REFLECTION – Thy cross, O Lord, is the source of all blessings, the cause of all graces; by it the faithful find strength in weakness, glory in humiliation, life in death. …….St Pope Pius V
All the evils of the world are due to lukewarm Catholics.” …….St Pope Pius V
“Holy Communion is the shortest and the safest way to Heaven.” …….St Pope Pius V
SHORT NOTE ON HIS LIFE AS POPE
St Pius V is the Pope who ordered the founding of seminaries. He published a new missal, a new breviary, a new catechism and established the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine (CCD) classes for the young. He patiently served the sick and the poor by building hospitals, providing food for the hungry and giving money to poor Roman converts. His decision to keep wearing his Dominican habit led to the custom of the pope wearing a white cassock. In striving to reform both Church and state, Pius encountered vehement opposition from Queen Elizabeth and the Roman Emperor Maximilian II. Problems in France and in the Netherlands hindered Pius’s hopes for a Europe united against the Turks. Only at the last minute was he able to organize a fleet which won a decisive victory in the Gulf of Lepanto, on October 7, 1571. What Pope Francis does now, St Pius did before him – his ceaseless papal quest for a renewal of the Church was grounded in his personal life. He spent long hours with his God in prayer, fasted rigorously, deprived himself of many customary papal luxuries and faithfully observed the spirit of the Dominican Rule that he had professed.
