The 120th Anniversary of the Election of Saint Pius X

On August 4, we celebrate the 120th anniversary of the election of Saint Pius X to the Pontifical Throne.

At the feet of the Mother of Good Counsel, Saint Pius X made the most important decision of his life. He accepted his pontifical election. This decision changed not only the course of his life but also the course of history.

On July 20, 1903, Leo XIII died. Archbishop Merry del Val was appointed Secretary of the Conclave after the sudden death of Monsignor Volpini. He was chosen for his unquestionable qualities and, above all, for his exemplary virtues. In and outside Rome, he had acquired the reputation of a priest animated by the spirit of God. It was during the Conclave that his first meeting with Saint Pius X took place: “Strange as it may seem,” he would write many years later, “I had never met His Eminence Cardinal Giuseppe Sarto.”

The Conclave took place after two very long pontificates—that of Pius IX, which lasted thirty-two years (1846-1878), and that of Leo XIII, which lasted a little less than twenty-five years (1878-1903). It now found itself in the dilemma of every papal election: either to elect a pope who represented continuity with the pontificate just ended or a change of course for the future.

The Emperor of Austria-Hungary vetoed the candidate of continuity using an abusive prerogative (jus exclusivae) inherited from the Holy Roman German Empire, of which he considered himself a successor. That candidate was Cardinal Mariano Rampolla del Tindaro (1843-1913), Secretary of State of Leo XIII, who represented that pontiff’s pro-French and anti-Austrian policy.

As expected, Rampolla was the leading papabile candidate and came very close to being elected. However, some Italian and French cardinals opposed his election because he was very involved in diplomatic affairs between the various European powers.

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The Conclave chose another candidate with several votes in his favor. However, that election reached an impasse unlikely to be resolved quickly because Cardinal Joseph Melchior Sarto, Patriarch of Venice, persisted in his firm and energetic refusal to become Pope.

As this situation threatened to drag on for a long time, the Secretary of the Conclave, Archbishop Rafael Merry del Val, was sent by the Dean of the Sacred College to Cardinal Sarto, asking him to accept his election. Here is how Archbishop Merry del Val describes the facts:

“It was around noon when I entered the silent, dark chapel. The lamp of the tabernacle shone brightly, with other candles burning on the altar and placed on either side of the image of Our Lady of Good Counsel. I saw a cardinal kneeling on the marble floor, some distance from the communion rail, in prayer before the tabernacle, his head between his hands and his elbows resting on one of the wooden benches. I do not remember the presence of any other person in the chapel at that moment. It was only Cardinal Sarto. I knelt beside him and, in a low voice, confided to him the message I had received. His Eminence raised his head, turning it slowly towards me as he listened, tears welled up in his eyes, and I almost held my breath in anticipation of the answer. ‘Yes, yes, Monsignor,’ he answered gently; ‘tell the Cardinal to do me this charity.’ He seemed to repeat, like an echo, the words of his Divine Master in Gethsemane: ‘Transeat a me calix iste…’

“The only words I had the strength to utter in reply, and which came from my lips as if inspired by someone else, were: ‘Eminenza, si faccia coraggio, il Signore l’aiuterá’ (Your Eminence, take courage, the Lord will help you). The cardinal stared at me, with that deep expression I have learned to know so well: ‘Grazie, grazie’, he repeated, and that was all he said. Again he put his head between his hands to finish his prayer, and I turned away. I will never forget the impression that this first encounter made on me, in the face of such intense anguish. It was the first time I had come into contact with His Eminence, and I felt that I was in the presence of a saint.”¹

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After much prayer at the feet of the Mother of Good Counsel, the Holy Cardinal Patriarch of Venice gave his answer: “Accipio in Cruce”—I accept it on the Cross.”

Thus was elected the Pope, who condemned the most insidious of heresies, Modernism. History would have been quite different had it not been for that fiat at the feet of the Mother of Good Counsel.

He is, to this day, the only parish priest to become Pope.

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