This week, for the first time in almost three centuries, a Pope was beatified.* Giuseppe Sarto, Pope Pius X, was that rarest of combinationsa holy man and a great statesman.
The son of a Lombard village cobbler, young "Beppo" Sarto was as bright as he was poor, but he never lost his humility. Even when he was a fledgling country priest, his powerful sermons attracted attention beyond his own parish. He was raised to be a monsignor, then Bishop of Mantua, in 1893 Cardinal Patriarch of Venice. He made a point of giving away everything that he had. In his will he...
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