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One hundred and ten years ago, on August 20, 1914, a reformer Pope passed away: Saint Pius X, whose original name was Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto.
Born on June 2, 1835, in Riese, Treviso, Sarto embarked on a path of religious service that saw him assume pivotal roles in various ecclesiastical communities. After spending nine years as a curate in Tombolo and eight as a parish priest at Salzano (where he refurbished the organ, removing non-liturgical stops, and in the winter of 1868 founded, with great difficulty, a group of young choristers), he was appointed Bishop of Mantua in 1884. Here, foreshadowing his future actions as the Roman Pontiff, he engaged in promoting seminary life, sacramental practice, and the renewal of liturgical chant and catechesis. In 1888, he convened the diocesan Synod, and in 1892, he was elevated to the patriarchate of Venice before being elected to the chair of Peter on August 3, 1903.
St. Pius X is known for his eleven-year pontificate during which he defended the French Church by abolishing three centuries of Gallicanism, decisively condemning Modernism, reforming sacred music, the clergy, and the code of canon law, and granting communion to children. However, his compositional talent is less known.
Hidden within the archives of the Library of the Patriarchal Seminary of Venice lies a treasure: a modest notebook titled Musica di mano di Giuseppe Melchior Sarto, chierichetto del Seminario di Padova – ora Pio X (Music by the hand of Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto, a student at Padua’s seminary, now Pius X). This collection holds musical compositions dedicated to the Holy Week liturgy, bearing the signature of G[iuseppe] M[elchiorre] Sarto.[1] Music permeated Sarto’s life from his youth: “he had a beautiful voice, tuned and secure […] and sang in church to the satisfaction of all parishioners. […] From childhood, he was very involved in catechism and sacred singing and was part of the young choirboys.”[2] Endowed with extraordinary musical qualities, Giuseppe Sarto was instructed in this art by Rev. Pietro Jacuzzi († 1902), curate in Riese, and later assumed responsibility for the Schola Cantorum at the Seminary of Padua.
The notebook includes fifteen pieces. Three versions of the Hymn to Christ the King Gloria laus, for Palm Sunday: one for three and four voices, another for three voices, and yet another for two voices. Six pieces are dedicated to Holy Thursday: the hymn Pange lingua for three voices, the hymn Tantum ergo for three voices, the introit Nos autem for three voices, the gradual Christus factus est for three voices, the offertory Dextera Domini for three voices, the hymn O Redemptor for two and three voices, composed in Mantua. Three pieces are for Good Friday: the Reproaches of the Lord Popule meus for three voices, the antiphon O Crux benedicta for four voices, the hymn Vexilla regis for three voices. Three are written for Holy Saturday: the Alleluia verse Confitemini Domino (after the Epistle) for three voices, Gloria Patri at Vespers for three voices, and a popular module for the Litanies of the Virgin Mary for three voices.
The melodies are easy, singable, popular. The harmonization, for three male voices, is often limping, uncertain, or even wrong. Obviously, the young author’s musical preparation is not that of a Conservatory student, especially in terms of harmony. There is more passion than art. However, the notebook can be well inserted as a new piece in the mosaic and makes us know the figure of St. Pius X.[3]
The melodies are simple and written for multiple voices, reflecting a certain completeness in form. However, the harmonization is often carried out in a “somewhat amateurish manner,” with “deficiencies and shortcomings.” It is interesting to note that only one piece, composed during the period in Mantua (1884-1893), is written in the clef of G, while all the others are in the clef of C.
As Bishop of Mantua, Monsignor Sarto personally imparted musical instruction to seminarians, as recounted by Rev. Lino Leali, master of the Schola Cantorum of the Cathedrals of Mantua:
Not only that, but he himself wrote and, with a primitive duplicator, multiplied the copies of the singing parts necessary for the choir members, both in figured music and Gregorian chant. […] He even improvised as a composer of two simple and popular chants still in use in our churches: the Gloria laus for Palm Sunday and O Redemptor for the Holy Oils function. For the direction of the performances, he personally instructed a student, chosen from those most musically gifted. The late Don Iginio Rossini always remembered with emotion, when I was young, the lessons and acute observations of Mons. Sarto after each performance. Nothing escaped him even when, closed in the confessional in the Cathedral, he attended to another branch of the ministry so dear to his heart as a Bishop. After each performance, Don Rossini was invariably called to the Bishop’s residence to hear from the Bishop all the inaccuracies committed: ‘you missed the intonation of the introit… that figuration should be done like this,’ and he started singing and asked to be repeated.[4]
Sacred music was intertwined with every aspect of Giuseppe Sarto’s life: from his early days as a curate to his tenure as a parish priest, bishop, patriarch, and eventually, his papal incumbency. Through his motu proprio Tra le sollecitudini (“Among the cares”) of November 22, 1903, St. Pius X instigated a profound revival of sacred music, reaffirming the great tradition of the Church.
[1] Cf. G. Zaggia, Fonti e ricerche di storia ecclesiastica padovana, Vol. 2, Padua 1969, pp. 341-345.
[2] F. Romita, La preformazione del Motu Proprio di S. Pio X sulla musica sacra, Rome 1961, pp. 26-27.
[3] G. Zaggia, ibidem; our translation.
[4] La Musica Sacra a Mantova e l’opera del Beato Pio X, La Cittadella,Mantua,April 27, 1952.
