Ellen Organ and “Her Pope”: For Such Is the Kingdom of Heaven

On August 4, 1903 Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto was elevated to the Chair of Saint Peter and took the name Pius X. Twenty days later in Ireland, William and Mary Organ welcomed their fourth child into the world. They named her Ellen but she would eventually be known throughout the world simply as “Little Nellie.” While occupying completely opposite stations in life—he the head of the universal Church, she a simple Irish girl—their lives were mysteriously linked forever.