THE DESCRIPTION OF POPE SAINT PIUS V The Pope of the Holy Rosary Feast Day: April 30
"Utinam dirigantur viæ meæ ad custodiendas justificationes tuas (O that my ways may be directed to keep thy justifications.)" -Papal motto of Pius V based on Psalms 119:5
The pope who is the initiator of the feast of the Holy Rosary, was born Antonio Ghislieri, on January 17, 1504 in Bosco in the Duchy of Milan. At the age of 14, he entered the Dominican order and taking the name Michele, passing from the monastery of Voghera to that of Vigevano, and thence to Bologna. Ordained a 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.
Elected as pope on January 8, 1566, through the influential backing of Charles Borromeo, he was crowned ten days later, on his 62nd birthday by the protodeacon.
This zealous Dominican pope vigorously implemented the reform of the Church. Following the decrees of the Council of Trent, he instructed the bishops to reside in their diocese, and parish priests to teach catechism to the youth. After removing corruption and nepotism from the Roman Curia, he cleansed the Papal States from brigands and prostitutes. His disciplinary penalties were so severe, that he was accused of transforming Rome into a monastery. It was during his pontificate, that the new breviary, missal and catechism, were published.
His papal bull, Regnans in Excelsis (Reigning on High), is issued on February 1570, and that bull results in the excommunication of Queen Elizabeth I.
The Pope's greatest success was the Battle of Lepanto, fought off the coast of Greece on October 7, 1571, and it was the first major defeat of the Ottoman Empire. The victory was attributed to the help of the Blessed Virgin Mary, whose aid was invoked through praying the rosary. In commemoration of that event, he instituted the feast of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary on October 7, and inserted the titled Mary, Help of Christians in the Litany of the Blessed Mother.
Pius V died on May 1, 1572 at the age of 68, and is succeeded by Ugo Boncompagni, who will later on to become Pope Gregory XIII. He is beatified by Pope Clement X in 1672 and canonized by Pope Clement XI in 1712.
