Pius X and the Papal Humidor: A Feast Day Reflection

Today, August 21, is the Feast Day of Pope Saint Pius X.

Born Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto on June 2, 1835, in Riese, Venetia, then part of the Austrian Empire (in present-day Italy), he served as Pope from 1903 until his death in 1914. Pius X is remembered — and indeed honored — for his deeply conservative theological positions, firm leadership, and pastoral care for the faithful.

As pope, he enacted reforms that left a lasting mark on the Church. He promoted the use of Gregorian chant in worship and became known as the “Pope of the Eucharist” for his fervent encouragement of frequent Communion, which he described as “the shortest and safest way to get to heaven.” Notably, he lowered the age for First Communion from twelve to seven, a decision still in place today.

Pius also took a hard stance against theological Modernism, which he considered “the synthesis of all heresies.” He resisted the movement of Christian Democracy when it veered into overt political activism, seeking instead to keep Catholic social work grounded in religious rather than partisan aims.

While the Church venerates him for his sanctity and his spiritual reforms, I like to think of Pope Saint Pius X as something else as well — the Patron Saint of Cigar Smokers.

A few years ago, I began wondering if any saint officially filled that role. My search turned up a few saints with ties to tobacco. One, Saint Titus Brandsma, is recognized as the Patron Saint of Tobacconists. Still, there appears to be no widely acknowledged patron saint devoted specifically to cigar smokers.

Then I stumbled across a story about Pope Saint Pius X, recounted in a letter published by Cigar Aficionado. The reader recalled:

Reading of his [Pius X] defense of cigars as not being a vice, I was reminded of a story that a cigar smoking priest of the Diocese of Tulsa, who is now in training for the Vatican diplomatic corps, told me. When he was a seminarian in Rome, he learned that Pius X, who was the pope from 1903 to 1914, called a bishop onto the carpet to reprimand him for his scandalous misbehavior with wine, women and song, and to correct his wrongs patiently.

The pope offered the errant bishop a cigar from the papal humidor on his desk. The bishop declined the offer with the protestation, “I do not have that vice, Your Holiness,” to which His Holiness replied, “If cigars were a vice, I would not offer you one, for you have quite enough vices already.”

There’s no way to know if the exchange truly happened or if it’s simply an ecclesiastical tall tale. Still, we do know that Pius X kept a humidor in his papal office. It’s also said that he broke the tradition of the pope dining alone, instead inviting friends to join him for meals. One can easily imagine that more than one of those dinners ended with the warm haze of cigar smoke drifting through the Vatican rooms.

His fondness for cigars certainly didn’t prevent his canonization in 1954 — proof, perhaps, that the Church doesn’t consider a fine cigar, enjoyed in moderation, to be a spiritual stumbling block. I like to think that the moments of calm and reflection provided by those cigars helped Pope Saint Pius X bear the heavy burdens of the papacy. And for that reason, in my book, he remains the unofficial Patron Saint of Cigar Smokers.

Cheers!