Pope Pius the Tenth

The son of a village postman who became the first pope canonized in over three centuries. This is the story of Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto, who rose from peasant poverty in rural Italy to occupy the throne of St. Peter, and in doing so, became one of the most influential popes of the modern age. His papacy from 1903 to 1914 was defined by fierce resistance to modernist interpretations of Catholic doctrine, yet also by a pastoral heart devoted to the spiritual lives of ordinary believers. He reformed the liturgy, encouraged daily Communion, and accomplished the unprecedented task of compiling the Church's scattered laws into the first Code of Canon Law. This biography captures both the intellectual warrior who would not compromise doctrinal truth and the humble shepherd who never forgot his origins, revealing why millions revere him as a saint.