Pius laws, works of art, and money for nothing

Happy Friday friends,

And a very happy feast of St. Pius X to all who celebrate. Well, to all of you who celebrate who aren’t in schism — those of you who are should repent and submit to the pope.

It is interesting that the Society of St. Pius X has adopted that particular sainted pope as its putative patron. To be sure, he was a clear-eyed critic of the modernist movement and the heresies thereof. But reducing Pius to a one-dimensional and one-issue pope is to miss the man in full. He was in some respects a bit of a radical progressive, lowering the age for the reception of Communion from 12 to 7, and doing away with a lot of papal ceremony and monarchical trappings. Coming from peasant stock himself, he came under criticism for not making his sisters papal countesses and elevating them to a socially aristocratic level. He basically thought the whole idea was a bunch of bunkum.

For canonists, Pius is remembered chiefly as the great legislative reformer, the inaugurator of the process which led to the first Code of Canon Law, promulgated by his successor in 1917, three years after Pius’ death. As a legislator, Pius was,