World

SAINT PROFILE: PIUS V

1504-1572; FEAST: APRIL 30

4/28/2017

Born Antonio-Michele Ghislieri in Italy, the future pope began his clerical life with the Dominicans at age 14 and served as an inquisitor before becoming a bishop. He was a strict clerical reformer and himself lived simply without luxuries. He published the Roman Catechism and revised the Roman Missal. Although praised for his Counter-Reformation efforts, his reign was stained by the oppression of the Inquisition, the harsh treatment of Jews in Rome and the excommunication of Queen Elizabeth I.