1223 02028 2258 DATE DUE - nuy-%—W - -- - ■ ■ ■ _ —- _ - — - Printed In USA HIGHSMITH #45230 THE GREAT MANTLE In obedience to the decrees of Urban VIII, of March 3, 1625, and June 16, 1631, and to other similar Pontifical legislation, the author declares that no other credence is to be given to the con¬ tents of this volume than that given to human authority, especially in relation to supernatural gifts and graces where the Church has not intervened by her judgment. The author declares, moreover, that in no way is it intended to anticipate the decision of the supreme Ecclesiastical Authority. Nihil Obstat John M. A. Fearns, S.T.D. Censor Librorum Imprimatur ^Francis Cardinal Spellman Archbishop of New York New York, January 9, 1950 Courtesy of the Catholic University of America POPE PIUS X THE GREAT MANTLE The Life of Giuseppe Melchiore Sarto Pope Pius X by KATHERINE BURTON “How heavy is the great mantle to him who guards it from the mire.” Dante LONGMANS, GREEN AND CO. NEW YORK ' LONDON TORONTO 1950 LONGMANS, GREEN AND CO., INC. 55 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK 3 LONGMANS, GREEN AND CO. Ltd. 6 & 7 CLIFFORD STREET, LONDON W I LONGMANS, GREEN AND CO. 215 VICTORIA STREET, TORONTO I THE GREAT MANTLE COPYRIGHT *1950 BY KATHERINE BURTON ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, INCLUDING THE RIGHT TO REPRODUCE THIS BOOK, OR ANY PORTION THEREOF, IN ANY FORM PUBLISHED SIMULTANEOUSLY IN THE DOMINION OF CANADA BY LONGMANS, GREEN AND CO., TORONTO 8 FIRST EDITION 62-1456 Printed in the United States of America VAN REES PRESS • NEW YORK 02o28 2258 3 A223 The Very Reverend Joseph McSorley, C.S.P. with gratitude and affection «* Acknow ledgments I wish to thank the Very Reverend Raphael M. Huber, O.F.M., Conv., for his generosity with reference material and for his reading of the manuscript; Miriam Marks and Helen Quinn for books and pamphlets; the Pallottine House of Studies, Washing¬ ton, D. C., and Manhattanville College of the Sacred Heart, for the loan of books; and Julie Kernan for her continuous and continuing help. ✓ Contents CHAPTER PAGE One. Childhood in Riese and Castelfranco . 3 Two. A Seminarian in Padua.16 Three. The Curate of Tombolo.32 Four. The Pastor of Salzano.44 Five. At the Cathedral and Seminary of Treviso . 56 Six. Bishop of Mantua.69 Seven. The Cardinal Patriarch.87 Eight. Life in Venice.112 Nine. A Papal Election.129 V Ten. A Pope is Crowned.141 Eleven. Early Pontificate.154 ^ Twelve. Some Great Encyclicals.173 Thirteen. Troubles with France—The Modernist Con¬ troversy .183 v Fourteen. The Years 1908-1913 . 199 v. Fifteen. War and the Shadow of Death .... 215 Index.227 Foreword During the first World War soldiers of eleven nations tramped through the little town of Riese in Northern Italy where Giuseppe Melchiore Sarto, who became Pope Pius X, was born. On the door of his birthplace someone had written in white paint, “Spare this house which belonged to Pius X.” For months officers and men went up to the little stucco building, read the words, and walked away. Although every house in the town had been occu¬ pied before the war’s end — for the village was very close to the battlefields — this one was never molested. Over the years since his death in 1914, a belief in the sanctity of the Pontiff has been growing spontaneously in the deep con¬ victions of the people. They have shown it by a veneration of his memory, by faith in his ability to help them still. In the shadows of the basilica of St. Peter’s where he is buried men and women are always to be found praying. Fresh flowers are always piled about his tomb of white marble. Not long after the death of Pius X requests began to come to the Vatican from clergy and laity all over the world asking that the process of his cause be begun. The Confraternity of Chris¬ tian Doctrine, to which he had been devoted because its work was one which lay close to his heart — the instruction of children and adults in the principles and practice of their faith — became active in promoting his cause; and many reports were sent to Rome telling of cures brought about through his intercession. More and more clearly awareness spread that the Pope whose whole life had been a work of love for his fellow beings was still aiding the world with that love. Even during his life there had been evidences that he possessed a healing power; now after his death there came proofs of Pius X’s continuing love for his people. Many of the cures took place in Italy. The parents of a child dying of meningitis were con¬ vinced, despite the doctors’ hopeless verdict, that Pius X would help them. They arranged^for a Mass for her recovery to be said xi xii Foreword at the Pope’s tomb, and the child was carried in her mother’s arms to the crypt. All through the Mass she lay inert, apparently in the coma which precedes death. After the Mass was over the family left the basilica, still full of faith. When they reached home her parents saw that the child’s deathlike coma had changed to the sleep of health. By the following morning she had completely recovered. A young husband, heartbroken when told that his wife’s con¬ dition was hopeless, remembered in his despair a rosary which Pius X had given them when they were in Rome on their wedding trip. Wrapping it around her limp wrist, he said to her, “Have faith in Pius X. He will save you.” She heard the urgent words and whispered a faint prayer. A few minutes later she felt new1 life in her veins and her anxious husband saw her lift toward him the hand holding the rosary; her cheeks were warm with life and health. “The holy Father of Riese responded to the tears of my soul and the agony of my heart and my daughter was cured,” wrote a grateful father. More than one doctor testified to cures and one wrote, “No human science would have produced this cure so instantaneously. God is great. I bow before Him.” Nor were the Pope’s cures confined to his own beloved Italy. His love went, as it had during his lifetime, to the whole world. From the western United States was reported through his inter¬ cession the cure of a Good Shepherd nun, from France of a Reli¬ gious of the Cenacle, from Spain of a young girl suffering from cancer, from Africa the healing of a postulant in a Sacred Heart convent. All these and hundreds more brought forth their testi¬ mony. And during all that time the people, through days of war and of peace and again of war and peace, continued to pray at his tomb, to light candles there, to bring flowers, to read the in¬ scription on his tomb: “Born poor and humble of heart, Undaunted champion of the Catholic faith. Zealous to restore all things in Christ, Crowned a holy life with a holy death.” Foreword xm The inquiry into his life and virtues was begun in 1923. The first step in his cause was taken when, in 1943, Pope Pius XII signed the necessary decree. In that year the Postulator of his cause published a documentary account of favors attributed to his intercession. In the following year, when Pius X’s remains were examined, the body was found well preserved, the limbs still flexible. Since that year his cause has been greatly advanced, and the prayers of thousands of his clients all over the world is that before long he will be beatified. Giuseppe Cardinal Sarto had been unwilling to accept the papacy. He finally agreed because he felt that it was the will of God, and he had wanted to do always God’s will. During his first months in the Vatican his eyes were often wet with tears, for he did not bend easily to the captive life which a Pope then led, nor to the constraint of political etiquette. The results justified the sacrifice. During his comparatively short reign he was called on to make many difficult and important decisions. The more than three hundred encyclicals, letters and briefs bearing his signature dealt with every important problem of life, with the state, the family, the individual, the economic order. He had stern decisions to carry out, for the times during which he ruled were full of quick and almost anarchical changes which he met without faltering. His writings showed a brilliant intellect, a balanced personality, and above all they reflected his deep and comprehending love — his desire to restore all things in Christ. The keynote of his reign was simplicity — the enunciation of a few clear principles, the re-statement, with no compromise and no subtlety, of the basic doctrines of the Church. “He met Mod¬ ernism and the French situation,” said Belloc, “almost it seemed as if a man inspired by sanctity had foreseen the immediate future of Europe.” He never lost the supplementary virtue of unselfish love — a deep humility. Despite the high offices he occupied he remained the humble man he had always been. His heart and soul were to the end those of a holy old country pastor. XIV Foreword He loved to bless the people who came before him, to conse¬ crate them to God. He loved to bless objects brought to him with the request that they be consecrated to the use of God.