Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 12.djvu/162

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PIUS


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PIUS


glorious termination the Council of Trent; for having reformed all the Roman tribunals; for having main- tained order and plenty in his dominion; for having promoted to the cardinalate men of great merit and rare literary ability; finally, for having avoided excess of love for his kindred, and enriched Rome by the building of so many fine edifices."

Ranke, History of the Popes in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries; AICRATORI, Aiuialid' Italia; VoN Reumont. Geschichte der Stadt Rom; Artand de Montor, History of the Popes (New York, 1867).

James F. Loughlin.

Pius V, S.\iNT, Pope (Michele Ghisleri), b. at Bosco, near Alexandria, Lombardy, 17 Jan., 1.504; elected 7 Jan., 1566; d. 1 May, 1572. Being of a poor


though noble family his lot would have been to follow a trade, but he was taken in by the Dominicans of Voghera, where he received a good education and was trained in the way of solid and austere piety. He entered the order, was ordained in 1528, and taught theology and philosophy for sixteen years. In the meantime he was master of novices and was on several occasions elected prior of different houses of his order, in which he strove to develop the practice of the monastic virtues and spread the spirit of the holy founder. He himself was an example to all. He fasted, did penance, passed long hours of the night in meditation and prayer, travelled on foot without a cloak in deep silence, or only speaking to his compan- ions of the things of God. In 1556 he was made Bishop of Sutri by Paul IV. His zeal against heresy caused him to be selected as inquisitor of the faith in Milan and Lombardy, and in 1557 Paul II made him a cardinal and named him inquisitor general for all Christendom. In 1.559 he was transferred to Mondovi, where he restored the purity of faith and discipline, gravely impaired by the wars of Piedmont. Fre- quently called to Home, he displayed his unflinching zeal in all t lie affairs on which he was consulted. Thus he offered an insurmountable opposition to Pius IV when the latter wished to admit Ferdinand de'


Medici, then only thirteen years old, into the Sacred College. Again it was he who defeated the project of Maximilian II, Emperor of Germany, to abolish eccle- siastical celibacy. On the death of Pius IV, he was, despite his tears and entreaties, elected pope, to the great joj' of the whole Church.

He began his pontificate by gi\'ing large alms to the poor, instead of distributing his bounty at haphazard like his predecessors. As pontiff he practised the virtues he had displayed as a monk and a bishop. His piety was not diminished, and, in spite of the heavy labours and anxieties of his office, he made at least two meditations a day on bended knees in presence of the Blessed Sacrament. In his charity he visited the hospitals, and sat by the bedside of the sick, con- soling them and preparing them to die. He washed (he feet of the poor, and embraced the lepers. It is related that an English nobleman was converted on seeing him kiss the feet of a beggar covered with ul- cers. He was very austere and banished luxury from Ills court, raised the standard of morality, laboured with his intimate friend, St. Charles Borromeo, to reform the clergy, obliged his bishops to reside in their dioceses, and the cardinals to lead lives of sim- Iilicity and piety. He diminished public scandals by relegating prostitutes to distant quarters, and he for- bade bull fights. He enforced the observance of the disiipline of the Council of Trent, reformed the Cis- tercians, and supported the missionsof the New World. In the Bull "In Cocna Domini" he proclaimed the traditional principles of the Roman Church and the supremacy of the Holy See over the civil power.

But the great thought and the constant preoccupa- tion of his pontificate seems to have been the struggle against the Protestants and the Turks. In Germany he supported the Catholics oppressed by the heretical princes. In France he encouraged the League by his counsels and with pecuniary aid. In the Low Countries he supported Spain. In England, finally, he excom- municated Eliz- abeth, embraced the cause of Mary Stuart, and wrote to console her in prison. In the ar- dour of his faith he did not hesitate to display severity against the dissi- dents when neces- sary, and to give a new impulse to the activity of the In- quisition, for which he has been blamed by certain historians who have exaggerated his conduct. De- spit call representa- tions on his behalf he condemned the writings of Baius (q. v.), who ended by submitting.

H<' worked incessantly to unite the Christian princes against the hereditary enemy, the Turks. In the first year of his iiontificate he had ordered a solemn jubilee, exhorting the faithful to penance and almsgiving to obtain the victory from God. He supported the Knights of Malta, sent money for the fortification of


AioNPMENT TO St. PiUS V. Pavi