Pope Pius V

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

(Redirected from Saint Pius V)
Jump to: navigation, search
Pius V
Birth name Antonio Ghislieri
Papacy began January 7, 1566
Papacy ended May 1, 1572
Predecessor Pius IV
Successor Gregory XIII
Born January 17, 1504(1504-01-17)
Bosco, Italy
Died May 1, 1572 (aged 68)
Rome, Italy
Other popes named Pius
Styles of
Pope Pius V
Reference style His Holiness
Spoken style Your Holiness
Religious style Holy Father
Posthumous style Saint

Pope St. Pius V, O.P. (January 17, 1504May 1, 1572), born Antonio Ghislieri, from 1518 called Michele Ghislieri, was Pope from 1566 to 1572 and is a saint of the Roman Catholic Church. Involved early on in the Inquisition, as Pope he resisted the influence of Protestants.

Contents

He was born as Antonio Ghislieri at Bosco in the Duchy of Milan (now Bosco Marengo in the province of Alessandria, Piedmont), Italy. At the age of fourteen he entered the Dominican Order, taking the name Michele, passing from the monastery of Voghera to that of Vigevano, and thence to Bologna. Having been ordained priest at Genoa in 1528, he settled at Pavia, where he lectured for sixteen years. He soon gave evidence of the opinions which found a more practical expression in his pontificate, by advancing at Parma thirty propositions in support of the papal chair and against the heresies of the time. As president of more than one Dominican monastery during a time of great moral laxity in the Catholic Church, he stood against the trend of the times by insisting on strict discipline, and, in accordance with his own wish to discharge the office of inquisitor, received an appointment to that post at Como. His reformist zeal provoking resentment, he was compelled in 1550 to return to Rome, where, after having been employed in several inquisitorial missions, he was elected to the commissariat of the Holy Office. Pope Paul IV (1555–59), who while still Cardinal Carafa had shown him special favour, conferred upon him the bishopric of Sutri and Nepi, the cardinalate with the title of Alessandrino, and the honour – unique in one not of pontifical rank – of the supreme inquisitorship. Under Pope Pius IV (1559–65) he became bishop of Mondovi in Piedmont, but his opposition to that pontiff procured his dismissal from the palace and the abridgment of his authority as inquisitor.

Before Ghislieri could return to his episcopate, Pius IV died, and on January 7, 1566, he was elected to the papal chair as Pius V with duly attendant prodigies, his coronation taking place on his birthday, ten days later. The prudence of Comniendone saved him at the commencement of his pontificate from trouble with Germany, as in the general diet of the empire at Augsburg (March 26, 1566).

Fully alive to the necessity of restoring discipline and morality at Rome to ensure success without, he at once proceeded to reduce the cost of the papal court after the manner of the Dominican Order to which he belonged, compel residence among the clergy, regulate inns, expel prostitutes, and assert the importance of the ceremonial in general and the liturgy of the Mass in particular. In his wider policy, which was characterized throughout by an effective stringency, the maintenance and increase of the efficacy of the Inquisition and the enforcement of the canons and decrees of the Council of Trent had precedence over other considerations. Accordingly, in order to implement a decision of that council, he standardized the Holy Mass by promulgating the 1570 edition of the Roman Missal. Pope Pius V made this Missal mandatory throughout the Latin rite of the Catholic Church, except where a Mass liturgy dating from before 1370 was in use. This form of the Mass remained essentially unchanged for 400 years until the modern revision of the Missal in 1970, after which it has become widely known as the Tridentine Mass or Traditional Latin Mass; nowadays this rite, when considering the modifications made by Pope John XXIII, it is known as the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite.

Pius V recognized attacks on papal supremacy in the Catholic Church and was desirous of limiting their advancement. In France, where his influence was stronger, he took several measures to oppose the Protestant Huguenots. He directed the dismissal of Cardinal Odet de Coligny and seven bishops, nullified the royal edict tolerating the extra-mural services of the Reformers, introduced the Roman catechism, restored papal discipline, and strenuously opposed all compromise with the Huguenot nobility.

In the list of more important bulls issued by him the famous bull In Coena Domini (1568) takes a leading place; but amongst others throwing light on Pope Pius V's character and policy there may be mentioned his prohibition of quaestuary (February 1567 and January 1570); the condemnation of Michael Baius, the heretical Professor of Leuven (1567); the reform of the breviary (July 1568); the denunciation of the dirum nefas (August 1568); the banishment of the Jews from the ecclesiastical dominions except Rome and Ancona (1569); the injunction of the use of the reformed missal (July 1570); the confirmation of the privileges of the Society of Crusaders for the protection of the Inquisition (October 1570); the dogmatic certainty of the miraculous conception (November 1570); the suppression of the Fratres Humiliati for profligacy (February 1571); the approbation of the new office of the Blessed Virgin (March 1571); the enforcement of the daily recitation of the canonical hours (September 1571); and the purchase of assistance against the Turks by offers of plenary pardon (March 1572). His response to the reforms of Elizabeth I of England (1558–1603) included support of Mary I of Scotland (1542–67) and her supporters in their attempts to take over England "ex turpissima muliebris libidinis servitute". An important event in the history of Elizabethan England was the publication of a bull, Regnans in Excelsis, dated April 27, 1570, that declared Elizabeth I a heretic and released her subjects from their allegiance to her. This transformed the status English Roman Catholics from religious dissidents to potential enemies of the state.

Pius V persistently and successfully attempted to form a general league against the Turks, as the result of which the Battle of Lepanto (October 7, 1571) was won by the combined fleet under Colonna. It is attested in his canonization that he miracously knew when the battle was over, himself being in Rome at the time. Three national synods were held during his pontificate at Naples under Cardinal Alfonso Caraffa (whose family had, after inquiry, been reinstated by Pius V), at Milan under Charles Borromeo, and at Machim.

After his election to the papacy, Pius V continued to wear white, the color of his Dominican habit. Every Pope since him has also worn white clothing. Prior to Pius V, Popes, like Cardinals, wore red. This is why some papal accessories, such as the papal shoes, camauro, mozzetta, and cappello romano, are red.

The body of Pius V in his tomb in Santa Maria Maggiore.
The body of Pius V in his tomb in Santa Maria Maggiore.

Pius V died on May 1, 1572. He was succeeded by Pope Gregory XIII (1572–85). In 1696, the process of Pius's canonisation was started through the efforts of the Master of the Order of Preachers, Antonin Cloche. He also immediately commissioned a representative tomb from the sculptor Pierre Le Gros the Younger to be erected in the Sistine Chapel of the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore. The pope's body was placed in it in 1698. He was canonised by Pope Clement XI (1700–21) on May 24, 1712.

Portrait of Pius V by Pierre Le Gros
Portrait of Pius V by Pierre Le Gros

The front of his tomb has a lid of gilded bronze which shows a likeness of the dead pope. Most of the time this is left open to allow the veneration of the saint's remains.

Pope Pius V is also a patron saint of the Maltese Islands and helped financially in the construction of the city of Valletta.

  • St Pius V, by Robin Anderson, TAN Books and Publishers, Inc, 1973/78. ISBN 0-89555-354-6
Wikisource has original text related to this article:
Coat of Arms of Pope Pius V
Wikimedia Commons has media related to:
Catholic Church titles
Preceded by
Pius IV
Bishop of Rome, Vicar of Peter (deprecated A.D. 495), Vicar of Christ, Successor of the Prince of the Apostles
Supreme Pontiff (Pontifex Maximus)
Patriarch of the West (deprecated 2006), Primate of Italy,
Archbishop and Metropolitan of the Roman Province
Servant of the Servants of God
Pope

1566–72
Succeeded by
Gregory XIII


Persondata
NAME Pius V, Pope
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Pius V, Saint; Ghislieri, Antonio ; Ghislieri, Michele
SHORT DESCRIPTION Pope from 1566 to 1572
DATE OF BIRTH January 17, 1504
PLACE OF BIRTH Bosco, Italy
DATE OF DEATH May 1, 1572
PLACE OF DEATH Rome, Italy
Advanced Search
Included Web Search Engines


Safe Search

close

Top Matching Results

Occasionally Search.com will highlight specialized results that are based on the context of your query. Examples of specialized results include specific links to news, images, or video.

Top Matching Results may highlight information from other Search.com pages, content from the CNET Network of sites, or third party content. The listings are based purely on relevance. Search.com does not receive payment for listings in this section but our partners that provide this data may get paid for listing these products.

Sponsored Links

This section contains paid listings which have been purchased by companies that want to have their sites appear for specific search terms and related content. These listings are administered, sorted and maintained by a third party and are not endorsed by Search.com.

Search Results

Search.com sends your search query to several search engines at one time and integrates the results into one list which has been sorted by relevance using Search.com's proprietary algorithm. You can customize the list of search engines included in your metasearch from the preferences.

The search engines that are used in your metasearch may allow companies to pay to have their Web sites included within the results. To view the Paid Inclusion policy for a specific search engine, please visit their Web site. Search.com does not accept payment or share revenue with any search engine partner for listings in this section.