On Friday, August 21, the Church celebrates the feast day of St. Pius X. He truly was an amazing individual and pope who practiced humility and practiced it discretely. Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto was born 2 June 1835 and died on 20 August 1914. He was head of the Catholic Church (pope) from 4 August 1903 to his death in August 1914. Pius X is known for vigorously opposing modernist interpretations of Catholic doctrine, and for promoting many liturgical reforms to the Briverary, liturgy, and church discipline. He also began to initiate the preparation of the 1917 Code of Canon Law, the first comprehensive and systemic work of its kind. The Code is all the church’s laws and regulations in matters of discipline. He developed a reputation as being a very friendly and outgoing pope with children. He used to carry candy in his pockets for the children in the streets of Mantua and Venice Italy. He also taught children catechism. During his papal audiences, he would gather children around him and talk about things that interested them. His weekly catechism lessons in the courtyard of San Damaso in the Vatican always included a special place for children, and his decision to require the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine in every parish was partly motivated by a desire that all children know their Catholic faith and spare them from ignorance. In 1910, he issued a decree “Quam singulari,” which changed the age at which Communion could be received from 12 to 7 years old (the age of discretion). The pope lowered the age because he wished to impress the event on the minds of children at a very early age and to stimulate their parents to deeper religious observances of the Eucharist experienced in their children. The decree was found as unwelcome in some circles due to the belief that parents might withdraw their children early from Catholic schools, now that First Communion was earlier. Thus there was some worry that making First Communion that early could act as a sort of graduation and not a deterrent to keep them in catechism. This would allow them to learn less and work more on the family farms. Another argument was that children would not have the capacity to understand Transubstantion, the transformation during Mass of the bread to the Body of Christ. Pius X even personally distributed First Communion to a four-year-old boy the day after the child was presented to him because the boy demonstrated an exceptional understanding of the meaning of the sacrament. When people would criticize Pius X for lowering the age of reception, he simply quoted the words of Jesus, “let the little children come to me”. Thus, it is to Pope Pius X that we owe 2nd grade first communions. I used to wonder myself if second graders fully understood the depth and meaning of things like the ‘consecration.’ There was one incident that told me to never underestimate what children can understand. It happened in one of my parish assignments by one little boy named Joey. We used to have the students taste the wafer BEFORE it was consecrated at Mass so they could experience the taste. Joey, who was one of my assigned students, tasted it. He made some awful gestures and facial expressions once I gave him an unconsecrated wafer to taste. He said, it tastes like nothing and not very good. Long story short, after he made his first Communion I saw Joey in the lobby with his parents and out of curiosity I asked him how it was to receive the real body of Christ. In his simple yet profound words he said to me, “Oh no worries Father, it tasted a lot better after it was blest!!!” Maybe he didn’t know what ‘Transubstantion’ (change from bread to the body of Christ) really was, or how the bread changes after the prayers of consecration, but he knew it WAS different and just not the same as our practice run. I felt in his childhood simplicity, he made a great statement of faith. May we truly admire, love, and reverently receive the Lord in the Eucharist every daytime we come forward and know that the Eucharist takes from our present situation and offers us an intimacy with the very God we call Father. Fr. Roach
