The Ecumenical Pope?

This time of year the Dominicans have a great time. Celebrating Easter with the rest of us, they then have the solemnity of their spiritual mother St Catherine of Siena and the next day, today, the feast of their great Pope-Saint, St Pius V. Both of these Dominicans were important figures of reform. St Catherine sought to contribute to the spiritual reform of the Church in a stagnant age and to bring the Pope back to his See. Pius sought to implement the reforms of the Council of Trent and reform the liturgy. He also had to face a rising threat to Europe and European Christianity from a Muslim empire.

I think, and some might find this hard to take, that St Pius V was an ecumenical figure. Yes he excommunicated Elizabeth I of England, but to be honest in doing so he was merely confirming an action that had already taken place: in her rejection of the Catholic Church, her persecution of those who adhered to the Catholic faith, her so called "Settlement" and ultimately her construction of a quasi religious cult centered on herself, Elizabeth was no longer in communion with the Catholic Church. Of course Pius's action infuriated her and she intensified her persecution of Catholics, and we cannot deny that. 

However in his defence of Europe, Pius was very much an ecumenical figure. He saw that there was a common threat, and so he appealed to all Christians to unite to defend Europe and her Christian faith. There may well have been disputes within the Christian community, but a time had come to put such disputes aside and stand together to protect Christians and their faith. Few responded to his call, Elizabeth stuck her head in the sand, and the German princes thought that the Ottomans would defeat the Pope and Catholicism, getting it out of the way, and they could negotiate with the Ottomans. Better to have Muslim allies than Catholic ones. Naive approach, I think. At the end of the day Pius called on a greater ally, Our Lady, and she responded to his call at Lepanto.

Drawing on this and seeing its relevance for us today I think we Christians must also stand together now as another threat is rising - radical atheistic permissive secularism. Despite our differences, those Christians and other faiths who have not fallen under the sceptre of this threat should stand together and face it.

In Battle, Forget the Sword, Get The Beads Out.....

 

From one remarkable Dominican to another: today's saint - Pope St Pius V.  What a pope!  Like his spiritual mother St Catherine of Siena, Pius was not afraid of a challenge, but surged forward in his mission to lead the Church in a difficult time.

 

Now Pius is a controversial figure.  I guarantee that if you go into a liturgy centre and begin to wax lyrical about him you'll find the temperature will plummet and you'll get very curt responses.  Historians will warn you that his excommunication of Elizabeth I of England was a bad idea because it made things worse for those she was persecuting (ironically some of these same historians may also lament Pius XII's "silence" disregarding that Pontiff's belief that a papal attack would have made things worse for those the Nazis were persecuting).  And then you'll get those who will say, "Don't mention Lepanto whatever you do!"

 

Well, I'm going to mention Lepanto!  Indeed I think we should all mention it and reflect on it.  We should all read Chesterton on it and praise it, not for its bloodshed of course, but for the outcome and the miracle God worked during that naval battle.

 

For one thing, Lepanto was the first call to ecumenical partnership between Catholics and Protestants made by a pope.  Realising the threat posed to Christianity by an Muslim invasion, Pius called on all Christian princes to put their differences aside and come together to meet the threat head on.  Few listened to him, and only a handful committed themselves to the Holy League.  In the end that small fleet of Christian ships led by Don Juan of Austria had to face a much larger fleet in the Gulf of Corinth and try and save Europe from invasion.

 

Pius, as a good Dominican, knew what he had to do: get the beads out and say his rosary!  And he asked all Catholics in Europe to join him in praying the rosary to save Europe.  We all know what happened - Our Lady of the Rosary in partnership with Don Juan and his crew overcame the threat.  It is said that Pope Pius had a vision of the moment of victory.  In thanksgiving, he designated the day of the victory, the 7th October, as the feast of Our Lady of Victories, later becoming the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary.

 

So the moral of the story is simple: when in battle, get the beads out.  A timely piece of advice as we struggle to keep abortion out of Ireland.  In that campaign the Muslims are not our enemies but our allies, and with them other Christians and men and women of good will.   We can all learn from Pius's example: we must turn to prayer in all our difficulties and ask for victory from our God, and people of all religious faiths can do that.

 

Let us note that on the morning after his election, after spending time with Our Lady, Pope Francis made his way over to St Pius's tomb to spend some time in prayer.  Was there a reason to do so? Perhaps, or perhaps, being the pious man that he is, the Holy Father wanted to greet one of the his saintly predecessors.  Whatever the reason, I am sure Pope St Pius looked down on the Pope and assured him of his prayers and presence as the new pontificate began - these popes stick together!

The White Pope

Today is the feast of Pope St Pius V, one of the great reforming popes of the Council of Trent.  St Pius was a Dominican and it is due to him, I believe, popes wear white: Pius continued to wear his habit after his election.  Funny though, in the debate between the Dominicans and the Jesuits (I'm sure you know all the jokes), I never heard the Dominicans boast that every pope is a Dominican since he wears the habit.  I'm sure they would say they are too humble to remind us!  Indeed.

St Pius was a remarkable man - first of all he became a Saint when many of the popes of that era saw themselves more as temporal lords than priests and had a few mistresses in their past.  Fr Michele Ghislieri, OP, later Pius V, was a holy and learned man.  He was a renowned theologian who was brought to Rome to work in the Inquisition.  For those still labouring under the Enlightenment/Secularist charge that the Roman Inquisition was the same as the Spanish, note that it wasn't.  It was far more merciful and actually run by the Church and not by the state as the Spanish one was. 

St Pius is, perhaps, most famous for two things: first the victory at the battle of Lepanto.  A good Dominican to the last, when Christian Europe was under threat from Muslim invasion, he told the Christians to pray the rosary, and it was this great programme of prayer which led the meagre Christian navy to victory over the much larger Muslim armada.  So Pius's lesson for us in Ireland in these difficult times is simple: "Get out the beads and start praying!" Yes, Saintly Holy Father, we will.

St Pius is also famous for his excommunication of Queen Elizabeth I of England, an act which infuriated the queen and led to a greater persecution of Catholics in her realms.  There are few things here.  Was he correct to do so?  A number of historians say he was not - he should have refrained in order not to provoke an already narky queen.  Interesting view - one which Pius XII may have agreed with as he was faced with the same problem (anti-Pius critics and historians please note - be consistent now!). 

One could say that Pius V was only confirming what was already a fact: that Elizabeth I was no longer in full communion with the Catholic Church - and that also is correct: in establishing her "settlement" and confirming herself as the head of the Church in England she did break communion with Rome - she was excommunicate.  One has to wonder why she was so offended?  She sounds like a modern liberal: they attack and reject "Rome" and "The Vatican", and distance themselves from it, and then when Rome confirms this they are upset, angry and sharing the pain of their rejected, broken hearts.  "It's all a mystery", as a friend of mine would say.  "They need a good slap", as another would say: I couldn't possibly comment.

In other news, I see an interesting article on Catholic Culture, concerning a bishop in Wisconsin, USA.  He appointed a number of priests of the Society of Jesus the Priest to various parishes, and it seems they offer the Extraordinary Form as part of the Mass schedule in the parishes.  Some are not happy in the parish of Platteville, however, and have said that the priests are "pre-Vatican II" and it seems they are voting with their wallets, withholding donations, so much so that a Catholic school had to be closed.  The bishop is not happy, and he must be hearing rumours that are doing the rounds in the parish because he has reminded the people of the canonical penalty for calumny and told them to refresh their memories as to what those penalties are. 

Wow!  As every priest in a parish knows there are parishioners who have nothing better to do but make up stories about their priests and spread them around as if they were true: all of us have fallen victim to such gossip.  It does not matter how small the parish is, rural or urban, there are people out there who just want to talk and gossip.   I know of cases where parishioners calumnied their parish priests for years, and then, when the priests died they were considered the best in the world and their successors are rogues etc etc, and it all starts again.  It's nice to see a bishop reminding parishioners that not only are they supposed to be Christians, and therefore charitable and supportive of their priests, but if they do make up and spread malicious gossip there are canonical penalties to deal with them in order to protect the good name of innocent priests.

St Pius V, pray for us all!  Happy feast day, dear Dominican brothers and sisters: keep up the good work!