"Saint Beppi," workaholic Russians and Our Lady of Knock

Today is the feast of St. Pius X, Pope, a great man whose holiness in no way should be clouded by the unfortunate schismatic associations that have clouded his name. St. Pius X is the latest pope to be canonized (1954), after his namesake St. Pius V, who had been raised to the glory of the altar in 1672 by Clement X. He was a man of humble origins (with the nickname of "Beppi"), the son of a mailman from Riese, and his humility carried over even when he had risen to the Apostolic See. His papacy was marked by a landmark devotion to the Eucharist, encouraging daily reception, as well as his well-known motu proprio on Church music, Tra le Sollecitudini. On the whole it concentrates on polyphony and Gregorian chant, two pillars of the reforms since encouraged by Vatican II, though perhaps not followed through as much as we would like. Pius X once wrote that preparation for Holy Communion was crucially important and said, even after he died to take the young communicants before his tomb, for "even there, I will bless them." He also coined the phrase "summation of all heresies" for Modernism and authorized the famous Oath against it. He died, it is claimed of grief, on August 20, 1914, fearing the destruction of the First World War.

Today is recalled also Our Lady of Knock, the famed Irish apparition well-known for having been completely mimed, or at the least, wordless. It occurred at 8 PM on this day (also a Thursday) in 1879, and was approved by the local archbishop as worthy of devotion in 1936. We also remember St. Gilbert, a French Benedictine monk of Soissons, later Abbot at Valenciennes, persecuted by a wicked count. While little is known of him, why not read something from the pen of his most famous namesake today? Today is also the feast of St. Bernard (or Giovanni) of Tolomeo, founder of the Olivetan Benedictine congregation. Today is also, in the Russian Orthodox Church, the feast of St. Abraham of Smolensk, sometimes called the "Venerable Abraham the lover of work, of the Kievan Caves." If only we could be all lovers of our work as well!