Then-Bp. Sarto [Pope Pius X] offers to assist priest's Mass
Nov 2, 2019 16:46:52 GMT
Post by Admin on Nov 2, 2019 16:46:52 GMT
In 1888, on one of the altars of the Basilica of St. Peter, a priest ready to pray the Holy Mass, looked restlessly around him because his altar boy did not appear. A bishop, who was kneeling nearby, approached him and said very simply:
- Allow me, Father, that I be the assistant of your Mass.
- No, Excellency, I will not allow it. It is not convenient for a bishop to act as an altar boy.
-Why not? I assure you I can do it.
- I don't doubt that, Excellency. But it would be a lot of humiliation. No, I will not allow it.
- Quiet. Quick to the altar; begins: "Introibo ad altare Dei ..."
That said, the Bishop knelt and the priest had to yield. Assisted by his new assistant, the priest celebrated Mass with great emotion. At the end he undid in thanks to the Bishop. That pious assistant, twenty years older than the priest, was Bishop Giuseppe Sarto, future Pope Pius X, one of the greatest pontiffs and saints of the Catholic Church.
Source
- Allow me, Father, that I be the assistant of your Mass.
- No, Excellency, I will not allow it. It is not convenient for a bishop to act as an altar boy.
-Why not? I assure you I can do it.
- I don't doubt that, Excellency. But it would be a lot of humiliation. No, I will not allow it.
- Quiet. Quick to the altar; begins: "Introibo ad altare Dei ..."
That said, the Bishop knelt and the priest had to yield. Assisted by his new assistant, the priest celebrated Mass with great emotion. At the end he undid in thanks to the Bishop. That pious assistant, twenty years older than the priest, was Bishop Giuseppe Sarto, future Pope Pius X, one of the greatest pontiffs and saints of the Catholic Church.
Saint Pius X, pray for us