orig. Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto
born June 2, 1835, Riese, Venetia, Austrian Empire
died Aug. 20, 1914, Rome, Italy; canonized May 29, 1954; feast day August 21
Pope (1903–14).
Born in the Italian region of Venetia, he became bishop of Mantua in 1884 and patriarch of Venice in 1893. He was elected pope in 1903 and soon became known both for his piety and for his staunch religious and political conservatism. Pius suppressed the Catholic intellectual movement known as Modernism and opposed the political movement for social reform known as Christian Democracy . He worked to organize the laity for collaboration in the church's apostolic work, and he reformed the Catholic liturgy. His decision to systematize canon law led to the publication of the new code in 1917, which became effective in 1918.