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<!DOCTYPE html> <html lang="en"> <head> <title>CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Pope St. Pius V</title><script src="https://dtyry4ejybx0.cloudfront.net/js/cmp/cleanmediacmp.js?ver=0104" async="true"></script><script defer data-domain="newadvent.org" src="https://plausible.io/js/script.js"></script><link rel="canonical" href="https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12130a.htm"> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"> <meta name="description" content="Biography of the sixteenth-century pontiff"> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="RSS" href="http://feeds.newadvent.org/bestoftheweb?format=xml"><link rel="icon" href="../images/icon1.ico" type="image/x-icon"><link rel="shortcut icon" href="../images/icon1.ico" type="image/x-icon"><meta name="robots" content="noodp"><link type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" href="../utility/screen6.css" media="screen"></head> <body class="cathen" id="12130a.htm">  <br/> <div id="capitalcity"><table summary="Logo" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 width="100%"><tr valign="bottom"><td align="left"><a href="../"><img height=36 width=153 border="0" alt="New Advent" src="../images/logo.gif"></a></td><td align="right"> <form id="searchbox_000299817191393086628:ifmbhlr-8x0" action="../utility/search.htm">  <input type="hidden" name="safe" value="active"> <input type="hidden" name="cx" value="000299817191393086628:ifmbhlr-8x0"/> <input type="hidden" name="cof" value="FORID:9"/>  <label for="searchQuery" id="searchQueryLabel">Search:</label> <input id="searchQuery" name="q" type="text" size="25" aria-labelledby="searchQueryLabel"/>  <label for="submitButton" id="submitButtonLabel" class="visually-hidden">Submit Search</label> <input id="submitButton" type="submit" name="sa" value="Search" aria-labelledby="submitButtonLabel"/> </form> <table summary="Spacer" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td height="2"></td></tr></table> <table summary="Tabs" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr> <td bgcolor="#ffffff"></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../"> Home </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_white_on_color" href="../cathen/index.html"> Encyclopedia </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../summa/index.html"> Summa </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../fathers/index.html"> Fathers </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../bible/gen001.htm"> Bible </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../library/index.html"> Library </a></td> </tr></table> </td> </tr></table><table summary="Alphabetical index" width="100%" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td class="bar_white_on_color"> <a href="../cathen/a.htm"> A </a><a href="../cathen/b.htm"> B </a><a href="../cathen/c.htm"> C </a><a href="../cathen/d.htm"> D </a><a href="../cathen/e.htm"> E </a><a href="../cathen/f.htm"> F </a><a href="../cathen/g.htm"> G </a><a href="../cathen/h.htm"> H </a><a href="../cathen/i.htm"> I </a><a href="../cathen/j.htm"> J </a><a href="../cathen/k.htm"> K </a><a href="../cathen/l.htm"> L </a><a href="../cathen/m.htm"> M </a><a href="../cathen/n.htm"> N </a><a href="../cathen/o.htm"> O </a><a href="../cathen/p.htm"> P </a><a href="../cathen/q.htm"> Q </a><a href="../cathen/r.htm"> R </a><a href="../cathen/s.htm"> S </a><a href="../cathen/t.htm"> T </a><a href="../cathen/u.htm"> U </a><a href="../cathen/v.htm"> V </a><a href="../cathen/w.htm"> W </a><a href="../cathen/x.htm"> X </a><a href="../cathen/y.htm"> Y </a><a href="../cathen/z.htm"> Z </a> </td></tr></table></div> <div id="mobilecity" style="text-align: center; "><a href="../"><img height=24 width=102 border="0" alt="New Advent" src="../images/logo.gif"></a></div>  <div id="mi5"><span class="breadcrumbs"><a href="../">Home</a> > <a href="../cathen">Catholic Encyclopedia</a> > <a href="../cathen/p.htm">P</a> > Pope St. Pius V</span></div> <div id="springfield2"> <div class='catholicadnet-728x90' id='cathen-728x90-top' style='display: flex; height: 100px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; '></div> <h1>Pope St. Pius V</h1> <p><em><a href="https://gumroad.com/l/na2"><strong>Please help support the mission of New Advent</strong> and get the full contents of this website as an instant download. Includes the Catholic Encyclopedia, Church Fathers, Summa, Bible and more  all for only $19.99...</a></em></p> <p>(MICHELE GHISLERI).</p> <p>Born at Bosco, near Alexandria, <a href="../cathen/09336b.htm">Lombardy</a>, 17 Jan., 1504 elected 7 Jan., 1566; died 1 May, 1572. Being of a poor though noble <a href="../cathen/05782a.htm">family</a> his lot would have been to follow a trade, but he was taken in by the <a href="../cathen/12354c.htm">Dominicans</a> of Voghera, where he received a good <a href="../cathen/05295b.htm">education</a> and was trained in the way of solid and austere <a href="../cathen/12748a.htm">piety</a>. He entered the order, was <a href="../cathen/11279a.htm">ordained</a> in 1528, and taught <a href="../cathen/14580x.htm">theology</a> and philosophy for sixteen years. In the meantime he was master of <a href="../cathen/11144a.htm">novices</a> and was on several occasions elected <a href="../cathen/12427c.htm">prior</a> of different houses of his order in which he strove to develop the practice of the monastic virtues and spread the spirit of the holy founder. He himself was an example to all. He <a href="../cathen/05789c.htm">fasted</a>, did penance, passed long hours of the night in meditation and <a href="../cathen/12345b.htm">prayer</a>, traveled on foot without a cloak in deep silence, or only speaking to his companions of the things of <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a>. In 1556 he was made <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">Bishop</a> of Sutri by <a href="../cathen/11581a.htm">Paul IV</a>. His <a href="../cathen/15753a.htm">zeal</a> against <a href="../cathen/07256b.htm">heresy</a> <a href="../cathen/03459a.htm">caused</a> him to be selected as inquisitor of the <a href="../cathen/05752c.htm">faith</a> in <a href="../cathen/10298a.htm">Milan</a> and <a href="../cathen/09336b.htm">Lombardy</a>, and in 1557 <a href="../cathen/11581a.htm">Paul IV</a> made him a <a href="../cathen/03333b.htm">cardinal</a> and named him inquisitor general for all <a href="../cathen/03699b.htm">Christendom</a>. In 1559 he was transferred to Mondovì, where he restored the purity of <a href="../cathen/05752c.htm">faith</a> and discipline, gravely impaired by the <a href="../cathen/15546c.htm">wars</a> of <a href="../cathen/12076b.htm">Piedmont</a>. Frequently called to <a href="../cathen/13164a.htm">Rome</a>, he displayed his unflinching <a href="../cathen/15753a.htm">zeal</a> in all the affairs on which he was consulted. Thus he offered an insurmountable opposition to <a href="../cathen/12129a.htm">Pius IV</a> when the latter wished to admit Ferdinand de' Medici, then only thirteen years old, into the <a href="../cathen/03333b.htm#x">Sacred College</a>. Again it was he who defeated the project of Maximilian II, Emperor of <a href="../cathen/06484b.htm">Germany</a>, to abolish <a href="../cathen/03481a.htm">ecclesiastical celibacy</a>. On the death of <a href="../cathen/12129a.htm">Pius IV</a>, he was, despite his tears and entreaties, elected <a href="../cathen/12260a.htm">pope</a>, to the great <a href="../cathen/07131b.htm">joy</a> of the whole Church.</p> <div class="CMtag_300x250" style="display: flex; height: 300px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; "></div> <p>He began his pontificate by giving large <a href="../cathen/01328f.htm">alms</a> to the <a href="../cathen/12327a.htm">poor</a>, instead of distributing his bounty at haphazard like his predecessors. As pontiff he practiced the virtues he had displayed as a <a href="../cathen/10487b.htm">monk</a> and a <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishop</a>. His <a href="../cathen/12748a.htm">piety</a> was not diminished, and, in spite of the heavy labours and anxieties of his office, he made at least two meditations a day on bended knees in presence of the <a href="../cathen/05584a.htm">Blessed Sacrament</a>. In his charity he visited the <a href="../cathen/07480a.htm">hospitals</a>, and sat by the bedside of the sick, consoling them and preparing them to die. He <a href="../cathen/15557b.htm">washed the feet</a> of the <a href="../cathen/12327a.htm">poor</a>, and embraced the <a href="../cathen/09182a.htm">lepers</a>. It is related that an English nobleman was converted on seeing him <a href="../cathen/08663a.htm">kiss</a> the feet of a beggar covered with ulcers. He was very austere and banished luxury from his court, raised the standard of morality, laboured with his intimate friend, <a href="../cathen/03619a.htm">St. Charles Borromeo</a>, to reform the <a href="../cathen/04049b.htm">clergy</a>, <a href="../cathen/11189a.htm">obliged</a> his <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishops</a> to reside in their <a href="../cathen/05001a.htm">dioceses</a>, and the <a href="../cathen/03333b.htm">cardinals</a> to lead lives of simplicity and <a href="../cathen/12748a.htm">piety</a>. He diminished <a href="../cathen/13506d.htm">public scandals</a> by relegating prostitutes to distant quarters, and he forbade <a href="../cathen/03051a.htm">bull fights</a>. He enforced the observance of the discipline of the <a href="../cathen/15030c.htm">Council of Trent</a>, reformed the <a href="../cathen/03780c.htm">Cistercians</a>, and supported the missions of the <a href="../cathen/01409c.htm">New World</a>. In the <a href="../cathen/03052b.htm">Bull</a> <a href="../cathen/07717c.htm">"In Coena Domini"</a> he proclaimed the traditional principles of the <a href="../cathen/07424b.htm">Roman Church</a> and the supremacy of the <a href="../cathen/07424b.htm">Holy See</a> over the <a href="../cathen/02137c.htm">civil power</a>.</p> <p>But the great thought and the constant preoccupation of his pontificate seems to have been the struggle against the <a href="../cathen/12495a.htm">Protestants</a> and the <a href="../cathen/15097a.htm">Turks</a>. In <a href="../cathen/06484b.htm">Germany</a> he supported the <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholics</a> oppressed by the <a href="../cathen/07256b.htm">heretical</a> princes. In <a href="../cathen/06166a.htm">France</a> he encouraged the League by his counsels and with pecuniary aid. In the Low Countries he supported <a href="../cathen/14169b.htm">Spain</a>. In <a href="../cathen/05445a.htm">England</a>, finally, he <a href="../cathen/05678a.htm">excommunicated</a> Elizabeth, embraced the cause of <a href="../cathen/09764a.htm">Mary Stuart</a>, and wrote to console her in <a href="../cathen/12430a.htm">prison</a>. In the ardour of his <a href="../cathen/05752c.htm">faith</a> he did not hesitate to display severity against the dissidents when <a href="../cathen/10733a.htm">necessary</a>, and to give a new impulse to the activity of the <a href="../cathen/08026a.htm">Inquisition</a>, for which he has been blamed by certain historians who have exaggerated his conduct. Despite all representations on his behalf he condemned the writings of <a href="../cathen/02209c.htm">Baius</a>, who ended by submitting.</p> <p>He worked incessantly to unite the <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christian</a> princes against the hereditary enemy, the <a href="../cathen/15097a.htm">Turks</a>. In the first year of his pontificate he had ordered a solemn jubilee, exhorting the <a href="../cathen/05769a.htm">faithful</a> to penance and <a href="../cathen/01328f.htm">almsgiving</a> to obtain the victory from <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a>. He supported the Knights of Malta, sent money for the fortification of the free towns of <a href="../cathen/08208a.htm">Italy</a>, furnished monthly contributions to the <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christians</a> of <a href="../cathen/07547a.htm">Hungary</a>, and endeavoured especially to bring Maximilian, Philip II, and Charles I together for the defence of <a href="../cathen/03699b.htm">Christendom</a>. In 1567 for the same purpose he collected from all <a href="../cathen/04340c.htm">convents</a> one-tenth of their revenues. In 1570 when Solyman II attacked <a href="../cathen/04589a.htm">Cyprus</a>, threatening all <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christianity</a> in the West, he never rested till he united the forces of <a href="../cathen/15333a.htm">Venice</a>, <a href="../cathen/14169b.htm">Spain</a>, and the <a href="../cathen/07424b.htm">Holy See</a>. He sent his blessing to Don John of <a href="../cathen/02121b.htm">Austria</a>, the commander-in-chief of the expedition, recommending him to leave behind all soldiers of <a href="../cathen/05649a.htm">evil</a> life, and promising him the victory if he did so. He ordered public <a href="../cathen/12345b.htm">prayers</a>, and increased his own supplications to <a href="../cathen/07170a.htm">heaven</a>. On the day of the Battle of <a href="../cathen/09181b.htm">Lepanto</a>, 7 Oct., 1571, he was working with the <a href="../cathen/03333b.htm">cardinals</a>, when, suddenly, interrupting his work opening the window and looking at the sky, he cried out, "A truce to business; our great task at present is to thank <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> for the victory which He has just given the <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christian</a> army". He burst into tears when he heard of the victory, which dealt the <a href="../cathen/15097a.htm">Turkish</a> power a blow from which it never recovered. In memory of this triumph he instituted for the first <a href="../cathen/14335a.htm">Sunday</a> of October the <a href="../cathen/13189a.htm">feast of the Rosary</a>, and added to the Litany of Loreto the supplication "Help of <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christians</a>". He was hoping to put an end to the power of <a href="../cathen/10424a.htm">Islam</a> by forming a general alliance of the Italian cities <a href="../cathen/12181a.htm">Poland</a>, <a href="../cathen/06166a.htm">France</a>, and all <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christian</a> <a href="../cathen/05607b.htm">Europe</a>, and had begun negotiations for this purpose when he died of gravel, repeating "O Lord, increase my sufferings and my patience!" He left the memory of a rare virtue and an unfailing and inflexible integrity. He was <a href="../cathen/02364b.htm">beatified</a> by <a href="../cathen/04028b.htm">Clement X</a> in 1672, and <a href="../cathen/02364b.htm">canonized</a> by <a href="../cathen/04029a.htm">Clement XI</a> in 1712.</p> <div class='catholicadnet-728x90' id='cathen-728x90-bottom' style='display: flex; height: 100px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; '></div> <div class="cenotes"><h2>Sources</h2><p class="cenotes">MENDHAM, <em>Life and Pontificate of St. Pius V</em> (London, 1832 and 1835); <em>Acta SS.,</em> I May; TOURON, <em>Hommes illustres de l'ordre de St.-Dominique</em>, IV; FALLOUX, <em>Histoire de S. Pie V</em> (Paris, 1853); PASTOR, <em>Gesch. der Papste</em>, ARTAUD DE MONTOR, <em>History of the Popes</em> (New York, 1867); <em>Pope Pius V, the Father of Christendom</em> in <em>Dublin Review</em>, LIX (London, 1866), 273.</p></div> <div class="pub"><h2>About this page</h2><p id="apa"><strong>APA citation.</strong> <span id="apaauthor">Lataste, J.</span> <span id="apayear">(1911).</span> <span id="apaarticle">Pope St. Pius V.</span> In <span id="apawork">The Catholic Encyclopedia.</span> <span id="apapublisher">New York: Robert Appleton Company.</span> <span id="apaurl">http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12130a.htm</span></p><p id="mla"><strong>MLA citation.</strong> <span id="mlaauthor">Lataste, Joseph.</span> <span id="mlaarticle">"Pope St. Pius V."</span> <span id="mlawork">The Catholic Encyclopedia.</span> <span id="mlavolume">Vol. 12.</span> <span id="mlapublisher">New York: Robert Appleton Company,</span> <span id="mlayear">1911.</span> <span id="mlaurl"><http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12130a.htm>.</span></p><p id="transcription"><strong>Transcription.</strong> <span id="transcriber">This article was transcribed for New Advent by Albert Judy, O.P.</span> <span id="dedication"></span></p><p id="approbation"><strong>Ecclesiastical approbation.</strong> <span id="nihil"><em>Nihil Obstat.</em> June 1, 1911. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor.</span> <span id="imprimatur"><em>Imprimatur.</em> +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.</span></p><p id="contactus"><strong>Contact information.</strong> The editor of New Advent is Kevin Knight. My email address is webmaster <em>at</em> newadvent.org. Regrettably, I can't reply to every letter, but I greatly appreciate your feedback — especially notifications about typographical errors and inappropriate ads.</p></div> </div> <div id="ogdenville"><table summary="Bottom bar" width="100%" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td class="bar_white_on_color"><center><strong>Copyright © 2023 by <a href="../utility/contactus.htm">New Advent LLC</a>. 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