It's the Feast of
St Pius X,
1st Class (SSPX), with the color of
White. In this episode: the meditation: "The Meaning of Our Trials", today's news from the Church: "Ceuta in Turmoil: Can Christian Charity Ignore the Common Good?", a preview of the Sermon: "St. Pius X and His Example for Us", and today's thought from the Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre.
Have feedback or questions about the DD or our other shows?
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Sources Used Today:
- "The Meaning of Our Trials" — From the Assumption to Advent
- "Ceuta in Turmoil: Can Christian Charity Ignore the Common Good?" (FSSPX.news)
- "St. Pius X and His Example for Us" (SSPX Sermons)
- The Spiritual Life — Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre (Angelus Press)
Please support our new project, the Archbishop Lefebvre Biography Audiobook:
Saint Pius X became pope in 1903, but he never really stopped thinking like the village priest he had once been.
He was born Giuseppe Sarto in 1835 in Riese, a small town in northern Italy. His family was poor. His father worked as a postal carrier, and Giuseppe sometimes walked miles to school, reportedly carrying his shoes to keep from wearing them out and putting them on when he reached town.
From parish priest to bishop, cardinal, and eventually pope, he kept moving upward through the Church almost despite himself.
When he was elected pope, he reportedly protested that he was unworthy and begged the cardinals to choose someone else.
They didn't.
Pius chose as his motto: "To restore all things in Christ."
And he got to work.
One of his most important reforms affected something Catholics today barely think twice about: frequent Holy Communion. In many places, even devout Catholics received Communion only occasionally. Pius strongly encouraged frequent, even daily, Communion for properly disposed Catholics.
Then he turned his attention to children.
At the time, First Communion was often delayed until twelve, fourteen, or even later. Pius thought that made very little sense. If a child could understand the basic difference between ordinary bread and the Eucharist, why keep him away from Our Lord?
In 1910, he lowered the normal age of First Communion to around seven, the age of reason.
Millions of Catholic childhoods changed because of that decision.
Pius also loved sacred music and wanted Gregorian chant restored to Catholic churches. He reformed seminaries, reorganized parts of Church government, promoted better catechesis, and began the enormous project of organizing centuries of canon law into a single code.
But his pontificate also involved a serious intellectual battle.
Pius saw Modernism as a threat that could hollow out Catholic doctrine from within by treating dogma as something that evolved according to changing religious experience. In 1907, he condemned these errors in Pascendi Dominici Gregis and required strong measures to prevent them from spreading through seminaries and Catholic institutions.
Then came 1914.
Europe moved toward war.
Pius watched the crisis with horror and repeatedly urged peace. According to those around him, the prospect of Catholic nations tearing one another apart weighed heavily on him. He died on August 20, only weeks after the First World War began.
There's a wonderfully tangible connection to him in Rome today. His body rests beneath an altar in Saint Peter's Basilica, dressed simply in papal vestments. Pilgrims still stop there to pray before the pope who wanted ordinary Catholics, especially children, to draw much closer to the Eucharist.
And perhaps that's the simplest way to remember Pius X.
For all the reforms, controversies, and enormous responsibilities of his pontificate, he wanted Catholics to know Christ, receive Christ, and build their lives around Christ.
Saint Pius X, pope of the Eucharist and courageous defender of the faith, pray for us.
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What is the SSPX Podcast?
The SSPX Podcast is produced by Angelus Press, which has as its mission the fortification of traditional Catholics so that they can defend the Faith, and reaching out to those who have not yet found Tradition.
What is the SSPX?
The main goal of the Society of Saint Pius X is to preserve the Catholic Faith in its fullness and purity, to teach its truths, and to diffuse its virtues, especially through the Roman Catholic priesthood.
Authentic spiritual life, the sacraments, and the traditional liturgy are its primary means of bringing this life of grace to souls.
Although the traditional Latin Mass is the most visible and public expression of the work of the Society, we are committed to defending Catholic Tradition in its entirety: all of Catholic doctrine and morals as the Church has always defended them. What people need is the Catholic Faith, without compromise, with all the truth and beauty which accompanies it.
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