Saint Pius I, Pope & Martyr (1962 Roman Calendar)

Q: When is the feast of Saint Pius I?

His feast is kept on 11 July in the calendar of the 1962 Roman Missal, as a Fourth Class feast.

Saint Pius I was Bishop of Rome about the middle of the second century, holding the chair of Peter in the years that followed the age of the Apostles. He is venerated among that long line of early Roman pontiffs who shepherded the Church through the time of persecution and whose fidelity helped to hand on the faith intact to the generations that came after.

A shepherd of the early Church

Of the particulars of his life little has come down to us with certainty. He is reckoned to have governed the Roman Church for some years in the second century, in an age when the faith was spreading quietly through the city and beyond, and when sound teaching had to be guarded against various errors then troubling the Christian community at Rome. The early records honour him as one who held firm to the apostolic faith and cared for the flock entrusted to him.

Tradition has long numbered Saint Pius I among the martyrs, joining his memory to that of the many bishops of Rome of the early centuries who bore witness to Christ in a time of trial. Where the details of his life are uncertain, the Church is content to honour what is sure: his office as successor of Saint Peter, and his fidelity in a difficult age.

His veneration

The collect of his feast is that of the common of a Supreme Pontiff, in which the Church prays to the Eternal Shepherd to look with favour upon his flock and to keep it under continual protection through the intercession of blessed Pius, whom he set as shepherd over the whole Church. In this prayer the faithful honour not only the man but the sacred office he held.

His feast is kept on the eleventh of July. In Saint Pius I the Church remembers the early successors of Peter, of whom little may now be known by name, but whose steadfast guardianship of the faith in the age of persecution is part of the foundation on which the Church has been built.

The Collect

O eternal Shepherd, look favourably upon thy flock, and keep it under thy continual protection, through blessed Pius thy Supreme Pontiff, whom thou didst appoint shepherd of the whole Church.

Gregem tuum, Pastor ætérne, placátus inténde: et, per beátum Pium Summum Pontíficem, perpétua protectióne custódi; quem totíus Ecclésiæ præstitísti esse pastórem.

Patronage

He is venerated among the early popes and martyrs of the Roman Church.

In the Modern Calendar

In the modern calendar he is no longer kept on the universal calendar.

Common Questions

When is the feast of Saint Pius I?

His feast is kept on 11 July in the calendar of the 1962 Roman Missal, as a Fourth Class feast.

Who was Saint Pius I?

He was a Bishop of Rome in the middle of the second century, one of the early successors of Saint Peter, who guided the Church through the age of persecution. He is venerated among the early popes and, by tradition, among the martyrs.

How much is reliably known about him?

That he governed the Roman Church in the second century is certain, but the particulars of his life have largely not come down to us. The Church honours soberly what is sure — his office as successor of Saint Peter and his fidelity in a time of trial — without adding to it.

See where this feast falls in the Church’s year on the liturgical calendar, or find a Traditional Latin Mass near you.

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