St. Pius V

Their story

Michele Ghislieri was born in 1504 to a poor family in northern Italy and worked as a shepherd boy. At fourteen he joined the Dominicans, and he became a respected teacher of theology and a strict but fair official of the Church. He was named a bishop and then a cardinal, and in 1566 he was elected pope, taking the name Pius V. The Council of Trent had recently ended, and the Church urgently needed reform. Pius set out to put the council's decisions into practice. He published the Roman Catechism to help priests teach the faith, and he issued a revised Breviary for daily prayer and a revised Roman Missal that would shape the celebration of the Mass for four hundred years. He insisted that bishops live in their dioceses and that clergy lead holy lives, and he set an example himself. As pope, Pius kept living like a simple friar. He continued to wear his white Dominican habit, which is said to be the origin of the white cassock popes wear today. He fasted, prayed for hours, visited hospitals and gave generously to the poor. When a powerful Ottoman fleet threatened Europe in 1571, he called on all Christians to pray the rosary. The victory of the Christian fleet at the Battle of Lepanto that October led him to establish the feast now known as Our Lady of the Rosary. He died on May 1, 1572, and was canonized in 1712.