Pope St. Pius X

Joseph Sarto was born in 1835 and was the second of ten children in a poor family, and from these humble beginings, Joseph Sarto became one of the most outstanding popes of the 20th century, Pope St. Pius X. Throughout his life he remembered his lowly beginnings and donated selflessly to the poor.

Joseph Sarto was ordained at the age of 23 on September 18, 1858, and served as a parish priest until November 1875 when he was named spiritual director of the seminary and chancellor of the archdiocese. He was named to these positions because of his excellent pastoral and administrative abilities. Joseph held this position until he was made a bishop of in Mantua 1884. After nine years as bishop, he was transferred to Venice as the city's patriarch cardinal.As Joseph rose through the hierarchy of the Church he always donated his posessions selflessly holding back little or nothing for himself.
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"I have lived poor, and I wish to die poor."

St. Pius X

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In 1903 Pope Leo XIII died and a conclave was held to chose his successor. Joseph was chosen to be the 259th pope and took the name Pius X and the motto "renew all things in Christ."

Pope Pius X worked to acompilsh his motto by encouraging the faithful to a great love and devotion to the Eucharist, by encouraging the faithful to receive Communion frequently and by allowing children to start receiving Communion around the age of 7.In addition to his encouraging a Eucharistic renewal, Pius also waged war against modernism, one of the great errors of his era.

Pius died a few weeks after the start of the First World War, stricken with great sorrow for the pain that humanity was about to suffer. He is remembered to have said, "I would gladly give my life to save my poor children from this horrible suffering." Pope Pius X died on August 20, 1914 and was canonized by Pope Pius XII in 1954 as the first pope since Pope St. Pius V (canonized in 1672) to be declared a saint.