Pius X (1835–1914)

Biography

Of humble origins, he attracted attention as a child for his intelligence, kindness and love of everything that related to things of the Lord. He lost his father at a very young age. The parish priest of Riese, one day, speaking of little "Beppi", as everyone affectionately called him: "HE IS THE MOST NOBLE SOUL IN THIS COUNTRY..." Seeing that this was his vocation, he sent him to the Seminary and helped pay for his priestly career. In the archive of the Padua seminary, notes from those years are preserved and they say about him: "IMPROACHABLE DISCIPLE, SUPERIOR INTELLIGENCE, EXCELLENT MEMORY; HE OFFERS ALL HOPE." They were not wrong. It was quite an omen. He climbed all the steps until he reached the priesthood. This gift came to him in the year 1858, the year of the apparitions of the Virgin of Lourdes. Divine Providence guided his steps in a wonderful way. His destinations were marked nine by nine: as coadjutor, as archpriest, as canon, as Bishop, as Cardinal... When the ninth anniversary arrived he already knew that he had to... change positions. Always on the rise. Only as Pope he continued for two more years. When Pope Leo In turn, a French Cardinal asks him if he knows his language or not. When he answers in the negative, she tells him: "HE IS NOT PAPABLE", to which he replies: "LET'S THANK GOD." But on the seventh vote he was elected. He resisted, but upon seeing that it was the Will of God manifested by the votes of the Cardinals, he accepted. Saint Pius He accepted the Papacy "as a cross" and it truly was one for him. Shortly before he died, the First World War broke out, although he worked as hard as he could to avoid it. He died on August 20, 1914, mourned by all of Christianity.