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E Supremi
Encyclical Letter of Pope St. Pius X
on the Restoration of All Things in Christ
To the Patriarchs, Primates,
Archbishops, Bishops and other Ordinaries in Peace and Communion with the Apostolic See |

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Venerable Brethren, Health
and the Apostolic Blessing |
Introduction
In addressing you for the first time from the Chair
of the supreme apostolate to which We have, by the inscrutable disposition of God, been
elevated, it is not necessary to remind you with what tears and warm instance We exerted
Ourselves to ward off this formidable burden of the Pontificate. Unequal in merit though
We be with St. Anselm, it seems to us that We may with truth make Our own the words in
which he lamented when he was constrained against his will and in spite of his struggles
to receive the honor of the episcopate. For to show with what dispositions of mind and
will We subjected Ourselves to the most serious charge of feeding the flock of Christ, We
can well adduce those same proofs of grief which he invokes in his own behalf. "My
tears are witnesses," he wrote, "and the sounds and moanings issuing from the
anguish of my heart, such as I never remember before to have come from me for any sorrow,
before that day on which there seemed to fall upon me that great misfortune of the
Archbishop of Canterbury. And those who fixed their gaze on my face that day could not
fail to see it . . . I, in color more like a dead than a living man, was pale for
amazement and alarm. Hitherto I have resisted as far as I couldspeaking the
truthmy election, or rather the violence done me. But now I am constrained to
confess, whether I will or not, that the judgments of God oppose greater and greater
resistance to my efforts, so that I see no way of escaping them. Wherefore, vanquished as
I am by the violence not so much of men as of God, against which there is no providing, I
realize that nothing is left for me, after having prayed as much as I could and striven
that this chalice should, if possible, pass from me without my drinking it, but to set
aside my feeling and my will and resign myself entirely to the design and the Will of
God."
In truth, reasons both numerous and most weighty were not
lacking to justify this resistance of Ours. For, besides the fact that We deemed Ourselves
altogether unworthy through Our littleness of the honor of the Pontificate; who would not
have been disturbed at seeing himself designated to succeed him who, ruling the Church
with supreme wisdom for nearly twenty-six years, showed himself adorned with such
sublimity of mind and such luster of every virtue as to attract to himself the admiration
even of adversaries, and to leave his memory stamped in glorious achievements? Then again,
to omit other motives, We were terrified beyond all else by the disastrous state of human
society today. For who can fail to see that society is at the present time, more than in
any past age, suffering from a terrible and deep-rooted malady which, developing every day
and eating into its inmost being, is dragging it to destruction?
The Present Spiritual Malady Bringing Society to
Destruction
You understand, Venerable Brethren, what this disease
isapostasy from God; there being in truth nothing which is more allied with ruin,
according to the word of the Prophet: "For behold they that go far from Thee shall
perish" (Ps. 72:17). We saw therefore that, in virtue of the ministry of the
Pontificate, which was to be entrusted to Us, We must hasten to find a remedy for this
great evil, considering as addressed to Us that Divine command: "Lo, I have set thee
this day over the nations and over kingdoms, to root up, and to pull down, and to waste,
and to destroy, and to build, and to plant" (Jer. 1:10). But, cognizant of Our
weakness, We recoiled in terror from a task as urgent as it is arduous.
Program of the Pontificate: "To Restore
All Things in Christ"
Since, however, it has been pleasing to the Divine Will to
raise Our lowliness to such sublimity of power, We take courage in Him who strengthens Us;
and setting Ourselves to work, relying on the power of God, We proclaim that We have no
other program in the Supreme Pontificate but that "of restoring all things in
Christ" (Eph1:10), so that Christ may be "all and in all" (Col. 3:11). Some
will certainly be found who, measuring Divine things by human standards will seek to
discover secret aims of Ours, distorting them to an earthly scope and to partisan designs.
To eliminate all vain delusions for such, We say to them with emphasis that We do not wish
to be, and with the Divine assistance never shall be aught before human society but the
Minister of God, of Whose Authority We are the depository. The interests of God shall be
Our interest, and for these We are resolved to spend all Our strength and Our very life.
Hence, should anyone ask Us for a symbol as the expression of Our will, We will give this
and no other: "To renew all things in Christ." In undertaking this glorious
task, We are greatly quickened by the certainty that We shall have all of you, Venerable
Brethren, as generous co-operators. If We doubted it We should have to regard you,
unjustly, as either unconscious or heedless of that sacrilegious war which is now, almost
everywhere, stirred up and fomented against God. For in truth, "The nations have
raged and the peoples imagined vain things" (Ps. 2:1) against their Creator, so
frequent is the cry of the enemies of God: "Depart from us" (Job. 21:14). And as
might be expected we find extinguished among the majority of men all respect for the
Eternal God, and no regard paid in the manifestations of public and private life to the
Supreme Willnay, every effort and every artifice is used to destroy utterly the
memory and the knowledge of God.
The Beginning of the Evils of the Last Days
When all this is considered there is good reason to fear
lest this great perversity may be, as it were, a foretaste, and perhaps the beginning of
those evils which are reserved for the last days; and that there may be already in the
world the "Son of Perdition" of whom the Apostle speaks (2 Thess. 2:3). Such, in
truth, is the audacity and the wrath employed everywhere in persecuting religion, in
combating the dogmas of the Faith, in brazen effort to uproot and destroy all relations
between man and the Divinity! While, on the other hand, and this according to the same
Apostle is the distinguishing mark of Antichrist, man has with infinite temerity put
himself in the place of God, raising himself above all that is called God; in such wise
that although he cannot utterly extinguish in himself all knowledge of God, he has
contemned Gods majesty and, as it were, made of the universe a temple wherein he
himself is to be adored. "He sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself as if he
were God" (2 Thess. 2:4).
Verily no one of sound mind can doubt the issue of this
contest between man and the Most High. Man, abusing his liberty, can violate the right and
the majesty of the Creator of the Universe; but the victory will ever be with
Godnay, defeat is at hand at the very moment when man, under the delusion of his
triumph, rises up with most audacity. Of this we are assured in the holy books by God
Himself. Unmindful, as it were, of His strength and greatness, He "overlooks the sins
of men" (Wisd. 11:24), but swiftly, after these apparent retreats, awakened
"like a mighty man that hath been surfeited with wine" (Ps. 77:65), He
"shall break the heads of his enemies" (Ps. 67:22), that all may know that
"God is the King of all the earth" (Ps. 46:8), "that the Gentiles may know
themselves to be but men"(Ps. 9:21).
True Peace is the Work of Gods Justice
All this, Venerable Brethren, We believe and expect with
unshakable faith. But this does not prevent us also, according to the measure given to
each, from exerting ourselves to hasten the work of Godand not merely by praying
assiduously: "Arise, O Lord, let not man be strengthened" (Ps. 9:20), but, more
important still, by affirming both by word and deed and in the light of day, Gods
supreme dominion over man and all things, so that His authority and right to command may
be fully realized and respected. This is imposed upon us not only as a natural duty, but
by our common interest. For, Venerable Brethren, who can avoid being appalled and
afflicted when he beholds, in the midst of a progress in civilization which is justly
extolled, the greater part of mankind fighting among themselves so savagely as to make it
seem as though strife were universal? The desire for peace is certainly harbored in every
breast, and there is no one who does not ardently invoke it. But to want peace without God
is an absurdity, seeing that where God is absent thence too justice flies, and when
justice is taken away it is vain to cherish the hope of peace. "And the work of
justice shall be peace" (Is. 32:17). There are many, We are well aware, who, in their
yearning for peace, that is for the tranquillity of order, band themselves into societies
and parties, which they style parties of order. This is both hope and labor lost. For
there is but one party of order capable of restoring peace in the midst of all this
turmoil, and that is the party of God. It is this party, therefore, that we must advance,
and to attract as many as possible to it, if we are really urged by the love of peace.
No other Foundation than Christ Jesus
But, Venerable Brethren, we shall never, however much we
exert ourselves, succeed in calling men back to the majesty and empire of God, except by
means of Jesus Christ. "No one," the Apostle admonishes us, "can lay other
foundation than that which has been laid, which is Christ Jesus" (1 Cor. 3:11). It is
Christ alone "Whom the Father hath sanctified and sent into the world" (John
10:36), "the Splendor of the Father and the Image of His Substance" (Heb. 1:3),
true God and true man: without Whom nobody can know God with the knowledge for salvation,
"neither doth anyone know the Father but the Son, and he to whom it shall please the
Son to reveal Him" (Matt. 11:27). Hence it follows that to restore all things in
Christ, and to lead men back to submission to God, is one and the same aim. To this, then,
it behooves Us to devote Our careto lead back mankind under the dominion of Christ;
this done, We shall have brought it back to God. When We say to God, We do not mean to
that inert being, heedless of all things human, which the dream of materialists has
imagined, but to the true and living God, One in Nature, Triple in Person, Creator of the
world, most wise Ordainer of all things, Lawgiver most just, Who punishes the wicked and
has reward in store for virtue.
Christ is to be found in His Church
Now the way to reach Christ is not hard to find: it is the
Church. Rightly does St. John Chrysostom inculcate: "The Church is thy hope, the
Church is thy salvation, the Church is thy refuge" ("Hom. de capto
Euthropio," n. 6). It was for this that Christ founded it, gaining it at the price of
His blood, and made it the depositary of His doctrine and His laws, bestowing upon it at
the same time an inexhaustible treasury of graces for the sanctification and salvation of
men.
You see, then, Venerable Brethren, the duty that has been
imposed alike upon Us and upon you of bringing back human society to the discipline of the
Church, now estranged from the wisdom of Christ; the Church will then subject it to
Christ, and Christ to God. If We, through the goodness of God Himself, bring this task to
a happy issue, We shall be rejoiced to see evil giving place to good, and hear, for our
gladness, "a loud voice from Heaven saying: Now is come salvation, and strength, and
the Kingdom of our God and the power of His Christ" (Apoc. 12:10). But if our desire
to obtain this is to be fulfilled, we must use every means and exert all our energy to
bring about the utter disappearance of the enormous and detestable wickedness, so
characteristic of our timethe substitution of man for God; this done, it remains to
restore to their ancient place of honor the most holy laws and counsels of the Gospel; to
proclaim aloud the truths taught by the Church, and Her teachings on the sanctity of
marriage, on the education and discipline of youth, on the possession and use of property,
the duties that men owe to those who rule the state; and lastly to restore equilibrium
between the different classes of society according to Christian precept and custom. This
is what We, in submitting Ourselves to the manifestations of the Divine Will, purpose to
aim at during Our Pontificate, and We will use all our industry to attain it. It is for
you, Venerable Brethren, to second Our efforts by your holiness, knowledge, and experience
and above all by your zeal for the glory of God, with no other aim than that Christ may be
formed in all.
Priests: the Images of Christ to Form Him in Others
As to the means to be employed in attaining this great end,
it seems superfluous to name them, for they are obvious of themselves. Let your first care
be to form Christ in those who are destined from the duty of their vocation to form Him in
others. We speak of the priests, Venerable Brethren. For all who bear the seal of the
priesthood must know that they have the same mission to the people in the midst of whom
they live as that which St. Paul proclaimed that he received in these tender words:
"My little children, of whom I am in labor again until Christ be formed in you"
(Gal. 4:19). But how will they be able to perform this duty if they be not first clothed
with Christ themselves? and so clothed with Christ as to be able to say with the Apostle:
"I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me" (Gal. 2:20). "For to me, to
live is Christ" (Philipp.1:21). Hence, although all are included in the exhortation
"to advance towards the perfect man, in the measure of the age of the fullness of
Christ" (Ephes. 4:13), it is addressed before all others to those who exercise the
sacerdotal ministry; thus these are called another Christ, not merely by the communication
of power but by reason of the imitation of His works, and they should therefore bear
stamped upon themselves the image of Christ.
Priestly Training and Formation
- This being so, Venerable Brethren, of what nature and
magnitude is the care that must be taken by you in forming the clergy to holiness! All
other tasks must yield to this one. Wherefore the chief part of your diligence will be
directed to governing and ordering your seminaries aright so that they may flourish
equally in the soundness of their teaching and in the spotlessness of their morals. Regard
your seminary as the delight of your hearts, and neglect on its behalf none of those
provisions which the Council of Trent has with admirable forethought prescribed. And when
the time comes for promoting the youthful candidates to holy orders, ah! do not forget
what St. Paul wrote to St. Timothy: "Impose not hands lightly upon any man" (1
Tim. 5:22), bearing carefully in mind that as a general rule the faithful will be such as
are those whom you call to the priesthood. Do not then pay heed to private interests of
any kind, but have at heart only God and the Church and the eternal welfare of souls so
that, as the Apostle admonishes, you may not "be "partaker of other mens
sins" (ibid.). Then again, be not lacking in solicitude for young priests who are
newly-ordained. From the bottom of Our heart, We urge you to bring them often close to
your breast, which should burn with celestial firekindle them, inflame them, so that
they may aspire solely after God and the salvation of souls. Rest assured, Venerable
Brethren, that We on Our side will use the greatest diligence to prevent the members of
the clergy from being drawn to the snares of a certain new and fallacious science, which
savoreth not of Christ, but with masked and cunning arguments strives to open the door to
the errors of Rationalism and semi-Rationalism; against which the Apostle warned Timothy
to be on his guard, when he wrote: "Keep that which is committed to thy trust,
avoiding the profane novelties of words and oppositions of knowledge falsely so called.
Which some promising, have erred concerning the Faith." (1 Tim. 6:20-21). This does
not prevent Us from esteeming worthy of praise those young priests who have dedicated
themselves to useful studies in every branch of learning the better to prepare themselves
to defend the truth and to refute the calumnies of the enemies of the Faith. Yet We cannot
conceal, nay, We proclaim in the most open manner possible that Our preference is, and
ever will be, for those who, while cultivating ecclesiastical and literary erudition,
dedicate themselves more closely to the welfare of souls through the exercise of those
ministries proper to a priest zealous for the divine glory. "It is a great grief and
a continual sorrow to our heart" (Rom. 9:2) to find Jeremiahs lamentation
applicable to our times: "The little ones asked for bread, and there was none to
break it to them" (Lam. 4:4). For there are not lacking among the clergy those who
adapt themselves according to their inclination to works of more apparent than real
soliditybut not so numerous perhaps are those who, after the example of Christ, take
to themselves the words of the Prophet: "The Spirit of the Lord hath anointed Me,
hath sent Me to evangelize the poor, to heal the contrite of heart, to announce freedom to
the captive, and sight to the blind" (Luke 4:18-19).
Necessity of Sound Religious Instruction
- Yet who can fail to see, Venerable Brethren, that while men
are led by reason and liberty, the principal way to restore the empire of God in their
souls is religious instruction? How many there are who mimic Christ and abhor the Church
and the Gospel more through ignorance than through malice of mind, of whom it may well be
said: "They blaspheme whatever things they know not" (Jude 1:10). This is found
to be the case not only among the people at large and among the lowest classes, who are
thus easily led astray, but even among the more cultivated and among those endowed
moreover with uncommon education. The result is for a great many the loss of the Faith.
For it is not true that the progress of knowledge extinguishes the Faith; rather is it
ignorance, and the more ignorance prevails the greater is the havoc wrought by
incredulity. And this is why Christ commanded the Apostles: "Going therefore, teach
ye all nations" (Matt. 28:19).
"Reprove, Entreat, and Rebuke with all Patience"
- But in order that the desired fruit may be derived from
this apostolate and zeal for teaching, and that Christ may be formed in all, be it
remembered, Venerable Brethren, that no means is more efficacious than charity. For
"the Lord is not in the earthquake" (3 Kings 19:11)it is vain to hope to
attract souls to God by a bitter zeal. On the contrary, harm is done more often than good
by taunting men harshly with their faults, and reproving their vices with asperity. True
the Apostle exhorted Timothy: "Reprove, entreat, rebuke," but he took care to
add: "with all patience" (2 Tim. 4:2). Jesus has certainly left us examples of
this. "Come to Me," we find Him saying, "come to Me all ye that labor and
are burdened and I will refresh you" (Matt. 11:28). And by those that labor and are
burdened he meant only those who are slaves of sin and error. What gentleness was that
shown by the Divine Master! What tenderness, what compassion towards all kinds of misery!
Isaias has marvelously described His Heart in the words: "I will set My Spirit upon
Him; He shall not contend, nor cry out; the bruised reed He will not break, He will not
extinguish the smoking flax" (Is. 42:1). This charity, "patient and kind"
(1 Cor. 13:4), will extend itself also to those who are hostile to us and persecute us.
"We are reviled," thus did St. Paul protest, "and we bless; we are
persecuted and we suffer it; we are blasphemed and we entreat" (1 Cor. 4:12-13). They
perhaps seem to be worse than they really are. Their associations with others, prejudice,
the counsel, advice and example of others, and finally an ill-advised shame have dragged
them to the side of the impious; but their wills are not so depraved as they themselves
would seek to make people believe. Who will prevent us from hoping that the flame of
Christian charity may dispel the darkness from their minds and bring to them light and the
peace of God? It may be that the fruit of our labors may be slow in coming; but charity
wearies not with waiting, knowing that God prepares His rewards not for the results of
toil, but for the good will shown in it.
Catholic Action under the Direction of the Bishop
- It is true, Venerable Brethren, that in this arduous task
of the restoration of the human race in Christ neither you nor your clergy should exclude
all assistance. We know that God recommended every one to have a care for his neighbor
(Eccli. 17:12). For it is not priests alone, but all the faithful without exception, who
must concern themselves with the interests of God and soulsnot, of course, according
to their own views, but always under the direction and orders of the bishops; for to no
one in the Church except you is it given to preside over, to teach, to "govern the
Church of God which the Holy Ghost hath placed you to rule" (Acts 20:28). Our
predecessors have long since approved and blessed those Catholics who have banded together
in societies of various kinds, but always religious in their aim. We, too, have no
hesitation in awarding Our praise to this great idea, and We earnestly desire to see it
propagated and flourish in town and country. But We wish that all such associations aim
first and chiefly at the constant maintenance of Christian life, among those who belong to
them. For truly it is of little avail to discuss questions with nice subtlety, or to
discourse eloquently of rights and duties, when all this is unconnected with practice. The
times we live in demand actionbut action which consists entirely in observing with
fidelity and zeal the divine laws and the precepts of the Church, in the frank and open
profession of religion, in the exercise of every kind of charitable works, without regard
to self-interest or worldly advantage. Such luminous examples given by the great army of
soldiers of Christ will be of much greater avail in moving and drawing men than words and
sublime dissertations; and it will easily come about that when human respect has been
driven out, and prejudices and doubting laid aside, large numbers will be won to Christ,
becoming in their turn promoters of His knowledge and love which are the road to true and
solid happiness. Oh! when in every city and village the law of the Lord is faithfully
observed, when respect is shown for sacred things, when the Sacraments are frequented, and
the ordinances of Christian life fulfilled, there will certainly be no more need for us to
labor further to see all things restored in Christ. Nor is it for the attainment of
eternal welfare alone that this will be of serviceit will also contribute largely to
temporal welfare and the advantage of human society. For when these conditions have been
secured, the upper and wealthy classes will learn to be just and charitable to the lowly,
and these will be able to bear with tranquillity and patience the trials of their
difficult state; the citizens will obey not lust but law; reverence and love will be
deemed a duty towards those that govern, "for there is no (true) power but from
God" (Rom. 13:1). And then? Then, at last, it will be clear to all that the Church,
such as it was instituted by Christ, must enjoy full and entire liberty and independence
from all foreign dominion; and We, in demanding that same liberty, are defending not only
the sacred rights of religion, but are also consulting the common welfare and the safety
of nations. For it continues to be true that "piety is useful for all things" (1
Tim. 4:8)when this is strong and flourishing "the people will" truly
"sit in the fullness of peace" (Is. 32:18).
Continuous and Urgent Prayer, through Jesus and Mary
- May God, "Who is rich in mercy" (Ephes. 2:4),
benignly speed this restoration of the human race in Jesus Christ for "it is not of
him that willeth, or of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy" (Rom. 9:16).
And let us, Venerable Brethren, "in the spirit of humility" (Dan. 3:39), with
continuous and urgent prayer ask this of Him through the merits of Jesus Christ. Let us
turn, too, to the most powerful intercession of the Divine Motherto obtain which We,
addressing to you this Letter of Ours on the day appointed especially for commemorating
the Holy Rosary, ordain and confirm all Our Predecessors prescriptions with regard
to the dedication of the present month to the august Virgin, by the public recitation of
the Rosary in all churches; with the further exhortation that as intercessors with God,
appeal be also made to the most pure Spouse of Mary, the Patron of the Catholic Church,
and the holy Princes of the Apostles, Peter and Paul.
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Conclusion and Benediction
And that all this may be realized in fulfillment of Our
ardent desire, and that everything may be prosperous with you, We invoke upon you the most
bountiful gifts of divine grace. And now in testimony of that most tender charity
wherewith We embrace you and all the faithful whom Divine Providence has entrusted to Us,
We impart with all affection in Our Lord, the Apostolic Blessing to you, Venerable
Brethren, to the clergy, and to your people.
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Given at Rome
at St. Peters, on the 4th day of October, 1903,
in the first year of Our Pontificate.
Pius X, Pope |
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