Produced by David McClamrock POPE PIUS THE TENTH BY F. A. [FRANCES ALICE] FORBES LONDON BURNS OATES & WASHBOURNE LTD. PUBLISHERS TO THE HOLY SEE 1954 [Transcriber's note: First published 1918; second edition 1919; third edition 1924; fourth edition entitled _Pope Saint Pius the Tenth_, unchanged in content except for anonymous postscript referring to canonization of Pope Pius X (omitted here), 1954] NIHIL OBSTAT: PATRICIVS MORRIS, S.T.D., L.S.S. CENSOR DEPUTATUS IMPRIMATUR: E. MORROGH BERNARD VICARIVS GENERALIS WESTMONASTERII: DIE XI MARTII MCMLIV CONTENTS Chapter I. CHILD AND STUDENT II. CURATE AND PARISH PRIEST III. CANON AND BISHOP IV. PATRIARCH OF VENICE V. THE PAPAL ELECTION VI. THE AIMS OF PIUS X VII. PIUS X AND FRANCE VIII. THE POPE OF THE EUCHARIST IX. PIUS X AND MODERNISM X. PIUS X AND THE PRIESTHOOD XI. THE POPE OF THE SUFFERING XII. THE POPE OF PEACE I CHILD AND STUDENT In the village of Riese in the Venetian plains was born on the 2nd of June, 1835, a child who was destined to leave his mark on the world's history. Giuseppe[*] Melchior Sarto was the eldest of the eight surviving children of Giovanni Battista Sarto, the municipal messenger and postman of Riese, and his wife Margherita. They were poor people, and it was difficult sometimes to make both ends meet. The daily fare was hard and scanty, and the future pope was clothed, as an Italian biographer puts it, "as God willed." But both Giovanni Battista and his wife came of a hard-working, God-fearing stock, who could endure manfully and suffer patiently, and who taught their children to do the same. [*] Joseph, Beppo, Beppino, Bepi and Beppe are all diminutives of the same name. "Sarto" is the English "Taylor." Little Bepi was remarkable both for his intelligence and for his restless activity. The village schoolmaster, who at once singled him out as a pupil worth cultivating, was, we are told, not infrequently obliged to use means more persuasive than agreeable to calm his vivacity. Indeed, the seraphic element in Bepi seems to have been considerably leavened by that of the human boy. "That little rascal!" exclaimed an old inhabitant of Riese when he heard of Cardinal Sarto's elevation to the papacy, "Many a cherry of mine has found its way down his throat!" It was not long before Bepi had mastered the rudiments of reading and writing, which were all that the village school could offer. He became an efficient server at Mass, and such was his influence over his companions that at the age of ten he was appointed leader of the somewhat unruly band of acolytes who served in the village church. The young master of ceremonies proved himself perfectly equal to the occasion. There was such a serene good temper and such a merry wit behind the somewhat drastic methods of Bepi that his authority was irresistible and unquestioned.