Quigley Preparatory Seminary - La Petit Seminaire Yearbook (Chicago, IL)

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mfluence extended from a c1ty to the world, but what really happened was a change not of personallty or heart but of respons1b1l1ty Pope Plus X was first last, and always a pr1est How he longed l1ke David to throw off the heavy armor of the papacy and to go forth as before w1th h1s staff and shng to slay Gohath to fight lgnorance and sm ln the front lmes But armles need a general and the Church needed a Rock And Father G1useppe Sarto became the soverelgn hlgh pr1est of the world re sponslble for all God s chlldren Cath ol1c and non Cathollc allke And Pope Plus X proved to be a great pope-but only because Father Gxuseppe Sarto had been a great pr1est The Master had sa1d to Hls trust worthy steward Because thou hast been falthful ln a few thmgs I wlll place thee over many The motto of th1s heavenly plenl potentlary was 1n Chrlst Where would be a better place to 1n1t1ate h1s ambltlons than upon the prlesthood ltself the funda mental cable from earth to heaven' The letter of Pope Plus X to pr1ests had nts penetratmg success from the fact that lt contalned the fruits of my years 1n the mmlstry To anyone who knew th1s holy man personally If read more l1ke an autoblography Hls exhortat1on took effect because It was enhanced by h1s actlons The word sounds the example thunders The followlng thoughts from th1s letter of a master pr1est to h1s brother clergy w1ll merlt cons1derat1on A well tralned pr1est accordmg to the son of Margherlta Sanson IS one to restore all thmgs who IS personally holy who has a great love for prayer and reallzes the 1m portance of dally medxtatlon, who ap peals to the judgment of h1s consclence dally, and who makes use of all the other helps whlch prudence and 1n genulty can suggest to brlng hlmself and his flock closer to Chrlst Above all else, a pr1est must be holy Our Lord Hlmself spent thxrty years ln Nazareth pI'aCflClI1g hollness of llfe before he went to teach others Teach mg IS almost of no value lf the pr1est does not confirm h1s words by h1s own example St ohn Chrysostom asks about the pr1est Must not the par taker of such a sacrlfice excel every thxng 1n pur1tyP More lustrous than the solar ray should be the hand that dlvxdes th1s flesh the mouth that IS f1lled w1th sp1r1tual fire the tongue that IS reddened wlth th1s most ador able Blood If only pr1ests would reallze the greatness and the dxgnltx of the thmgs whlch God has placed 1n their hands, how much force lf would have 1n urgmg them to lead a l1fe worthy of eccleslastlcsl God has placed H1s only begotten co equal, and co eternal Son 1n the hands of Hls frlend, the pr1est He has placed therem H1s sacraments and graces He has placed there souls Hls dearest posses slons whom He bought w1th H1s blood He has placed Heaven ln the hands of Hls pr1ests to open and close as he sees Ht God can glVC no more The pr1est must strlve vlgorously to guard hlmself not only agaxnst serlous s1ns but even agalnst the smallest so that he may be worthy to d1str1bute the d1v1ne treasures Hollness becometh thy house sa1d Davld to the pr1est 1 a J 9 ' . , . . . J KK !! . SO . - , - . , . J , - . . . . . . . H - , . - . ' 9 . H . . . . ' 9 , - ii !! ' . . . .- . . . 7 . . H . . . . . ,, . . . . n ' , ' . . H . . . 1 . . . H . c , ' y y . . . . H . ' H . . . , . J . . . . . . U . - , , . , . ,, . . . c , , . 2

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mafomng jkzngd ARGHERITA Sanson attlred ln her best clothes and accom panled by all her chlldren had come from RICSC to Castelfranco early m the morn1ng Today was the zemth of her l1fe today she was to become the mater sacerdotls Lrke another woman of almost two centur1es past she had brought forth a son who was to be a mlddle man between heaven and earth she had brought forth an other Chrlst The day of the ordma tlon was September 18 1858 and th son was Gluseppe Sarto What a blissful thrxll she felt when God s new herald called upon h1s Com mander to bless and strengthen her Hands that would brmg Omnlpotence down to earth were lald on her thought ful head Wlth her cooperatlon Chrlst ness a new prlest On the followmg day Father Glu seppe Sarto recelved a letter contalmng h1S first asslgnment After a short vacatlon he was to go as curate to Tombolo a poverty strlcken vlllage nor far from Rlese I shall l1ke It there he told h1s mother Its people are mostly poor and I have always hved among poor people and am poor myself I understand them and I know they w1ll understand me I+rom Tombolo to Salzano to Trevrso to Mantua to Venlce to Rome the humble peasant prrest was forced up the eccleslastlcal ladder untll the parrsh prlest of Tombolo had become parrsh prlest of the world C luseppe Sarto 20 who wlshed to love and serve God from the bottom step of the sacerdotal starrway had been called upward l1ke the boy Samuel G1useppe sought the w1ll of God ln da1ly prayer and medl tatxon and wlth Samuel begged Speak Lord for Thy servant heareth Then takmg the wlsh of h1s superlors as the w1ll of God he resrgnedly ac knowledged Not my w1ll but Thlne be done' The Heavenly Host had no lnclmatlon to let so valuable a servant as thls modest son of RICSC reclme at the lower end of the ban quet table It was lnevltable that the 'Vlaster should beckon to h1m Frlend come up hlgher The l1fe of Blessed Prus X IS a story of fascmatmg romance the romance of a prlest madly xn love wlth the pontxif the prlest we have sum mar1zed all h1s characterlstlcs If we ask what fitted h1m so slngularly to grasp the tlller of the whole Church there IS only one answer h1s zealous follow up of Chrlsts 1nv1tat1on to be a worthy prlest Come follow 'VIC' -Xnd agam 1f we wonder at the source of the power the wlsdom and the ln splratlon for the astoundxng achleve ments of h1s pont1f1cate Or better yet of h1s consp1cuous personal sanctlty we shall not go far wrong IH answerlng the holy prlesthood When on August 4 1903 Cardinal Sarto was elected successor to Peter h1s powers were enlarged h1s v1s1on broadened hxs dutles multlplled h1s C I 3 3 3 5 a 5 KC ' H ' ac n . , , . 3 3 , - . . H . . . Y! , - . Q ! S , I X - u .lc I - I . , ' H c n u J A I ,. . . . . . ' 9 had a new representative, a new l1ke- prlesthoodf' If we call thxs samtly , . KK ,Yi - , - . ' Q , : . . . , . . . , - - ' tc ' ' ' ll H n , , L n il ' sc ' ' , . . 3 7 3 '- ' D 3 . ,, . . . ' x ' ss ' ar I , . . , . ' 3 7 Y 9 ' J a 9 1

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Sanct1ty IS the surpassxng knowledge and love of esus Chr1st If the pr1est lacks th1s he lacks everythmg Let us hold If as a fundamental truth that 1f a pr1est w1shes to l1ve up to the standard requlred by h1s posltlon and h1s call1ng he must g1VC hlmself w1th 1ntense earnestness to prayer Prayer IS the prlest s strength and God s weakness A prlest who does not often talk to God h1s best and perfect Frlend IS l1ke a p1lot who tr1es to HV h1s plane to hlS destlnatlon Wlth out ask1ng for adv1ce and orders from the nav1gator Frequent and earnest prayer IS most necessary It IS of cap1tal 1mportance w1th re gard to pray er that a certam t1me should be set asxde everyday to med ltate on th1ngs eternal lNIed1tat1on establ1shes harmony where confusxon relgned It brlngs out the truth con cernlng what has been done and what must be done Smce lt IS so easy for relxglous souls to be tarn1shed by con tact w1th the world It IS clear how urgently necessary If IS to contemplate 1nf1n1te truth da1ly , ln order to rew1v1fy the m1nd and w1ll and to fortlfy them aga1nst temptat1on The prlest must be heavenly mmded He IS the ambassador of the Heaven ly Klng and must constantly seek the benefit of Hlm VN hom he represents, 1ust as the ambassador of an earthly kmgdom endeavors to promote good w1ll between the country to whlch he has been sent and h1s mother country lNICCl1t3t1OH produces and Sustalrls a sensus Chr1st1 , th1s almost natural unlon W1th God From neglect of med1tat1on sprlngs prlde and obstmacy Prlests who are '72 not accustomed to commune W1th God da1ly do not have the breath of the Holy Sp1r1t on the1r llps, and when they speak to others of God, or try to mstruct them 1n the truths of Chr1s t1an1ty the Gospel 1n the1r hands seems almost w1thout lxfe Nothlng lS so v1tal to a cler1c as mental prayer It should precede, accompany, and follow all hlS act1ons Dav1d sang Blessed IS the man who medltates on the law of the Lord h1s w1ll remalneth day and n1ght, all whatsoever he shall do shall prosper As to what speclhc tOplCS he should medltate on he openlng lmes of The Imzmlzon of Chrzyl glves the answer Let 1t then be our ch1ef study to med1tate on the llfe of esus Chrlst The fru1ts of medltatlon w1ll be even more abundant lf the prlest takes ac count as to how far h1s medltatlon enters 1nto h1s da1ly l1fe Now the prxest who has been g1VCH the power to check the aud1ts of others and to balance the1r accounts IH the sacra ment of Penance, should h1mself not fa1l to take advantage weekly of thls sacrament the tr1bunal wherejustlce SltS 1n 1udgment and consclence IS both the accuser and the accused The weekly confess1on should be a summary of h1s da1ly exammatlon of consclence, deslgned to h1t the h1gh po1nts and to l1ght up clearly h1s most lncessant fa1l1ngs VVhat a we1rd par adox It would be lf he who by thunder bolts of eloquence keeps others from SID, has no fears about hlmself and IS callous as to h1s own faults St erome caut1ons the clergy Great IS the dlg nlty of prxest, but great 1S the1r ru1n lf they s1n Let us FCJOICC 1n the1r J . , . u ' Y 7 , . . J! ' ' D . 1 an n ' ' ' ' l at . . . V . . . 3 J 3 . . U .. . , t H . . . . . H . L 1 . J . U . . H . . . . . . 1 , - . 3 - . . . Y . Y. . . 7 . . . . H . - - . . H - . 7 . . . . 1 s . - , - 44 ' 'n ' ' . . . . . . U . . - . . U . . . . . . . . . . N H . . . . . . . . . ..