By [Pius X's] person and by his work, God willed to prepare the Church to the new and hard duties a troubled future was preparing. To timely prepare a Church united in its doctrine, firm in discipline, efficient in its pastors, generous laymen, an instructed people, a youth sanctified in its first years, a well-formed conscience in relation to the social problems. ... It appears manifest today that his whole Pontificate was supernaturally directed according to a loving and redeeming plan to prepare souls to face our own struggles and to ensure our victories and the victories of future generations.
Pius XII
Sermon for the Beatification of Pius X
June 3, 1951
Sermon for the Beatification of Pius X
June 3, 1951
There are several relevant web resources on the greatest papal document of the 20th Century, Pascendi Dominici Gregis, beginning with the text of the encyclical itself, available in several languages:
- Pascendi Dominici Gregis (De Modernistarum Doctrinis): Deutsch; English; Espãnol; Français; Italiano; Nederlands; Polski; Português; Русский. (Excerpts in Latin).
- The decree Lamentabili Sane Exitu, of the Holy Roman and Universal Inquisition (which would be renamed simply as Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office in 1908), whose centennial was celebrated here in July.
- The motu proprio Præstantia Scripturæ Sacræ, which would be issued in November 1907, establishing ecclesiastical punishments for the Modernist heretics.
- The motu proprio Sacrorum Antistitum (full text in Spanish), which included, among other contents, the Oath against the Errors of Modernism (September 1, 1910).
- The great Cardinal Mercier, Archbishop of Malines (Belgium), explains Modernism and the need for the Papal encyclical in an indispensable book: Modernism.
- Father Norbert Jones exposes the errors of Modernism in his tome Old Truths, Not Modernist Errors. An excerpt of the book's introduction makes clear that contemporaries understood why Pascendi was the most important Papal document in recent memory:
One of the most important Encyclicals that, perhaps, for centuries has ever been given to the whole Catholic world by the Vicar of Jesus Christ is the one condemnatory of the errors of Modernism by the Holy Father Pope Pius X. This Encyclical, by its clear grasp of the subtle errors hitherto concealed from the unwary by Modernist writers, has quite spoilt their cleverly devised plot to destroy Catholicism -- nay, all Christian doctrines retained by non-Catholics -- by simply undermining them. One is not surprised at their discomfiture and chagrin, so evidenced by letters to the Times and other newspapers generally known for their partisan hostility to everything Roman.
...
The Papal Encyclical 'Pascendi,' of September 8, 1907, is a most timely warning of the existence of this dangerous heresy, destructive of all real and solid religion. It is a public exposure of its false tenets from their very first principles, and it is an authoritative condemnation of them by the visible head of Catholic Christendom -- a condemnation that, for all practical purposes, is final for all Catholics, so that none can bold Modernist doctrines and remain within the Catholic Church. - A good option to understand the Modernist doctrines and the need for a firm Papal response is in the Catechism on Modernism, by Father Lemius, which includes the text of the encyclical in an easy catechism Q&A format (in the Internet Archive).
- The Modernist heretics, led in Italy by Ernesto Buonaiuti, redacted a pamphlet as a response to Pascendi - in Il Programma dei Modernisti, the defense against the Papal indictment of the heresy revealed instead the deep malice of the heretics. The book would be condemned by the Cardinal-Vicar of Rome and its authors would be excommunicated (29 October, 1907). The Program of Modernism shows how clearly Pope Saint Pius understood the Modernist challenge - and how deep the Modernist spirit has invaded the Church in the past few decades, as many of the safeguards established by Saint Pius were dismissed (Internet Archive - Reader Discretion Advised).
- The greatest theologian of the 20th Century, Father Réginald Garrigou-Lagrange, OP, exposed the recycling of Modernist principles by the masters of the "Nouvelle Théologie" in his groundbreaking article "Whither the New Theology?" ("La Nouvelle Théologie, où va-t-elle?", published in the Angelicum review, July 1946), a must-read for any well-informed Catholic of this age.
