POPES OF THE NAME OF PIUS

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXI, Issue 41, 8 October 1903, Page 20

POPES OF THE NAME OF PIUS

The election of a Pontiff (says a writer in the 'Catholic Standard and Times ') is the expression of choice on the part of his brother Cardinals ; the selection of his pontifical name is his own- choice, however, and is taken to be a significant indication of his policy. Admirations point to ideals , ideals, though ever so distantly followed, are guiding lights. Cardinal Pecci chose to be Leo Xlll. because, as he said, he admired the character of Leo XII., the Pontiff of his boyhood. Cardinal Mastai became Pius IX. in respect for his predecessor in the Bishopric of lmola, Pius VII., the storm-tossed Pope of the Napoleonic cataclysm. Cardinal Sarto selected the title of Pius X.

Pius is one of the Greatest Names in Papal history ; its choice is a self-explanatory piece of wisdom. The pontificate of Pius IX. is within the memory of the eldetrs ; the spiritual triumphs and temporal reverses of the longest reign are as familiar as the events of the late Leonine period. The pro-Italian sentimentalists of England have lived to see the cheapening of their heroes and the injustice of their cause. The years of the Savoyard rule have been kind to the memory ol the good and gentle Pope-King ; time has justified Pio Nojio. As another Pius (Pius II.) said : ' The barque of the Church often rocks to and fro, but it does not sink ; it is buffeted, but not shattered ; it is assailed, but not wrecked ; God permits His people to be tried, but He will not suffer them to be overwhelmed.' The brief reign of Pius VIII. (March 31, 1829, to November 30, 1830) ended when our late lamented Pope was a young man of 20. Pius VIII. was a Pope of what F. Marion Crawford condescendingly terms the ' charitable class ; ' he was especially active in alleviating the conditions of the poor. He secured repatriation for the Catholics of Armenia, and his appeal to Dom Pedro accomphsed the abolition of slavery m Brazil. His brief against mixed marriages was one of

The Most Important Utterances of an all too short Pontificate. Pius VII. reigned in turbulent times ; his career is world-history In view of the Venetian nativity of our pie&ent Holy Father, it is interesting to recall that the Conclave of 1799 assembled in Venice, whither 35 Cardinals hastened from their places of exile to elect Barnabas Chianmonti, CardmalBishop of lmola, to the throne of St. Peter. The story of Pius VII. is the story of the Napoleonic era. The world-conqueror strove to subordinate the Pope, failing that, he attempted to annihilate the Holy See, and even threatened violence to the sacred person of the Pontiff. 1 I shall lay these thieats at the foot cf the crucilix,' said Pius \ II , with .sublime gentleness and fnmness undaunted 'I yu my cause, which is His also, into the keeping of God.' The disastrous Russian campaign -was the first punishment for the sacrilegious persecution of the Pope, who re-entered Rome in peaceful tnumph a month after Waterloo. The birth and dc:.th of the poor little impertinently-miscalled ' King of Rome ' present the most striking contrasts in history and furnish melancholy proof, it proof were needed, ot the instability of merely human power, of the ihmsiness of human ambitions. Pius VI. ascended the throne in an epoch of political confusion. When the Cardinals congiatulated him upon his accession, his Holiness answered prophetically 'Your pleasTtre is my misfortune The sixth Pius was a ruler of many and varied activities , Rome owes to Ins culture and energy the establishment of the pre-Clementine Museum, the herculean labor of draining the Pontine marshes and the restoration of the Appian Way The French Revolution surged into Rome , the Eternal City was occupied by the undisciplined and ruthless violaters of religion. The brave old Pope opposed the rufhanly hordes beyond the limit ot his strength , his courage knew no limit. ' What a grand spectacle is Pius VI when, with a firmness that few believed him capable of, he sternly resolves to remain near the tomb of the Apostles and there abide his fate ' ' wrote Von Muller in 1797. ' W^uld to God that the noble old man, now above 80 years of age, might be permitted to rest where he had spent a Pontificate of 22 years and borne up under the bitter trials that God had sent upon him.' It was not to be , Pius VI. died in exile,

The Most Illustrious Victim of the French Revolution. The preceding Pius (Pius V , St. Pius) reigned two centune-. earlier, in the days^ of Elizabeth of England, whom he excommunicated. This Dominican Pope was distinguished by the most edifying personal hunuhty, going so far as to wait upon the sick in the hospitals' His policy was as lordly as Ins piety was lowly ; to him all Christendom is iridebted for the final repulse of Mahommedanism in the glorious victory

of Lepanto. Pius V. was beatified by Pope Clement X. in 1673 and canonised by Clement XI. The Pontifical name of Pius was first borne by the early Pontiff who ruled the Church from 158 to 167 A D and who was martyred for the faith. The name was re^ vived 13 centuries later by the celebrated Aeneas Sylvius Piocolomini, nobleman, traveller, poet-laureate, Crusader, one of the most picturesquely brilliant characters of mediaeval times, and one who, like St. Augustine, left the follies and glories of the world to devote his life a*nd his gifts to the service of the Church. Pius II was ' distinguished by keenness of intellect, varied learning, experience of the world, and diplomatic ability, 1 a great scholar without a vestige of pedantry, a great churchman, all the greater for the contented simplicity of his priestly life. Like Leo, he slept only five hours nightly, ana lived on less than a laborer's child would demand to-day in this land of plenty. He received everybody, making no distinctions. When remonstrated with upon this time-consuming practice, he replied : ' Do you not know that as Pope I have to live not for myself but for others ? ' With the fame of the late Pontiff-poet still ringing through the world, it is odd to recall a serious objection put forth against the election of the literary Cardinal Piccolomini, in 1458 : • Shall we raise a poet to

The Chair of St. Peter ? ' Pope Pius 111., a nephew of Pius 11., was old and sickly at the time of his election, the excitement of which proved to be too much for the venerable Cardinal, who reigned less than a month as Supreme Pontiff. His accession was due entirely to the esteem in which he was held by the Sacred College. In his own way Pius 111. was as remarkable as his famous uncle. •He left no moment in the day unoccupied,' writes Sigismondi de' Conti ' His time for study was before daybreak ; he spent his forenoons in prayer and his mid-day hours in giving audiences, to which the humblest had easy access. lie was so temperate in food and drink that he allowed himself an evening meal only every other day.' Pius IV., the Pope of the Tridentine Creed, was the uncle of vSt Charles Borromeo, whom he raised to the dignity of the Cardinalate. Like every bearer of the name, the fourth Pius combined intense self-lowliness with as intense appreciation of the dignity of his holy office. Our Holy Father Pius the Tenth has chosen an auspicious name. May all the graces of all the Pios be his sacred heritage !