A Short Life of Pope Pius the Tenth

Résumé du livre

Monsignor Blanc, a Marist missionary in Oceania, wrote thus to his clergy after an audience with Pius X: "My attention was completely captivated by his expression and his eyes. I could not tell you what the room was like nor what the Holy Father wore; I could see nothing but those eyes, and the light of them I shall never forget. He made me sit beside him, and I spoke of our people, our natives, the country that I love. If the life of the missionary is sometimes hard, let us remember that the pope has said 'the missions are my great consolation.' He was full of interest in all I had to tell him of your work, your zeal and your devotedness. I spoke of our schools and he was delighted. 'Tell them to devote themselves there without counting the cost,' he said: 'it is the most important thing of all." With touching graciousness and cordiality he gave his blessing to you, to our people, to all for whom I asked it."

"You cannot go near him without loving him," said another priest, "his kindness and sweetness are irresistible." Father Boevey Crawley, a South American priest and an ardent apostle of devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, went to Rome to obtain the pope's blessing on his mission. His story was a strange one. Attacked while quite young by a serious form of heart disease, he was sent to Paris to consult a specialist. The American doctors had told him that he had but a few months to live; the Paris specialist confirmed their verdict. Father Crawley had an overwhelming devotion to the Sacred Heart and to St. Margaret Mary. He went straight to Paray-le-Monial to ask through her intercession the grace of a holy death. Scarcely had he knelt in the chapel when he felt himself shaken from head to foot. He was cured. That night while kneeling in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament he received a divine intimation that he was to go forth and conquer the world, family by family, to love the Sacred Heart. To preach love was henceforward to be his mission, for what is devotion to the Sacred Heart but love of the love of Christ?

CONTENTS

I. CHILD AND STUDENT

II. CURATE AND PARISH PRIEST

III. CANON AND BISHOP

IV. PATRIARCH OF VENICE

V. THE PAPAL ELECTION

VI. THE AIMS OF PIUS X

VII. PIUS X AND FRANCE

VIII. THE POPE OF THE EUCHARIST

IX. PIUS X AND MODERNISM

X. PIUS X AND THE PRIESTHOOD

XI. THE POPE OF THE SUFFERING

XII. THE POPE OF PEACE