Pius X 1906 Consecration French Bishops Medal

Anno IV silver medal of Pope Pius X on the consecration of fourteen French bishops in 1906. Includes the always hard-to-find original plush case--in excellent condition-- emblazoned with Pius X's coat-of-arms featuring the Lion of Saint Mark (arms of the Patriarch of Venice) and an anchor cast into a stormy sea, star above (the arms Pius X took as Bishop of Mantua).

Adopting as his motto "to restore all things in Christ", Pius X made clear his intention of being a religious rather than a political pope. In December 1905 the French formally separated church from state--which included the transfer of the church's property to lay associations--an act condemned by Pius on February 11, 1906. Pius prohibited any compromise settlement, which might have preserved the church's material interests and, on February 26, 1906, by his own hand, consecrated fourteen bishops in St. Peter's Basilica.