ope Saint Pius V (17 January 1504 – 1 May 1572), born Antonio

Ghislieri (from 1518 called Michele Ghislieri,O.P.), was Pope from 8

January 1566 to his death in 1572. He is venerated as a saint of
the Roman Catholic Church.[2]He is chiefly notable for his role in
the Council of Trent, the Counter-Reformation, and the standardization
of theRoman rite within the Latin Church. Pius V declared Thomas
Aquinas a Doctor of the Church[3][4] and patronized prominent sacred
music composer Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina.[citation needed]

As a cardinal, Ghislieri gained a reputation for putting orthodoxy before

personalities, prosecuting eight French bishops for heresy. He also
stood firm against nepotism, rebuking his predecessor Pope Pius IV to
his face when he wanted to make a 13-year old member of his family a
cardinal and subsidise a nephew from the papal treasury.[5]

In affairs of the state, Pius V excommunicated Elizabeth I of

England for schism and persecution of English Catholics during her
reign. He also arranged the formation of the Holy League, an alliance of
Catholic states. Although outnumbered, the Holy League famously
defeated the Ottoman Empire, which had threatened to overrun Europe,
at the Battle of Lepanto. Pius V attributed the victory to the intercession
of the Blessed Virgin Mary and instituted the feast of Our Lady of
Victory.[6]

Early Life[edit]
Antonio Ghislieri was born in Bosco in the Duchy of Milan (now Bosco
Marengo in the province of Alessandria,[7]Piedmont), Italy. At the age of
fourteen he entered the Dominican Order, taking the name Michele,
passing from the monastery of Voghera to that of Vigevano, and thence
to Bologna. Ordained priest at Genoa in 1528, he was sent by his order
to Pavia, where he lectured for sixteen years. At Parma he advanced
thirty propositions in support of the papal chair and against
the Protestant Reformation.
As prior of more than one Dominican priory during a time of great moral
laxity, he insisted on discipline, and, in accordance with his own wishes,
was appointed inquisitor at Como. As his reformist zeal provoked
resentment, he was compelled to return to Rome in 1550, where, after
having been employed in several inquisitorial missions, he was elected
to the commissariat of the Holy Office. Pope Paul IV (1555–59), who, as
Cardinal Carafa, had shown him special favor, conferred upon him
the bishopric of Sutri and Nepi, the cardinalate with the title of
Alessandrino, and the unique honor of the supreme inquisitorship.
Under Pope Pius IV (1559–65) he became bishop of
Mondovi in Piedmont, but his opposition to that pontiff procured his
dismissal from the palace and the abridgment of his authority as
inquisitor.[8]

Pontificate[edit]
Election[edit]
Before Michele Ghislieri could return to his episcopate, Pope Pius IV
died. On 8 January 1566, Ghislieri was elected to the papal throne as
Pope Pius V.[7] He was crowned ten days later, on his 62nd birthday.
Church discipline[edit]
Aware of the necessity of restoring discipline and morality at Rome to
ensure success without, he at once proceeded to reduce the cost of the
papal court after the manner of the Dominican Order to which he
belonged, compel residenceamong the clergy, regulate inns, expel
prostitutes,[5] and assert the importance of the ceremonial in general and
the liturgy of the Mass in particular. In his wider policy, which was
characterised throughout by an effective stringency, the maintenance
and increase of the efficacy of the Inquisition and the enforcement of
the canons and decrees of theCouncil of Trent had precedence over
other considerations.
Liturgy[edit]
Accordingly, in order to implement a decision of that council, he
standardised the Holy Mass by promulgating the 1570 edition of the
Roman Missal. Pius V made this Missal mandatory throughout the Latin
rite of the Catholic Church, except where a Mass liturgy dating from
before 1370 AD was in use.[9][10] This form of the Mass remained
essentially unchanged for 400 years until Pope Paul VI's revision of the
Roman Missal in 1969–70, after which it has become widely known as
the Tridentine Mass;[11] use of the last pre-1969 edition of the Missal,
that by Pope John XXIII in 1962, is permitted without limitation for
private celebration of the Mass and, since July 2007, is allowed also for
public use, as laid down in the motu proprio Summorum
Pontificum of Pope Benedict XVI. Some continue to use even earlier
editions, but without authorisation.
Thomism[edit]
Pius V, who had declared Thomas Aquinas the fifth Latin Doctor of the
Church in 1567, commissioned the first edition of Aquinas' opera omnia,
often called theeditio Piana in honor of the Pope. This work was
produced in 1570 at the studium generale of the Dominican
Order at Santa Maria sopra Minerva, which would be transformed into
the College of Saint Thomas in 1577, and again into the Pontifical
University of Saint Thomas Aquinas, Angelicum in the 20th century.[12]
Huguenots[edit]
Pius V recognized attacks on papal supremacy in the Catholic Church
and was desirous of limiting their advancement. In France, where his
influence was stronger, he took several measures to oppose the
Protestant Huguenots. He directed the dismissal of Cardinal Odet de
Coligny[13] and seven bishops, nullified the royal edict tolerating the
extramural services of the Reformers, introduced the Roman catechism,
restored papal discipline, and strenuously opposed all compromise with
the Huguenot nobility.
Character and policy[edit]
Portrait by Scipione Pulzone, c. 1578

In the list of more important bulls he issued, the famous bull "In Coena
Domini" (1568) takes a leading place; but amongst others throwing light
on Pope Pius V's character and policy there may be mentioned his
prohibition of quaestuary (February 1567 and January 1570); the
condemnation of Michael Baius, the heretical Professor
of Leuven (1567); the reform of the breviary (July 1568); the
denunciation of homosexual behaviour by the clergy;[14] (August
1568)[citation needed]; the banishment of the Jews from theecclesiastical
dominions except Rome and Ancona (1569);[15] the injunction of the use
of the reformed missal (July 1570); the confirmation of the privileges of
the Society of Crusaders for the protection of the Inquisition (October
1570); the suppression of theFratres Humiliati for profligacy (February
1571); the approbation of the new office of the Blessed Virgin (March
1571); the enforcement of the daily recitation of the Canonical
Hours (September 1571); and the purchase of assistance against
the Turks by offers of plenary pardon (March 1572).

Katherine Rinne says, in Waters of Rome,[16] that Pius V also ordered

the construction of public works to improve the water supply and sewer
system of Rome.
Elizabeth I[edit]
His response to the Queen Elizabeth I of England assuming
governance of the Church of England included support of the
imprisoned Mary, Queen of Scots, and her supporters in their attempts
to take over England "ex turpissima muliebris libidinis
servitute" “[from the sordid libidinous slavery to women]”. A brief
English Catholic uprising, the Rising of the North, had just failed. Pius
then issued a bull, Regnans in Excelsis, dated 27 April 1570, that
declared Elizabeth I a heretic and released her subjects from their
allegiance to her.[17] In response, Elizabeth, who had thus far tolerated
Catholic worship in private, now actively started persecuting them for
treason.
Holy League[edit]
Saint Pius V arranged the forming of the Holy League against
the Islamic Turks, as the result of which the Battle of Lepanto (7
October 1571) was won by the combined fleet under Don John of
Austria. It is attested in his canonisation that he miraculously knew
when the battle was over, himself being in Rome at the time.[18] Three
national synods were held during his pontificate at Naples under
Alfonso Cardinal Caraffa (whose family had, after inquiry, been
reinstated by Pius V), at Milan under Saint Charles Borromeo, and at
Machim.
Papal garments[edit]
Pius V is often credited with the origin of the Pope's white garments,
supposedly because after his election Pius continued to wear his
white Dominican habit. The great number of contemporary portraits of
earlier popes wearing the same white cassock he supposedly
inaugurated shows that this claim is legendary.[19]Reproductions of such
contemporary portraits of popes wearing white cassocks appear in
several Wikipedia articles about predecessors of Pius V.

An article by Agostino Paravicini Bagliani on L'Osservatore Romano of

31 August 2013 states that the earliest document that speaks explicitly
of the Pope wearing white is the Ordo XIII, a book of ceremonies
compiled in about 1274 under Pope Gregory X. From that date on, the
books of ceremonies speak ever more explicitly of the Pope as wearing
a red mantle, mozzetta, camauro and shoes, and a white cassock and
stockings.[20][21]

Death and canonisation[edit]

The body of Pius V in his tomb in Santa Maria Maggiore.

Pius V died on 1 May 1572 of what is believed to be cancer. He was

buried in the chapel of S. Andrea which was close to the tomb of Pope
Pius III, in the Vatican. Despite that his will requested he be buried in
Bosco, Pope Sixtus V built a monument in the chapel of SS.
Sacramento in the Liberian basilica. His remains were transferred there
on 9 January 1588.

In 1696, the process of Pius V's canonisation was started through the
efforts of theMaster of the Order of Preachers, Antonin Cloche. He also
immediately commissioned a representative tomb from the
sculptor Pierre Le Gros the Youngerto be erected in the Sistine Chapel
of the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore. The pope's body was placed in
it in 1698. St Pius V was beatified by Pope Clement X in the year
1672,[22] and was later canonized by Pope Clement XI (1700–21) on 22
May 1712.[23][24]

In the following year, 1713, his feast day was inserted in the General
Roman Calendar, for celebration on 5 May, with the rank of "Double",
the equivalent of "Third-Class Feast" in the General Roman Calendar of
1960, and of its present rank of "Memorial".[25] In 1969 the celebration
was moved to 30 April, the day before the anniversary of his death (1
May).

Portrait of Pius V by Pierre Le Gros

The front of his tomb has a lid of gilded bronze which shows a likeness
of the dead pope. Most of the time this is left open to allow the
veneration of the saint's remains.

Pius V also helped financially in the construction of Valletta, Malta's

capital city, by sending his military engineer Francesco Laparelli to
design the fortification walls.