Everything about Pius V totally explained
Pope Saint Pius V,
O.P. (
January 17,
1504 –
May 1 1572), born
Antonio Ghislieri, from 1518 called
Michele Ghislieri, was
Pope from 1566 to 1572 and is a
saint of the
Roman Catholic Church. Involved early on in the
Inquisition, he resisted the influence of
Protestantism throughout his papacy.
Ecclesiastical career
He was born as Antonio Ghislieri at Bosco in the
Duchy of Milan (now
Bosco Marengo in the
province of Alessandria,
Piedmont),
Italy. At the age of fourteen he entered the
Dominican Order, taking the name
Michele, passing from the monastery of
Voghera to that of
Vigevano, and thence to
Bologna. Having been ordained priest at
Genoa in 1528, he was sent by his order to
Pavia, where he lectured for sixteen years. He soon gave evidence of the opinions which found a more practical expression in his pontificate, by advancing at
Parma thirty propositions in support of the papal chair and against the heresies of the time. As president of more than one Dominican monastery during a time of great moral laxity in the Catholic Church, he stood against the trend of the times by insisting on strict discipline, and, in accordance with his own wish to discharge the office of
inquisitor, received an appointment to that post at
Como. His reformist zeal provoking resentment, he was compelled in 1550 to return to
Rome, where, after having been employed in several inquisitorial missions, he was elected to the
commissariat of the
Holy Office.
Pope Paul IV (1555–59), who while still Cardinal Carafa had shown him special favor, conferred upon him the
bishopric of Sutri and Nepi, the cardinalate with the title of Alessandrino, and the honor – unique in one not of pontifical rank – of the supreme inquisitorship. Under
Pope Pius IV (1559–65) he became
bishop of Mondovi in
Piedmont, but his opposition to that pontiff procured his dismissal from the palace and the abridgment of his authority as inquisitor.
Pontificate
Before Michele Ghislieri could return to his episcopate, Pope Pius IV died, and on
January 7, 1566, he was elected to the papal chair as Pope Pius V with duly attendant prodigies, his coronation taking place on his birthday, ten days later. The prudence of Comniendone saved him at the commencement of his pontificate from trouble with
Germany, as in the general
diet of the empire at
Augsburg,
March 26,
1566.
Fully alive to the necessity of restoring discipline and morality at Rome to ensure success without, he at once proceeded to reduce the cost of the papal court after the manner of the Dominican Order to which he belonged, compel residence among the clergy, regulate inns, expel prostitutes, and assert the importance of the ceremonial in general and the liturgy of the Mass in particular. In his wider policy, which was characterized throughout by an effective stringency, the maintenance and increase of the efficacy of the Inquisition and the enforcement of the
canons and decrees of the
Council of Trent had precedence over other considerations. Accordingly, in order to implement a decision of that council, he standardized the
Holy Mass by promulgating the
1570 edition of the Roman Missal. Pope Pius V made this Missal mandatory throughout the Latin rite of the Catholic Church, except where a Mass liturgy dating from before 1370 was in use. This form of the Mass remained essentially unchanged for 400 years until the
modern revision of the Roman Missal in 1969/1970, after which it has become widely known as the
Traditional Latin Mass; nowadays this rite, when considering the modifications made in 1960-1962 by
Pope John XXIII, is known as the Extraordinary Form of the
Roman Rite.
Today,
Traditional Roman Catholics use either the 1962 Missal or Missals prior to changes made by
Pope Pius XII in 1955 (see the
General Roman Calendar as in 1954).
St Pius V recognized attacks on papal supremacy in the Catholic Church and was desirous of limiting their advancement. In
France, where his influence was stronger, he took several measures to oppose the Protestant
Huguenots. He directed the dismissal of Cardinal
Odet de Coligny and seven bishops, nullified the royal edict tolerating the extra-mural services of the Reformers, introduced the Roman
catechism, restored papal discipline, and strenuously opposed all compromise with the Huguenot nobility.
In the list of more important
bulls issued by him the famous bull
"In Coena Domini" (1568) takes a leading place; but amongst others throwing light on Pope Pius V's character and policy there may be mentioned his prohibition of
quaestuary (February 1567 and January 1570); the condemnation of
Michael Baius, the heretical Professor of
Leuven (1567); the reform of the
breviary (July 1568); the denunciation of the
"dirum nefas" (August 1568); the banishment of the
Jews from the
ecclesiastical dominions except Rome and
Ancona (1569); the injunction of the use of the reformed
missal (July 1570); the confirmation of the privileges of the Society of Crusaders for the protection of the Inquisition (October 1570); the dogmatic certainty of the miraculous conception (November 1570); the suppression of the
Fratres Humiliati for profligacy (February 1571); the approbation of the new office of the
Blessed Virgin (March 1571); the enforcement of the daily recitation of the canonical hours (September 1571); and the purchase of assistance against the
Turks by offers of plenary pardon (March 1572). His response to the so-called reforms of Queen
Elizabeth I of England (1558–1603) included support of the imprrisoned
Mary, Queen of Scots (1542–67) and her supporters in their attempts to take over
England "ex turpissima muliebris libidinis servitute". An important event in the history of Elizabethan
England was the publication of a bull,
Regnans in Excelsis, dated
April 27,
1570, that declared Elizabeth I a heretic and released her subjects from their allegiance to her. This transformed the status of persecuted English
Roman Catholics from religious dissidents to potential enemies of the state.
Saint Pius V persistently and successfully attempted to form a general league against the Turks, as the result of which the
Battle of Lepanto (
October 7,
1571) was won by the combined fleet under
Colonna. It is attested in his
canonization that he miracously knew when the battle was over, himself being in Rome at the time. Three national
synods were held during his pontificate at
Naples under Cardinal Alfonso Caraffa (whose family had, after inquiry, been reinstated by Pius V), at
Milan under
Saint Charles Borromeo, and at Machim.
After his election to the papacy, Pius V continued to wear white, the color of his
Dominican habit. Every Pontiff since St Pius V has followed his example of wearing white clothing. Prior to Pope Pius V, Popes, like Cardinals, wore red. This is why some papal accessories, such as the
papal shoes,
camauro,
mozzetta, and
cappello romano, are red.
Death and Canonisation
Pius V died on May 1, 1572. He was succeeded by
Pope Gregory XIII (1572–85). In 1696, the process of Pius's
canonisation was started through the efforts of the
Master of the Order of Preachers, Antonin Cloche. He also immediately commissioned a representative tomb from the sculptor
Pierre Le Gros the Younger to be erected in the Sistine Chapel of the
Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore. The pope's body was placed in it in 1698. St Pius V was
beatified by
Pope Clement X in the year
1672, and was later
canonized by
Pope Clement XI (1700–21) on
May 24,
1712.
Since the reform of the Roman Calendar in
1969, St Pius V's feast day was moved to
April 30, the day before his death on
May 1.
Traditional Roman Catholics continue to
commemorate Saint Pius V's
feast day on
May 5, deemed a III class feast (see the
General Roman Calendar of 1962) or a
Double feast.
The front of his tomb has a lid of gilded bronze which shows a likeness of the dead pope. Most of the time this is left open to allow the veneration of the saint's remains.
Pope St Pius V is also a
Patron Saint of the
Maltese Islands. He helped financially in the construction of the city of
Valletta.
Further Information
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