It was one of those urges or nudges that I attributed to the
Holy Spirit. I had been in Italy for
nearly a week and in Rome for three days. The days had been filled with tours of magnificent
churches and cathedrals, leisurely shopping for clothing and trinkets, sumptuous
meals and awesome celebrations of daily mass.
Having grown up in the Mid-West, the idea that churches contained the
tombs of saints seemed odd.
Well,
maybe not in Assisi, after all that is where Francis and Clare lived and
worked. And I was looking forward to being able to pray at Blessed John Paul II
tomb at St. Peter’s later in the week. But JPII had a profound effect on my
life. So here stood, in front of a tomb for a St. Pius and I had the urge to
kneel and pray.
I knew
that there had been a number of Popes named Pius, being familiar with Pius XII
who was Pope during World War II. Giving into that urge, I kneeled and my prayer
may have been something like this, “St. Pius, I really am not sure why I am here,
but I ask for your intercession for a job for my husband and safe travel back
to my family.” Praying to an unfamiliar
saint seemed peculiar to me. At some
point I moved on to allow my eyes to feast on the banquet of art and architecture
in the Basilica of St. Mary Major.
More
than a year later, I discovered that this Saint Pius was the Pope who
encouraged praying of the Rosary to defeat the Turks at the Battle of Lepanto. And, in my pursuit to find a Dominican Saint
to take as my name in the Order, I discovered that he’s a Dominican. In fact, he is one of four Dominican Popes.
After
some weeks of trying on names such as Catherine (of Siena), and Mary Magdalene,
I decided to take my Dominican name after Saint Pius V. In the time since then, I’ve learned that he implemented
the Council of Trent and was a Pope faithful to the magisterium of the church
in a time when people wanted reform.
Today,
April 30th is his Feast Day. I celebrated by taking treats into work. I also paused to wonder that the great treat
that the Lord had prepared for me, through the work of the Holy Spirit. If I hadn’t giving into that urge to kneel
and pray, I’m sure I would not have remembered St. Pius’s name. St. Pius, I thank you for your faith and
courage. Lord God, I thank you for your
guidance through your son Jesus Christ, in the work of the Holy Spirit.
St.
Pius, pray for us!
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