The primary aim of his pontificate Pius X announced in his first encyclical letter, viz., “to renew all things in Christ.” Here we need but allude to his decree on early and frequent reception of Holy Communion; his Motu Proprio on Church music; his encouragement of daily Bible reading and the establishment of various biblical institutes; his reorganization of the Roman ecclesiastical offices; his work on the codification of Canon Law; his incisive stand against modernism, that “synthesis of all heresies.” All these were means toward the realization of his main objective of renewing all things in Christ.
The outbreak of the First World War, practically on the date of the 11th anniversary of his election to the See of Peter, was the blow that occasioned his death. Bronchitis developed within a few days, and on August 20, 1914, Pius X succumbed to “the last affliction that the Lord will visit on me.”
He had said in his will, “I was born poor, I have lived poor, I wish to die poor” – and no one questioned the truth of his words. His sanctity and his power to work miracles had already been recognized. Pius X was the first pope canonized since St. Pius V in 1672.
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