His pontificate saw him deal with internal reform of the Church, the spread of Protestant doctrines in the West, and Turkish armies advancing from the East.
Church discipline Aware of the necessity of restoring discipline and morality in Rome to ensure success, he at once proceeded to reduce the cost of the papal court after the manner of the Dominican Order to which he belonged, compel residence among the clergy, regulate inns, and assert the importance of the ceremonial in general and the liturgy of the Mass in particular. In his wider policy, which was characterized throughout by an effective stringency, the maintenance and increase of the efficacy of the Inquisition and the enforcement of the
canons and decrees of the
Council of Trent had precedence over other considerations. This form of the Mass remained essentially unchanged for 400 years until
Pope Paul VI's revision of the Roman Missal in 1969–70, after which it has become widely known as the Tridentine Mass.
Thomism Pius V, who had declared
Thomas Aquinas the fifth Latin
Doctor of the Church in 1567, commissioned the first edition of Aquinas'
opera omnia, often called the
editio Piana in honor of the Pope. This work was produced in 1570 at the
studium generale of the
Dominican Order at
Santa Maria sopra Minerva, which would be transformed into the College of Saint Thomas in 1577, and again into the
Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas,
Angelicum in the 20th century.
Holy League Pius V arranged the forming of the
Holy League against the
Ottoman Empire, as the result of which the
Battle of Lepanto (7 October 1571) was won by the combined fleet under
Don John of Austria. It is attested in his
canonisation that he miraculously knew when the battle was over, himself being in Rome at the time. Pius V also helped financially in the construction of
Valletta,
Malta's capital city, by sending his military engineer
Francesco Laparelli to design the fortification walls (A bronze bust of Pius V was installed at the
Gate of Valletta in 1892.) To commemorate the victory, he instituted the Feast of
Our Lady of Victory.
Protestant Reformation By the time Pius V ascended the throne, Protestantism had swept over all of
England and
Scotland, as well as half of
Germany, the
Netherlands, and parts of
France; only
Spain,
Ireland,
Portugal and
Italy remained unswervingly Catholic. Pius V was thus determined to prevent its insurgency into Italy—which he believed would come via the
Alps and
Milan. In the first year of his papacy, Pius urged
Mary, Queen of Scots to restore Catholicism in her realm, providing funding and sending Jesuit
Vincenzo Lauro to
Scotland as Nuncio to further this cause. However, with Mary's Protestant half-brother
James Stewart, Earl of Moray, back at the heart of government and her Catholic husband
Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, in disfavour, the political circumstances did not prove favourable.
Huguenots Pius V recognized attacks on papal supremacy in the Catholic Church and was desirous of limiting their advancement. In France, where his influence was stronger, he took several measures to oppose the Protestant
Huguenots. He directed the dismissal of Cardinal
Odet de Coligny and seven bishops, nullified the royal edict tolerating the extramural services of the Reformers, introduced the Roman
catechism, restored papal discipline, and strenuously opposed all compromise with the Huguenot nobility.
Elizabeth I His response to Queen
Elizabeth I of England assuming the position of
Supreme Governor of the Church of England included support of the imprisoned Mary, Queen of Scots and her supporters in their attempts to rescue
England "ex turpissima muliebris libidinis servitute" ("from a most sordid slavery to a woman's voracity"). A brief English Catholic uprising, the
Rising of the North, had just failed. Pius then issued a papal bull,
Regnans in Excelsis ("Reigning on High"), dated 27 April 1570, that declared Elizabeth I a heretic and released her subjects from their allegiance to her. It was the official decree of
excommunication on her and it also declared an
ipso facto excommunication on anyone who obeyed her. In response, Elizabeth now actively started persecuting English Catholics for treason.
Character and policy , As a young man, Michele Ghislieri was eager to join the
Inquisition. Under
Paul IV, he rose to
Grand Inquisitor, and from there ascended to the
papacy. Upon election to the papacy as Pius V, Ghislieri immediately started to get rid of many of the extravagant luxuries then prevalent in the court. One of his first acts was to dismiss the papal
court jester, and no subsequent pope had one. He forbade horse racing in
St. Peter's Square. Severe sanctions were imposed against
blasphemy, adultery, and sodomy. These laws quickly made Pius V the subject of Roman hatred; he was accused of trying to turn the city into a vast monastery. He was not a hypocrite: in day-to-day life Pius V was highly ascetic. He wore a hair shirt beneath the simple habit of a Dominican friar and was often seen in bare feet. His governing efforts weren't entirely punitive: he planned distribution of alms to the poor, imported cheap grain in times of famine and cracked down on hired killers and brigands, what Mullett calls a "programme of restoring Rome as the Church's ideal city." Katherine Rinne writes in
Waters of Rome that Pius V ordered the construction of public works to improve the water supply and sewer system of the city—a welcome step, particularly in low-lying areas, where
typhoid and
malaria were inevitable summer visitors.
Papal bulls In 1567, he issued
Super prohibitione agitationis Taurorum & Ferarum prohibiting bull-fighting. Besides
In Coena Domini (1568), there are several others of note, including his prohibition of
quaestuary (February 1567 and January 1570); condemnation of ideas associated with
Michael Baius, a professor of
Leuven (1567); reform of the
Roman Breviary (July 1568); formal condemnation of homosexual behaviour (
dirum nefas) by the clergy (1568); the banishment of the
Jews from all
ecclesiastical dominions except Rome and
Ancona (1569); declaring the primacy of the
Lateran over
St. Peter's (1569); an injunction against use of the reformed
missal (July 1570); the confirmation of the privileges of the Society of Crusaders for the protection of the Inquisition (October 1570); the suppression of the
Fratres Humiliati (February 1571); the approbation of the new office of the
Blessed Virgin (March 1571); and the enforcement of the daily recitation of the
Canonical Hours (September 1571).
Papal garments Pius V is often credited with the origin of the Pope's white garments, supposedly because after his election Pius continued to wear his white
Dominican habit. However, many of his predecessors also wore white with a red
mozzetta, as can be seen on many paintings where neither they nor Pius is wearing a
cassock, but thin, wide,
white garments. An article by Agostino Paravicini Bagliani in ''
L'Osservatore Romano of 31 August 2013 states that the earliest document that speaks explicitly of the Pope wearing white is the Ordo XIII'', a book of ceremonies compiled under
Pope Gregory X. From that date onward, the books of ceremonies speak ever more explicitly of the Pope as wearing a red mantle, mozzetta,
camauro and shoes, and a white cassock and stockings.
Canonizations Pius V canonized one saint during his reign:
Ivo of Chartres on 18 December 1570.
Consistories Pius V created 21 cardinals in three consistories, including
Felice Piergentile who would become Pope Sixtus V. ==Death and canonization==