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Pope Pius V (1504-1572) was a Dominican friar and a saint of the Catholic Church. He led the Council of Trent, the Counter-Reformation, and the Holy League against the Ottoman Empire.
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- Early life and career.
- Papal reforms.
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Saint Pius V (born Jan. 17, 1504, Bosco, duchy of Milan [Italy]—died May 1, 1572, Rome, Papal States [Italy]; canonized May 22, 1712; feast day April 30) Italian ascetic, reformer, and relentless persecutor of heretics, whose papacy (1566–72) marked one of the most austere periods in Roman Catholic church history. During his reign, the Inquisition ...
Pius V, born Antonio Ghislieri, came from a poor family in northern Italy. He was a shepherd until the age of 14, when he became a Dominican friar. His first important appointment was as inquisitor, a high office of the Inquisition, then the Roman Catholic church’s judicial system for discovering, examining, and punishing heretics. Ghislieri’s methods, prompted by excessive zeal, provoked such opposition from his bishop’s officials as well as his chapter that he was recalled in 1550. The chief inquisitor in Rome, Giovanni Pietro Carafa, convinced of his value, sent him on a mission to Lombardy and, in 1551, appointed him commissary general of the Roman Inquisition. When Carafa became pope (as Paul IV), Ghislieri was made bishop of Nepi and Sutri (1556), cardinal (1557), and finally grand inquisitor of the Roman church (1558). He was continued in this office by Pius IV, whom, however, he antagonized by his censoriousness and obstinacy.
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After the death of Pius IV, the adherents of strict religious rules, led by Cardinal (later St.) Charles Borromeo, the nephew of Pius IV, had no difficulty making him pope (Jan. 7, 1566). Retaining his ascetic mode of life, Pius immediately began the work of reform. Decrees and ordinances were issued rapidly; the papal court became a model of sobriety; prostitutes were driven from the city or confined to a certain quarter; penalties were fixed for Sunday desecration, profanity, and animal baiting; clerics holding benefices were required to spend definite periods in their administrative districts; members of convents were compelled to live in strict seclusion according to their vows; instruction in the catechism, the short manual outlining the principles of Catholicism, was ordered. A new catechism appeared in 1566, followed by an improved breviary (the daily prayers for clergy and nuns [1568]) and an improved missal (a book containing the prayers and responses for celebrating the mass [1570]). The use of indulgences—i.e., the remission of temporal punishment due for sin—and dispensations from vows was restricted, and the whole system of penance was reformed.
Pius was an avowed enemy of nepotism. Though it is true that he made one nephew cardinal, he was allowed to have no influence, and the rest of the family was kept at a distance. By the constitution Admonet Nos (March 29, 1567), he forbade the reinvestiture of fiefs—those landed estates held under feudal tenure that were intended to revert to the Holy See—and bound the cardinals by oath to observe it. In March 1569 Pius ordered the expulsion of the Jews from the States of the Church, though for commercial reasons they were allowed to remain under humiliating conditions in Rome and Ancona. In February 1571 the Humiliati, a corrupt monastic order of Milan, was suppressed on account of an attempt upon the life of the archbishop, Cardinal Borromeo.
In all this work, Pius confirmed Borromeo’s belief that a spiritually minded pope was above all else necessary if the decrees of the Council of Trent (1545–63) that were intended to rebut Protestant doctrines and to reform Catholicism were to be put into practical effect. The moral standing of the papacy was greatly raised, its effectiveness was immensely increased by the obliteration of heresy in Italy, and the morale of the church was much improved by the insistence on interpreting church doctrine according to precepts established at the council. Yet it is uncertain how much of this improvement was due to Pius’ continuous use of the Inquisition. Some credit belongs to the new generation of higher and lower clergy in the several provinces whose attitude was so different from that of their predecessors. The council left him to finish the reform of the missal and breviary, but he left the medieval canon virtually unchanged, as it remained until 1970.
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Moreover, Pius’ policy had practical disadvantages. It took too little account of the wishes of secular rulers at a time when their support was essential for the defense of the church against heresy. He excommunicated Elizabeth I of England and declared her a usurper (Feb. 25, 1570) without possessing the means to enforce his judgment, and he antagonized not only England but Spain, France, and the Holy Roman Empire as well. Much more successful was his organization of a crusade against the Turks, which resulted in a decisive naval victory of Lepanto (Oct. 7, 1571). He made October the month of the rosary because of his victory.
Learn about Saint Pius V, the Italian ascetic and reformer who persecuted heretics and enforced the decrees of the Council of Trent. Find out his biography, papal reforms, and role in the Holy League against the Turks.
Apr 30, 2024 · Learn about Saint Pius V, the pope who implemented the reforms of the Council of Trent and fought against the Turks. He was a Dominican friar who wore his habit as pope and prayed often.
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Saint Pius V was the 225th Pope. While he only held onto the position for a little over six years, his impact on the Church was monumental. Known for his piety and strict moral compass, the Pope helped to reshape the Church’s reputation.
Apr 30, 2024 · Learn about the life and legacy of Pope Pius V, who reformed the Church, fought heresy and led a holy alliance against the Turks. He was a Dominican priest, a stern inquisitor and a devotee of Our Lady of the Rosary.
Learn about the life and achievements of Pope Pius V, who ruled from 1566 to 1572 and fought against Protestantism and the Turks. Find out how he became a saint, a Dominican, and a cardinal.
Apr 30, 2024 · Learn about the life and legacy of Pope Pius V, who reformed the Church, fought heresy and led a holy alliance against the Turks. He was a Dominican priest, inquisitor, cardinal and pope who wore white and prayed for victory at Lepanto.
