Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 12.djvu/174

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PIUS


that the Eucharistic Congress of 1905 was held at Rome, while he enhanced the solemnity of subsequent Eucharistic congresses by sending to them cardinal legates. The fiftieth anniversary of the proclamation of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception was an occasion of which he took advantage to enjoin devo- tion to Mary (Encyclical "Ad ilium diem", 2 Feb- ruary, 1904) ; and the Marian Congress, together with the coronation of the image of the Immaculate Con- ception in the choir of St. Peter's, was a worthy cul- mination of that solemnity. As a simple chaplain, a bishop, and a patriarch, Giuseppe Sarto was a pro- moter of sacred music; as pope, he pubhshed, 22 November, 1903, a Motu Proprio on sacred music in churches, and at the same time ordereil the authentic Gregorian Chant to be used everj-where, while he caused the choir books to be printed with the Vatican font of t3'pe under the supervision of a special com- mission. In the Encyclical "Acerbo nimis" (15 April, 1905) he treated of the necessity of catechismal instruction, not only for children, but also for adults, giving detailed rules, especially in relation to suitable schools for the religious instruction of students of the pubUc schools, and even of the uni^-ersities. He caused a new catechism to be published for the Dio- cese of Rome.

As bishop, his chief care had been for the formation of the clergy, and in harmony with this purpose, an Encyclical to the Italian episcopate (2S July, 1906) enjoined the greatest caution in the ordination of priests, calUng the attention of the bishops to the fact that there was frequently manifested among the younger clergy a spirit of independence that was a menace to ecclesiastical discipline. In the interest of Italian seminaries, he ordered them to be visited by the bishops, and promulgated a new order of stud- ies, which had been in use for several years at the Roman Seminary. On the other hand, as the dioceses of Central and of Southern Italy were so small that their respective seminaries could not prosper, Pius X estabhshed the regional seminary which is common to the sees of a given region ; and, as a consequence, many small, deficient seminaries were closed. For the more efficient guidance of souls, by a Decree of the Sacred Congregation of the Consistory (20 August, 1910), instructions were given concerning the removal of parish priests, as administrative acts, when such procedure was required by grave circumstances that might not constitute a canonical cause for the re- moval. At the time of the jubilee in honour of his ordination as a priest, he addressed a letter full of affec- tion and wise council to all the clergy. By a recent Decree (18 Nov., 1910), the clergy have been barred from the temporal administration of social organiza- tions, which was often a cause of grave difficulties.

The pope has at heart above all things the purity of the faith. On various occasions, as in the Encyclical regarding the centenary of Saint Gregory the Great, Pius X had pointed out the dangers of certain new theological methods, which, based upon Agnosticism and upon Immanent ism, necessarily divest the doc- trine of the faith of its teachings of objective, absolute, and immutable truth, and all the more, when those methods are associated with subversive criticism of the Holy Scriptures and of the origins of Christianity. Wherefore, in 1907, he caused the publication of the Decree " Lamentabili " (called also the Syllabus of Pius X), in which sixty-five propositions are condemned. The greater number of these propositions concern the Holy Scriptures, their inspiration, and the doctrine of Jesus and of the Apostles, while others relate to dogma, the sacraments, and the primacy of the Bishop of Rome. Soon after that, on 8 Sept., 1907, there ap- peared the famous Encyclical "Pascendi", which expounds and condemns the system of Modernism (q. v.). It points out the danger of Modernism in relation to philosophy, apologetics, exegesis, history,


liturgy, and discipline, and shows the contradiction between that innovation and the ancient faith; and, finally, it establishes rules by which to combat effi- ciently the pernicious doctrines in question. Among the means suggested mention should be made of the establishment of an official body of "censors" of books and the creation of a "Committee of Vigi- lance".

Subsequently, by the Motu Proprio "Sacrorum Antistitum", Pius X called attention to the injunc- tions of the Encychcal and also to the provisions that had already been estabhshed under Leo XIII on preaching, and prescribed that all those who exercised the holy ministry or who taught in ecclesiastical insti- tutions, as well as canons, the superiors of the regular clergy, and those serving in ecclesiastical bureaux should take an oath, binding tliemselves to reject the errors that are denounced in the Encyclical or in the Decree " Lamentabili ". Pius X rc\erted to this ^■ital subject on other occasions, especially in those Encyc- licals that were written in commemoration of St. Anselm (21 April, 1909) and of St. Charies Borromeo (23 Jime, 191(3), in the latter of which Reformist Mod- ernism was especially condemned. As the study of the Bible is both the most important and the most dangerous study in theology, Pius X wished to found at Rome a centre for these studies, to give assurance at once of unquestioned orthodox'y and scientific worth; and so, with the assistance of the whole Catho- lic world, there was estabhshed at Rome the Bibhcal Institute, under the direction of the Jesuits.

A need that had been felt for a long time was that of the codification of the Canon Law, and with a \'iew to effecting it, Pius X, on 19 March, 1904, created a special congregation of cardinals, of which Mgr Gasparri, now a cardinal, became the secretary. The most eminent authorities on canon law, throughout the world, are collaborating in the formation of the new code, some of the provisions of which have already been pubhshed, as, for example, that modifying the law of the Council of Trent on secret marriages, the new rules for diocesan relations and for episcopal visits ad limina, and the new organization of the Roman Curia (Constitution "Sapienti Consilio", 29 June, 1908). Prior to that time, the Congregations for ReUcs and Indulgences and of Discipline had been suppressed, while the Secretariate of Briefs had been united to the Secretariate of State. The characteristic of the new rule is the complete separation of the ju- dicial from the administrative; while the functions of the various bureaux have been more precisely deter- mined, and their work more equalized. The offices of the Curia are di\-ided into Tribunals (3), Congrega- tions (11), and Offices (5). With regard to the first, the Tribunal of the Signature (consisting of cardinals onlj') and that of the Rota were revived; to the Tri- bunal of the Penitentiary were left only the cases of the internal forum (conscience). The Congregations remained almost as they were at first, with the excep- tions that a special section was added to that of the Holy Office of the Inquisition, for indulgences; the Congregation of Bishops and Regulars received the name of Congregation of the Religious, and has to deal onl\' with the affairs of religious congregations, while the affairs of the secular clergy are to be re- ferred to the Congregation of the Consistory or of that of the Council; from the latter were taken the matri- monial causes, which are now sent to the tribunals or to the newly-created Congregation of the Sacraments. The Congregation of the Consistory has increased greatly in importance, since it has to decide questions of competence between the various other Congrega- tions. The Congregation of Propaganda lost much of its territory in Europe and in America, where reli- gious conditions have become regular. At the same time were published the rules and regulations for em- ployees and those for the various bureaux. Another