April 30, 2021
Pope St. Pius V
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