The Vision of Pius X

Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto was born in Venice in 1835 and was elected Pope, taking the name Pius X, in 1903. He died in 1914, by then in the early months of the First World War. In May 1954 he was canonized, becoming St. Pius X.

The canonization came because several miracles were attributed to him while he was still alive. People said that the sick who came into contact with him were healed, and of this he himself spoke as “the power of the keys of St. Peter.” One of the most remarkable cases happened during a Mass, when he ordered a priest to put out a particular candle on the altar. Afterward, Pius X took that candle and drew from inside it a bomb that had been hidden there to go off during the service. It is also said that after his death he was still seen, now and then, inside the Vatican.

But by far the most famous episode was the vision Pius X had in 1909. He was giving an audience when, all at once, he fell asleep. A moment later he woke in distress and said:

“I have had a terrifying vision. Will it be me, or one of my successors? I saw that the Pope will leave Rome, and that to get out of the Vatican he will have to walk over the bodies of his priests.”