Skip to content

Peregrinatio corporis of the body of saint Pius X

Minister of the Gospel, Pastor of the Church
Treviso and Riese Pio X, 6 – 15 October 2023

The Giuseppe Sarto Foundation was established following the historical visit of Pope John Paul II to Riese in 1985 to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Pius X's birth. It’s a place in which to deepen our knowledge about this extraordinary Pope, with the mission of conserving and promoting the house where he was born and its museum, which safeguard many of his personal objects. These places are memorials visited by thousands of pilgrims each year. In addition to managing the House-Museum, the Foundation has a research centre with a robust library focused on Pius X. It includes the Jacopo Monico Fund, i.e., the documents regarding Cardinal Jacopo Monico, a distinguished figure and a man of letters born in Riese, who was Giuseppe Sarto's predecessor as Patriarch of Venice and the 'patron' of his seminary studies.

The founding members of the Sarto Foundation are the Municipality of Riese Pio X and the Province of Treviso, while the Diocese of Treviso joined in 2015. According to the foundation’s statute, these three entities appoint the Board of Directors. Currently, the board president is the mayor of Riese Pio X, Matteo Guidolin, while the board members for the Province of Treviso are chairman Stefano Marcon and Claudio Bergamin. That of the Diocese of Treviso is the vicar general Monsignor Giuliano Brugnotto, and for the Municipality of Riese, Jenny Antonello (as the Vice President of the Giuseppe Sarto Foundation), Ombretta Basso and Loris Guidolin. The Foundation’s secretary is Mr Davide Nordio, while the treasurer is Mr Roberto Favaro.

In recent years, the Foundation has worked on numerous publications about Pius X. To celebrate the Great Jubilee in 2000, it published I Papi del XX Secolo – Da Leone XIII a Giovanni Paolo I (The Popes of the 20th Century, from Leo XIII to John Paul I), in partnership with the hometowns of those popes. In 2001, it was one of the promoters of a faithful reconstruction of the ascent to the peak of Mount Grappa by Patriarch Sarto on the event’s 100th anniversary. In 2003, for the 100th anniversary of the election of Pius X as Pope, culminating in a pilgrimage to Rome and a hearing with the Pope in Castelgandolfo, the Foundation held a convention on the 1903 conclave where the latest research from the Vatican’s Secret Archive on the ‘cards’ of Pius X, the religious celebrations presided over by Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re and the publication of a recording that gathers the execution of religious music composed by Pius X were revealed. That same year, it published a CD titled Pio X – La sua musica (The Music of Pius X) containing religious hymns written by Pope Sarto and transcribed by the maestro Primo Beraldo, performed by Coenubium Vocale. In 2004, it was the turn of the 50th anniversary of his canonization, where important films on the event were unearthed. In 2005, for the centenary of the Acerbo Nimis encyclical and thus of the Pius X Catechism, a conference was held with the participation of Monsignor Rino Fisichella, Rector of the Pontifical Lateran University. In 2007, the 100th anniversary of the Pascendi encyclical was commemorated with a speech by Monsignor Corrado Pizziolo, Bishop of Vittorio Veneto. In 2008, celebrations were held for the 150th anniversary of Giuseppe Sarto being ordained, culminating in the festivities held in Castelfranco Veneto (in whose Duomo he was consecrated presbyter), presided over by the then Patriarch of Venice, Cardinal Angelo Scola.

In 2009, the focus was shifted to the 50th anniversary of the return of the remains of Pius X to Venice, made possible in 1959 thanks to John XXIII, who like Pius X was Patriarch of Venice before becoming Pope. The topic was at the heart of a conference that was held at the Studium Generale Marcianum in Venice with the participation of Monsignor Beniamino Pizziol, then Auxiliary Bishop of Venice, now the Bishop of Vicenza, during which the extraordinary importance of the event was highlighted, characterized by an immense crowd that bore witness to the immense love and devotion for Pius X, as the images filmed at the time and found at the Istituto Luce testify.

In 2013-2014, for the 100th anniversary of the death of Pius X, the Sarto Foundation and the Municipality of Riese Pio X, along with the Diocese Committee, created an intense programme of events which culminated in the Pontifical High Mass celebrated by the Secretary of State of the Vatican, Cardinal Pietro Parolin at the Cendrole Sanctuary.

In 2007 (later reissued in 2014), the Foundation published Pio X, un Papa Veneto (Pius X, a Pope from Veneto), the authors of which are Davide Nordio (historian and journalist, editor of the book and the section on the life of Pope Sarto), Alejandro M. Dieguez (of the Vatican Secret Archive), and Ruggero Ambrosi (consultant of the Giuseppe Sarto Foundation). The completion of the work was encouraged by Benedict XVI, while the reprinting included a preface by Cardinal Angelo Comastri.

Fondazione Giuseppe Sarto
Via Giuseppe Sarto 29 – 31039 Riese Pio X (TV)

info@papapiox.it

For guided tours and group bookings, please contact the caretaker of the House-Museum in advance: mobile +39 338 2354439