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The popes · No. 225 of 267

St Pius V

A friar who never stopped living like one, a new Missal, and the battle of Lepanto.

Pope 1566 to 72

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The marble monument of Pope St Pius V in the Sistine Chapel of Santa Maria Maggiore, Rome: a seated statue of the pope blessing.

Joseolgon, 2024. Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0.

Home / The popes / St Pius V

Rome, 1566

The new pope is a Dominican friar who has spent his life in poverty and prayer.1

Michele Ghislieri, now Pius V, has inherited the work of the Council of Trent and means to carry it out.1

He reigned only six years. Catholics felt the effects for four hundred.

01St Pius V

Putting Trent to work

Pius published the Roman Catechism, the reformed Breviary and the Roman Missal of 1570.1

He lived austerely and pressed hard for the reform of the clergy.1

02St Pius V

Lepanto

Pius formed the Holy League, whose fleet defeated the Ottoman navy at Lepanto on 7 October 1571.1

On the day of the battle, the story goes, he broke off a meeting with the cardinals, opened a window and looked at the sky.1

“A truce to business; our great task at present is to thank God for the victory which He has just given the Christian army”

Pius V, as reported in the Catholic Encyclopedia1

In memory of the victory he instituted the feast of the Rosary and added “Help of Christians” to the Litany of Loreto.1

The marble monument of Pope St Pius V in the Sistine Chapel of Santa Maria Maggiore, Rome: a seated statue of the pope blessing.
The monument of St Pius V in Santa Maria Maggiore, Rome, where he is buried. Joseolgon, 2024. Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0.

Three centuries later, a pope would lose Rome itself.

Notes

  1. Catholic Encyclopedia (1913), “Pope St. Pius V”. New Advent edition. newadvent.org

The Catholic Encyclopedia (1913) is in the public domain; we quote the New Advent edition. Texts of the Holy See are quoted briefly from vatican.va. Scripture: Douay-Rheims, Challoner revision (public domain). Photographs: Wikimedia Commons, credited under each image; full list on the photo credits page.

Lines in the narrator’s voice, without a note, are our reflection, not a historical claim. Stone & Incense restates Church teaching in plain words; our wording is not an official Church text. Report an error.