4 NOVEMBER: SAINT CHARLES BORROMEO

Souls are won on one’s knees

The son of a noble family, he was appointed a commendatory abbot when he was 12 years old, and was created a Cardinal when he was 22, heading for a rapidly advancing and bright ecclesiastic career. He was the nephew of a Pope and became a formidable and exemplary pastor, a zealous preacher and a promoter of the implementation of the decrees of the Council of Trent. He faced struggles and adversity in his efforts to reform the Church, both the clergy and the religious, to free her from outside powers that threatened her integrity. Because of his zeal, he suffered slander, humiliation and even an attempt on his life, in which an arquebus was fired at his back as he prayed. He was unharmed

Born on 2 October 1538 to the aristocratic Borromeo family, he was the second son of Gilberto and Margherita. He studied canon and civil law in Pavia, obtaining a doctorate in utroque jure at the age of 21.

In 1560, his mother’s brother, Gian Angelo, from the aristocratic Medici di Marignano family, was elected Pope and chose the name Pius IV. His uncle called Charles to Rome and entrusted him with several important positions, including Apostolic Administrator of the Archdiocese of Milan from 7 February 1560, and Pontifical Legate of Bologna and Romagna for two years. In December 1560, he was appointed Secretary of State.

When his brother died in 1562, he was asked to leave his ecclesiastical commitments and to marry, in order to continue the family line of descendants. Charles preferred to continue his plans to be a priest. He was ordained a priest on 4 September 1563, and a bishop, three days later. He chose Humilitas, as his episcopal motto.

As Secretary of State, he reopened the works of the Council of Trent and participated in its sessions between 1562 and 1563, becoming one of the chief promoters of the “Counter Reformation”, and President of the Commission of Theologians tasked by Pius IV to draft the Catechismus Romanus. He succeeded in having some decrees on sacred orders and the institution of seminaries approved, and interceded so that pastors could reside in the dioceses. In 1565, when he was only 27 years old and had already been appointed Archbishop of Milan, Charles took possession of the Archdiocese of Milan. His pastoral zeal prevented him from being inactive. He completed three pastoral visits to the Diocese, opened seminaries for the formation of priests and built churches, schools, colleges and hospitals. In 1578, he founded the Congregation of the Oblates of Saint Ambrose. During his implementation of the Council of Trent’s decrees, he found himself clashing with Spanish authorities and with civil authorities.

He was a true example of evangelic charity. He sold the Principality of Oria, which he had inherited from his brother, and donated the proceeds to the poor of Milan. He was a man of prayer and penance, who often repeated that “souls are won on one’s knees”.

His love for the poor and the needy manifested itself above all between 1576 and 1577, during the plague which took his name, and which Manzoni wrote about in The Betrothed. The Archbishop was the only point of reference for the entire city, also during the following famine.

Charles Borromeo died in 1584 when he was only 46 years old. He was beatified in 1602 by Clement VIII and canonized in 1610 by Paul V. His remains are in the Crypt of the Duomo of Milan.