Today is the Feast Day of Pope St. Pius X.

From the article:

"For starters, Pope St. Pius X’s family name was originally Krawiec, pronounced like today’s Americanized spelling of Krawietz. The name means tailor, indicating the family trade, which was why Jan Krawiec, born in Wielkopolska, Poland, in 1687, changed it to the Italian equivalent of tailor — Sarto — after seeking political asylum in Italy when his area of Poland fell into the hands of Prussia. With this new name, he would more easily assimilate into his new country and escape any reprisals linked to his Polish roots.

It was as Giovanni Sarto that Jan Krawiec began a new life in Italy, first in Godero, near Treviso, and finally in Riese where he delivered the town mail. Three sons were born to Sarto and his wife: Giuseppe, Marco and Angelo...

... Angelo, remained in Italy, where his great-grandson, Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto, became Pope Pius X, rising from humble beginnings as a country curate and village pastor to the throne of St. Peter only after a twist of fate and much soul-searching and pressure from his fellow cardinals. The papal conclave favorite had been Cardinal Mariano Rampolla, who had repeatedly received the most votes. There was a stunning upset, however, when Polish Cardinal Jan Puzyna de Kosielsko from Krakow delivered a veto to Rampolla’s election from Emperor Franz Joseph of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, a long-held right of the Catholic emperors. It led to the election of a very reluctant Cardinal Sarto. "

Two Polish connections bring Pius X to the throne.
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Pope St. Pius X, pray for us!

Hobbles, please accept my profound apology. There I was reading that wonderful chapter on Pope Saint Pius X and, to show my appreciation for posting it, I thumbed your post...   DOWN!


 

I meant to give it a thumbs up.

Meh.

No worries.

Thank you, though, for taking the time to explain it.

For that you get thumbs up!


May the heavenly patronage of Pope St. Pius X avail each of us unto the grace of perseverance in the practice and profession of the holy Catholic faith!

Thank you, Hobbledehoy, for the fine job on Pio Decime.

It's most instructive to read about his early life. In versions I have seen, they
try to make him seem more ordinary, and friendly. I'm sure he was that, and
it wouldn't be hard to find things. There are a lot of descriptions of the jokes
he made and the frivolous antics he shared with his friends. They were all
very innocent and in good cheer, but the point is, he knew how to have fun
without being sinful. There is not a hint of immorality, profanity, or using
dirty ideas as the object of humor. There is a lot to learn from that, for today,
especially in the workplace, it is all too common for sex jokes to make the
rounds, such that entire groups of people are accustomed to expecting some
kind of dirtiness inherent in a joke. They are quite surprised to see it
demonstrated that you do NOT have to be dirty to be funny, because that is
practically unheard of in the private clubs and "entertainment" industry, most
typically New York and Hollywood, CA.

I was slapped in the face with this concept one time when I was invited to a
local Novus Ordo parish to give a speech on St. Joseph. I had recently read
the most instructive little book, St. Joseph, Fatima and Fatherhood, by Msgr.
Joseph Cirrincione, a TAN Book. I was all excited about it, and was talking to
a casual acquaintance about it, when he said that he and his club has an
annual event, where they have a guest speaker come and give a talk, and he
would like me to do that, using St. Joseph as my theme. It was for a club for
Italian immigrants. So I accepted, and diligently prepared for it, because I was
not experienced at public speaking, but I was really full of zeal for the holy
foster father of Our Lord. When I gave the speech, it was well received, but
there was a curious expectation at the end that I did not understand. I came
down and took my seat and the program finished. Then several of the men
from the audience approached me to ask why I didn't tell any jokes. It was as
if they were all accustomed to hearing some kind of joke from a speaker, and
without that, they didn't see much point in hearing a speech. But that wasn't all.
They actually pronounced to me, that they had heard several dirty jokes about
St. Joseph that would have been perfect for this talk. Let me say this: up to
that point, I had been smiling. But I looked at them with a look apparently
sufficient to cause them to turn slightly pale, drop their jaws, and turn on their
heels and almost run out the door. I don't know why, but sometimes I have
that effect on people, and I don't know where it comes from, but I must
admit, that I really felt as if I wanted to cause them physical discomfort, if
you know what I mean.

Can you imagine a group of Catholic men expecting to hear off-color jokes
about St. Joseph in a parish hall program? Now, if they had expected that from
me, there must be a reason - they must have heard such things at other
parish halls in the past. But I did not want to find out. It makes me pause to
think the severity of infamy that might be going on in Catholic parishes.

But regarding the erstwhile Giuseppe Sarto, I wanted you to know that it is
nice to see a summary of his positive achievements, in such a way that we can
more easily see how God formed him into the great saint that he is, in "piety,
charity, deep humility, pastoral zeal and simplicity."

He is so much a saint for our times!

In an AGE now, when it has become redundant to have popes whose virtues
can be described as dubious at best, when Modernism has turned around and
become rampant (as Pope St. Pius X prophesied that it would), and when
amoral thinking is practically presumed of leaders, entertainers and popular
figures, to the point where a man can hardly find "respect" among his peers
unless he can show he is capable of telling a dirty joke, we really need the
example of this powerful man, this virtuous pastor, this most elucidating symbol
of greatness.

If we were a pagan culture, he might be thought of as a "god." But fortunately,
we are (arguably) beyond that, and anyone looking to make public figures into gods of mythology, they'll have to look to someone other than to him who once
was Fr. Sarto.




P.S. Your thread title says "...the first Polish pope..." is that a mistake? Giuseppe
Sarto was very much Italian, not Polish.

Thank you, Hobbledehoy, for the fine job on Pio Decime.

It's most instructive to read about his early life. In versions I have seen, they
try to make him seem more ordinary, and friendly. I'm sure he was that, and
it wouldn't be hard to find things.

[...]

But regarding the erstwhile Giuseppe Sarto, I wanted you to know that it is
nice to see a summary of his positive achievements, in such a way that we can
more easily see how God formed him into the great saint that he is, in "piety,
charity, deep humility, pastoral zeal and simplicity."

You are quite welcome! That short hagiographical account was written the year the glorious Pope St. Pius X was canonized, and the author had access to first hand accounts of the Pope's life (aside from his illustrious reign as Supreme Pontiff), and witnesses to his personal sanctity and wholesome personality.

In the age wherein we live, the Saints are not depicted with the reverence they deserve (when they get to be depicted in the media in a "neutral way," i.e., not attacking them for being "backwards" or whatever complaints worldlings may have against the Saints) because the present age has lost all notion of the supernatural, as the Catholic Church properly understands it. If the modernists cannot understand God and His one, true Church, how can they understand the Saints?

It is a sign of reprobation, one may say, if one cannot understand the Saints. To know, love and serve God: that is basically all you need to understand the Saints, but even this the modernists distort.

May Pope St. Pius X intervene on behalf of this world which is dying spiritually!