Free Republic

When I was eight years old, I fell in love. The boy was not much older than I was; I first read about him, or maybe someone told me about him. His name was "Tarsicius" -- Saint Tarsicius, and he became my dearest friend. How those few words I learned about him burned in my heart. Tarsicius, the boy- saint of the early days of the Church. Valerian's persecutions of the Christians had been ferocious, and every priest had to fear for his life. Christians already in prison were a kind of bait to ensnare priests who would carry the...

On September 1, 1910, Pope Saint Pius X issued the last, some say the most important, of his three anti- Modernist pronouncements. It was the Motu proprio Sacrorum antistitum, that contained the famous "Oath Against Modernism". A study of this Motu proprio presents the finest representation in modern history of a Pope who truly obeyed Christ's Petrine command to "Feed My sheep" and "strengthen thy brethren". The entire Catholic world -- to this day -- owes an immeasurable debt of gratitude to Pope Saint Pius X, even though his work has been severely undermined by high-level Catholic churchmen in the...

If ever there was a man who made no effort to curry favor with the powers that be, it was Pope St. Pius X. And when he died, even those who had not been especially fond of him admitted his greatness. Woodrow Wilson, for example, described the Pope as a lover of humanity, and said that the world was poorer for his passing. But it was his own who loved him the most, of course, and in the tributes that Catholic periodicals in this country paid to him we see a realization among American Catholics that they had been blessed...