<p>When Pius X was elected in 1903, it was the first time since the Middle Ages that a 'peasant' had been chosen as pope. Giuseppe Sarto was born in Riese, Italy, in 1835. His mother was a seamstress, his father a parish clerk who died when Giuseppe was 16, leaving the family in financial straits. His mother insisted that the boy continue his education and fulfill his desire to become a priest. He was ordained at 23 and involved in pastoral ministry for 17 years. He became a bishop in 1884, a cardinal in 1892 and was elected pope in 1903. He died in 1914, soon after the outbreak of World War I.</p>
<p>His recommendations and encyclicals reflect his pastoral background: he advocated frequent communion for adults, sacramental preparation for children, and instruction in catechism for everyone. In his concern for the Church in a rapidly changing world, he issued a decree against writers holding 'modernist' ideas in philosophy and theology and wrote an encyclical condemning Modernism in all its manifestations. He was canonized in 1954.<br /></p>
<p>©2011 <em>Living with Christ, </em>Novalis - Bayard Press Canada Inc., <strong>http://www.livingwithchrist.ca/</strong>. Reprinted with permission.</p>
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