BELLUM CONTRA HÆRÉTICOS

"Né potenza e armi né duci, ma la Madonna del Rosario ci ha aiutato a vincere" "Neither power and weapons nor leaders, but Our Lady of the Rosary helped us to win" This is what the Venetian senate posed under the representation of the Battle in the palace of the doges

Sancte Pie V, Papa et Confessor, ora pro nobis!

To those who affirm: "Saint Pius V reformed the Missal, therefore the reforms of the twentieth century are fine too", here is an Ordo Missæ from the end of the twelfth century, which can be consulted in the collection of Patrologia Latina by p. Jacques Paul Migne. As can be well observed, the Mass is in all respects the same as in 1570, because St. Pius V did not invent anything, but restored the traditional use in the meantime hybridized with various uses and/ or abuses. The source of these images is Patrologia Latina, tome 217, columns 763-774.

Surrexit Dominus vere, Alleluia. The Lord truly has resurrected, Alleluia.

O Mary, my Queen and my Mother! I give myself entirely to thee, and to show my devotion to thee, I consecrate to thee this day, my eyes, my ears, my mouth, my heart, my whole being without reserve. Wherefore, good Mother, as I am thine own, keep me and guard me as thy property and possession.

QUO PRIMUM Promulgating the Tridentine Liturgy Pope Pius V - 1570 APOSTOLIC CONSTITUTION Therefore, no one whosoever is permitted to alter this notice of Our permission, statute, ordinance, command, precept, grant, indult, declaration, will, decree, and prohibition. Would anyone, however, presume to commit such an act, he should know that he will incur the wrath of Almighty God and of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul. Given at St. Peter’s in the year of the Lord’s Incarnation, 1570, on the 14th of July of the Fifth year of Our Pontificate.

1. Prompted by their example, and, as is piously believed, by the Holy Ghost, the inspired Blessed founder of the Order of Friars Preachers, (whose institutes and rule we ourselves expressly professed when we were in minor orders), in circumstances similar to those in which we now find ourselves, when parts of France and of Italy were unhappily troubled by the heresy of the Albegenses, which blinded so many of the worldly that they were raging most savagely against the priests of the Lord and the clergy, raised his eyes up unto heaven, unto that mountain of the Glorious Virgin Mary, loving Mother of God. For she by her seed has crushed the head of the twisted serpent, and has alone destroyed all heresies, and by the blessed fruit of her womb has saved a world condemned by the fall of our first parent. From her, without human hand, was that stone cut, which, struck by wood, poured forth the abundantly flowing waters of graces. And so Dominic looked to that simple way of praying and beseeching God, accessible to all and wholly pious, which is called the Rosary, or Psalter of the Blessed Virgin Mary, in which the same most Blessed Virgin is venerated by the angelic greeting repeated one hundred and fifty times, that is, according to the number of the Davidic Psalter, and by the Lord’s Prayer with each decade. Interposed with these prayers are certain meditations showing forth the entire life of Our Lord Jesus Christ, thus completing the method of prayer devised by the by the Fathers of the Holy Roman Church. This same method St. Dominic propagated, and it was, spread by the ??? Friars of Blessed Dominic, namely, of the aforementioned Order, and accepted by not a few of the people. Christ’s faithful, inflamed by these prayers, began immediately to be changed into new men. The darkness of heresy began to be dispelled, and the light of the Catholic Faith to be revealed. Sodalities for this form of prayer began to be instituted in many places by the Friars of the same Order, legitimately deputed to this work by their Superiors, and confreres began to be enrolled together. 2. Following the example of our predecessors, seeing that the Church militant, which God has placed in our hands, in these our times is tossed this way and that by so many heresies, and is grievously troubled troubled and afflicted by so many wars, and by the deprave morals of men, we also raise our eyes, weeping but full of hope, unto that same mountain, whence every aid comes forth, and we encourage and admonish each member of Christ’s faithful to do likewise in the Lord. [Pius goes on to confirm the indults, indulgences, etc., which his predecessors had granted to those who pray the Rosary, and to explicitate several of these indulgences.] Given at Rome at St. Peter’s, under the Fisherman’s ring, 17 September 1569, in the fourth year of our Pontificate.

CONSUEVERUNT ROMANI Call to Prayer Pope Pius V - 1569 The Roman Pontiffs, and the other Holy Fathers, our predecessors, when they were pressed in upon by temporal or spiritual wars, or troubled by other trials, in order that they might more easily escape from these, and having achieved tranquillity, might quietly and fervently be free to devote themselves to God, were wont to implore the divine assistance, through supplications or Litanies to call forth the support of the saints, and with David to lift up their eyes unto the Mountains, trusting with firm hope that thence would they receive aid.

Maffei reports some supernatural phenomena that accompanied the election of St. Pius V. Here are some of them. Having been made, purely by God, the election of the Holy Pontiff Pius V, it is not surprising that extraordinary signs preceded and followed him. She was revealed to St. Philip Neri, in whose Life we read that during the Conclave, and in time that nothing of the Alexandrian was thought of even by the Cardinals, he was distinctly heard one night saying: Bro Michele Cardinal Alessandrino will be made Pope. He was very seriously ill in the Conclave, and Cardinal Gonzaga was reduced to the last of his life. Suddenly awakened the night before the election, he called his Conclavists, and was angry with them because they had not warned him of the exaltation to the Pontificate of Cardinal Alessandrino, and as soon as he had said these words, he passed to better life […] On election day, a blood-coloured comet appeared over the City of London, where Queen Lisabetta was persecuting Catholics. She threw out a terrifying fire and saw a hand coming out of a cloud at her tail, holding the sword, which was interpreted to be that of the excommunication, which the Holy Pope launched against that heretical Princess.

From the 14th of April 1561 to the 15th of May 1565 he was presbyter cardinal of Santa Sabina. When Pius IV died, he was elected Pope, against everyone's expectation, on January 7, 1566, but, except for the external dress, he did not change anything in his standard of living. He had incessant zeal for the propagation of the faith, tireless concern for the restoration of ecclesiastical discipline, assiduous vigilance for the eradication of errors, inexhaustible beneficence to meet the needs of the indigent, invincible courage to defend the rights of the Apostolic See. To remedy the evils from which Christianity suffered, Pius V supervised the application of the decrees of the Council of Trent and published a new edition of the Missal (July 14, 1570) and the Breviary (1568). Moreover, he defeated, not so much with weapons as with prayers raised to God, near the Cursolari islands where he had gathered an immense fleet, the Sultan of the Turks, Selim, proud of many victories. And he knew, by divine revelation, this victory the same hour that it was obtained, and he announced it to his relatives (October 7, 1571); and on this occasion he instituted the feast of our Lady of Victories, which was later the feast of the Holy Rosary. While preparing a new expedition against the Turks, he fell seriously ill; and, having patiently suffered very acute pains, having reached extremes, having received the usual Sacraments, most placidly gave his soul back to God, on the 1st of May 1572, at the age of sixty-eight, after having reigned for six years, three months and twenty-four days. His body is venerated by the faithful with great devotion in the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, and God has worked many miracles through his intercession. Which legally approved, he was counted by Pope Clement X in the register of the Blessed on April 27, 1672, and by Pope Clement XI in the group of Saints on May 22, 1712.

Finishing the studies of philosophy and theology in Bologna he taught as “major lector” in the Casalese convent of St. Dominic. In 1528 he was ordained priest in Genoa by Cardinal Innocenzo Cybo. During the first years of his ministry, he was designated to the teaching of theology, of which he was lector in the Dominican convents of Pavia, Alba and Vigevano. From 1528 to 1544 he taught philosophy at the University of Pavia and for a short period he was professor of theology at the University of Bologna. He carried out with great praises such office of teaching and he held sacred conferences in several places with immense fruit for the listeners. During the thirties he also obtained various positions in the government of the Dominican Order: in Vigevano he was procurator and prior of the convent, then he was prior in Soncino, in Alba and finally again in Vigevano. He often went outside the convents to exercise the pastoral ministry, preach and judge disputes in some provincial chapters. In July 1539 he was temporarily sent to oversee the reconstruction of the Dominican convent on the island of Sant'Erasmo in Venice. In 1542 he was chosen to hold the office of definitor in the general chapter of the "Utriusque Lombardia" province held in Rome. By the same assembly he was elected Provincial Superior for Lombardy, a position he held for a few months until entering the Holy Inquisition. He sustained the office of inquisitor for a long time with invincible fortitude; and he preserved, not without danger of life, many cities immune from the then meandering heresy. In fact, on the 11th of October 1542 he was appointed commissioner and inquisitorial vicar for the diocese of Pavia. The following year, in Parma, he brought to light by pronouncing the public conclusions of the provincial chapter, consisting of thirty-six theses against the Lutheran heresy. For his exemplary conduct of life, he was appointed inquisitor in Como (1550) and then, at the behest of Pope Julius III, he had the same qualification in Bergamo, where he was charged with conducting an investigation into the bishop Vittore Soranzo, suspected of heresy. Following an assault on his residence, on December 5, 1550, Bro Michele Ghislieri had to flee to Rome, where he arrived on December 24, managing to deliver the dossier relating to Soranzo to Cardinal Gian Pietro Carafa (future Paul IV). Through the intercession of Cardinal Carafa, Ghislieri was appointed Commissioner General of the Roman Inquisition on the 3rd of June 1551, immediately dealing with the trials against Cardinals Reginald Pole, Giovanni Morone and against the Florentine humanist Pietro Carnesecchi. Paul IV, to whom his distinguished virtues made him very dear, appointed him president of the commission in charge of drawing up the Index of forbidden books (1555), promoted him to the bishopric of Nepi and Sutri on the 4th of September 1556 (he was ordained on the 14th of September 1556 by the cardinal Giovanni Michele Saraceni) and inquisitor general in Milan and Lombardy; and the following year (March 15, 1557) he was counted among the cardinal priests of the Roman Church with the title of Santa Maria sopra Minerva, a Dominican church specially elevated to the title of cardinal. On December 14, 1558, in consistory, Paul IV appointed Cardinal Ghislieri "Grand Inquisitor of the Holy Roman and Universal Inquisition" with unlimited and ad vitam faculties. The following year cardinal Giovanni Angelo Medici was elected to the Petrine Throne with the name of Pius IV, Ghislieri was confirmed in his role as inquisitor but the differences with the pontiff, far from the intransigent line of his predecessor, led him to be appointed bishop of Mondovì in Piedmont on March 17, 1560, where he moved; he took possession of the diocese on June 4, 1561. Known that many abuses had entered it, he visited the whole diocese; and things arranged, he returned to Rome, where he was entrusted with the handling of the most serious affairs, which he always decided with justice, apostolic freedom and constancy.

SAINT PIUS V, POPE AND CONFESSOR Saint Pius V, to the century Anthony, born the 17th of January 1504 in a place of Piedmont called Bosco Marengo (Alessandria), but coming from the noble Ghislieri family of Bologna, at the age of fourteen he entered the convent of the Order of Preachers of Voghera, taking the name of Michael. It could be noticed in him an admirable patience, profound humility, supreme austerity of life, continuous application to prayer and ardent zeal for regular observance and the glory of God. After completing his novitiate at the Vigevano convent, where he made his solemn vows in 1519, he devoted himself to the study of philosophy and theology at the studium of the convent. Noticed by the superiors for the extraordinary vivacity of intelligence and for the austerity of life, he was sent to the theological studium of the University of Bologna, where he received a solid preparation rigidly Thomistic.