Pius X was devoted to the Blessed Virgin Mary under the title of Our Lady of Confidence; while his papal encyclical Ad diem illum took on a sense of renewal that was reflected in the motto of his pontificate.

[9] As Pope, he rejected any kind of favours for his family: his brother remained a postal clerk, his favourite nephew stayed on as village priest, and his three single sisters lived together in humble circumstances in Rome.

[10] In 1850, he received the tonsure from his parish priest, who wrote to the Cardinal of Venice to secure Sarto a scholarship to the Seminary of Padua, "where he finished his classical, philosophical, and theological studies with distinction".

While there, Sarto expanded his knowledge of theology, studying Thomas Aquinas and canon law, while carrying out most of the functions of the sickly parish priest Constantini.

[14] In a public consistory on 15 June, the pope gave him his cardinal's red galero, assigned him the titular church of San Bernardo alle Terme, and appointed him Patriarch of Venice.

[15] This caused difficulty, however, as the government of reunified Italy claimed the right to nominate the Patriarch, since the previous sovereign, the Emperor of Austria, had exercised that power.

However, the Polish Cardinal Jan Puzyna de Kosielsko from Kraków, in the name of Emperor Franz Joseph (1848–1916) of Austria-Hungary, proclaimed a veto (jus exclusivae) against Rampolla's election.

Besides restoring to prominence Gregorian chant, he placed a renewed liturgical emphasis on the Eucharist, saying, "Holy Communion is the shortest and safest way to Heaven."

[21] Pius X even personally distributed First Communion to a four-year-old boy the day after the child was presented to him and demonstrated an exceptional understanding of the meaning of the sacrament.

Pius X said in his 1903 motu proprio Tra le sollecitudini, "The primary and indispensable source of the true Christian spirit is participation in the most holy mysteries and in the public, official prayer of the Church.

In the decree entitled Lamentabili sane exitu[29] ("A Lamentable Departure Indeed") of 3 July 1907, Pius X formally condemned 65 propositions, mainly drawn from the works of Alfred Loisy and concerning the nature of the Church, revelation, biblical exegesis, the sacraments, and the divinity of Christ.

[21] This campaign was run by Monsignor Umberto Benigni in the Department of Extraordinary Affairs in the Secretariat of State, which distributed anti-Modernist propaganda and gathered information on "culprits".

[36] The Catechism of Saint Pius X was issued in 1908 in Italian, as Catechismo della dottrina Cristiana, Pubblicato per Ordine del Sommo Pontifice San Pio X.

[40] Pius X reformed the Roman Curia with the constitution Sapienti Consilio (29 June 1908)[41] and specified new rules enforcing a bishop's oversight of seminaries in the encyclical Pieni l'animo.

The decree proved particularly divisive in Ireland, which its large Protestant minority, contributing indirectly to the subsequent political conflict there and provoking debates in the British House of Commons.

Furthermore, while historically both Protestant Irish nationalists and Catholic Unionists existed, the split over who should rule Northern Ireland eventually came to almost exactly match the confessional divide.

He suspended the Opera dei Congressi, which coordinated the work of Catholic associations in Italy, as well as condemning Le Sillon, a French social movement that tried to reconcile the Church with liberal political views.

Initially, Pius maintained his prisoner in the Vatican stance, but with the rise of socialism he began to allow the Non Expedit, which prohibited Catholics from voting, to be relaxed.

In 1905, he authorized bishops in his encyclical Il fermo proposito [de; it; la] to offer a dispensation allowing their parishioners to exercise their legislative rights when "the supreme good of society" was at stake.

In 1903, Pius X negotiated a deal with the United States Government, allowing it to purchase all land owned by Catholic friars in the recently acquired territory of the Philippines for a total of $7 million.

"[10] In addition to the political defense of the Church, liturgical reforms, anti-modernism, and the beginning of the codification of canon law, the papacy of Pius X saw the reorganisation of the Roman Curia.

Pius X was respectful towards Herzl, but would not support the establishment of a modern State of Israel, citing the refusal of the Jewish people to acknowledge Jesus as the biblical Messiah.

[56][57] Pius X created 50 cardinals in seven consistories held during his pontificate which included noted figures of the Church during that time such as Désiré-Joseph Mercier (1907) and Pietro Gasparri (1907).

Among the cardinals whom he nominated came the first Brazilian-born (and the first Latin American-born; Joaquim Arcoverde de Albuquerque Cavalcanti) and the first from the Netherlands (Willem Marinus van Rossum) since 1523.

[59] He died at 1:20am on Thursday, 20 August 1914, only a few hours after the death of Jesuit leader Franz Xavier Wernz, and on the very day when German forces marched into Brussels.

[61] His original tombstone bore the inscription: "Pope Pius X, poor and yet rich, gentle and humble of heart, unconquerable champion of the Catholic Faith, whose constant endeavor it was to renew all things in Christ".

The body was exposed for the veneration of the faithful at St Mark's Basilica for one month (12 April–10 May) before it was returned to the late pope's original resting place, with Cardinal Giovanni Urbani acting as the papal legate for the month-long event.

The number of parishes, schools, seminaries and retreat houses named after him in Western countries is very large, partly because he was very well known, and his beatification and canonization in the early 1950s was during a period of time following World War II when there was a great deal of new construction in cities and population growth in the era of the baby boom, thus leading to Catholic institutional expansion that correlated with the growing society.

[citation needed] The lower shield displays the arms of Pius X as Bishop of Mantua: an anchor proper cast into a stormy sea (the blue and silver wavy lines), lit up by a single six-pointed star of gold.

"[citation needed] Although not present upon his arms, the most famous motto of Pius X was: Instaurare omnia in Christo (English: "To restore all things in Christ"),[74] allegedly his last words before his death.