The history of the popes, from the close of the middle ages : drawn ...

54
HISTORY OF THE POPES.
as bishop and cardinal, had sadly disturbed it ; this was
now the case more than ever when he remembered the account
which, as Pope, he would one day have to render to Almighty
God.^ The supreme dignity seemed to him a heavy cross,
under which he feared to fall. In a letter to the Grand Master
of Malta he confessed that he had had thoughts of renouncing
the tiara, and that the only thing which had held him back
from such a step was his firm trust in the help of the Almighty.^
Both in pubUc and in private he begged people to pray much
for him,^ while at the same time he redoubled his accustomed
exercises of piety and mortification.
Pius V. made it plain that now that he was Pope he still
intended to remain the strict mendicant friar that he had been
all his Hfe, for he refused to lay aside his rough shirt, ^ and as
far as possible continued his former manner of life. He went
early to bed so as to be able to rise early in the morning. He
said mass every day,^ after which came prayers and medi-
tation ; he also recited the Rosary every day.^ Immediately
after he had broken his fast he devoted himself to the affairs
^ See TiEPOLO, 201 ; Catena, 31 seq. ; Gabutius, 226-227.
Cf. the saying of Pius V. related by Tiepolo, in Mutinelli, I.
For the meaning of similar expressions see Laderchi, 1566, n. 6.
* See the beautiful letter to Pietro di Monte of December 8,
1570, in Catena, 290 seq.
3 See Catena, 35 ; Gabutius, 199.
* *" Sotto ai panni pontificii porta la camiscia di rascia come
facea quando era frate et essendogli portata rascia fina et sottile
per far camiscie, ne ha fatto pigliar della piu grossa dicendo che
non vuol mutar quelle che non si vede dal vulgo." Avviso di
Roma of January 19, 1566, Urb. 1040, p. i66b. Vatican Library.
* According to Tiepolo, 172, it might be supposed that he only
celebrated mass frequently,but Arco,on January 12, i566,expressly
states *" : Ipse bene valet et quotidie sacris privatim operatur."
(State Archives, Vienna.) The same thing is stated in the
*Avviso di Roma of January 12, 1566, printed in App n. 3, as
well as in other reports, e.g. Polanci Epist., in Anal. Bolland.,
VII., 51, and the letter of Requesens of March 18, 1566, Corresp.
dipl., I., 161.
* Catena, 35,