Everything about Charles Borromeo totally explained
Saint Charles Borromeo (;
Latinized as
Carolus Borromeus) (
October 2 1538 –
November 3 1584) is an
Italian saint and was a
cardinal of the
Roman Catholic Church.
Early life
The son of
Giberto II Borromeo,
conte (
count) of
Arona, and Margherita
de' Medici, Carlo Borromeo was born at the castle of Arona on
Lago Maggiore. The aristocratic
Borromeo family's
coat of arms included the
Borromean rings, sometimes taken to symbolize the
Holy Trinity.
When he was about twelve years old, Carlo's uncle, Giulio Cesare Borromeo, resigned to him an
abbacy (the office and dignity of an
abbot), the revenue of which he applied wholly in charity to the poor. He studied the civil and
canon law at
Pavia. In
1554 his father died, and although he'd an elder brother, Count Federigo, he was requested by the family to take the management of their domestic affairs. After a time, he resumed his studies, and in 1559 he took his doctoral degree. In 1560 his uncle, Cardinal
Angelo de' Medici, was raised to the pontificate as
Pope Pius IV.
Borromeo was made
protonotary apostolic, entrusted with both the public and the privy seal of the ecclesiastical state, and created cardinal with the administration of
Romagna and the
March of Ancona, and the supervision of the
Franciscans, the
Carmelites and the
Knights of Malta.
Archbishop of Milan
He was thus at the age of twenty-two, practically the leading statesman of the papal court. Soon afterwards he was raised to the
archbishopric of Milan. In compliance with the pope's desire, he lived in great splendor. He established an academy of learned persons (
Academy of the Vatican Nights) and published their memoirs as the
Noctes Vaticanae.
About the same time he also founded and endowed a college at
Pavia, today known as
Almo Collegio Borromeo, which he dedicated to Saint
Justina of Padua, virgin and martyr. On the death of his elder brother Federigo, he was advised to quit the church and marry, that his family might not become extinct.
He declined the proposal, however, and became henceforward still more fervent in his exercise of piety and zeal for the welfare of the church. Owing to his influence over Pius IV, he facilitated the final deliberations of the
Council of Trent, and he took a large share in the drawing up of the
Tridentine Catechism (
Catechismus Romanus).
After the death of his uncle, Pius IV
On the death of Pius IV (1566), the skill and diligence of Borromeo contributed materially to suppressing the cabals of the
conclave. Subsequently he devoted himself wholly to the reformation of his diocese, which had fallen into an unsatisfactory condition owing to the prolonged absences of its previous archbishops. He made a series of pastoral visits, and restored decency and dignity to divine service.
In conformity with the decrees of the
Council of Trent, he cleared the cathedral of its ornate tombs, rich ornaments, banners, arms, sparing not even the monuments of his own relatives. He divided the nave of the church into two compartments for the separation of the sexes.
He extended his reforms to the collegiate churches (even to the
fraternities of penitents and particularly that of
St. John the Baptist), and to the monasteries.
The great abuses which had overrun the church at this time arose principally from the ignorance of the clergy. Borromeo, therefore, established seminaries, colleges and communities for the education of candidates for holy orders. The most remarkable, perhaps, of his foundations was the fraternity of the
Oblates, a society whose members were pledged to give aid to the church when and where it might be required.
He further paved the way for the
Golden (or Borromean) League formed in 1586 by the Swiss Catholic cantons of
Switzerland to expel heretics if necessary by armed force.
In 1576, when
Milan was visited by the
plague, he went about giving directions for accommodating the sick and burying the dead, avoiding no danger and sparing no expense. He visited all the neighboring parishes where the contagion raged, distributing money, providing accommodation for the sick, and punishing those, especially the clergy, who were remiss in discharging their duties.
Controversy and last days
He met with much opposition to his reforms. The governor of the province, and many of the senators, apprehensive that the cardinals' ordinances and proceedings would encroach upon the civil jurisdiction, addressed remonstrances and complaints to the courts of
Rome and
Madrid.
But Borromeo had more formidable difficulties to struggle with, in the staunch opposition of several religious orders, particularly that of the
Humiliati (Brothers of Humility). Some members of that society formed a conspiracy against his life, and a shot was fired at him in the archiepiscopal chapel under circumstances which led to the belief that his escape was miraculous.
The number of his enemies was increased by his successful attack on his
Jesuit confessor,
Ribera, who with other members of the college of Milan was found to be guilty of unnatural offenses. Borromeo's manifold labors and austerities appear to have shortened his life. He was seized with an intermittent fever, and died at Milan on
4 November,
1584. He was canonized in
1610, and his feast is celebrated on
4 November.
Legacy
Besides the
Noctes Vaticanae, to which he appears to have contributed, the only literary relics of this intrepid and zealous reformer are some homilies, discourses and sermons, with a collection of letters.
His sermons have been translated into many languages. Contrary to his last wishes, a memorial was erected to him in
Duomo di Milano, as well as a statue 20 m high on the hill above Arona, by his admirers who regarded him as the leader of a
Counter-Reformation. The famous church of
San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane in Rome is dedicated in his honour.
His nephew,
Federico Borromeo (1564-1631), was archbishop of Milan from 1595, and in 1609 founded the
Ambrosian Library in that city.
His emblem is the Latin word
humilitas (humility), which is a portion of the Borromeo shield. He is usually represented in art in his dearth's robes, barefoot, carrying the cross as archbishop; a rope round his neck, one hand raised in blessing, thus recalling his work during the plague.
Veneration
Devotion to him as a saint was at once shown and gradually grew. The Milanese kept his anniversary as though he were already
canonized. Then materials were collected for his canonization, and processes were begun at Milan, Pavia, Bologna and other places. In 1604 the cause was sent to the
Congregation of Rites. On
1 November 1610,
Pope Paul V canonized Charles Borromeo. Three years later, he added his feast to the
Roman Catholic calendar of saints for celebration on
4 November, which is still his feast.
The position which Charles held in Europe was indeed a very remarkable one. The mass of correspondence both to and by him testifies to the way in which his opinion was sought. The popes under whom he lived sought his advice. The Catholic sovereigns of Europe,
Henry III of France,
Philip II of Spain,
Mary Queen of Scots and others showed how they valued his influence. His brother cardinals have written in praise of his virtues. Cardinal Valerio of Verona said of him that he was to the well-born a pattern of virtue, to his brother cardinals an example of true nobility.
Cardinal Baronius styled him "a second Ambrose, whose early death, lamented by all good men, inflicted great loss on the Church".
Catholics in England late in the sixteenth or at the beginning of the seventeenth century circulated some life of St. Charles in England. Doubtless some knowledge of him had been brought to England by
Saint Edmund Campion, a Jesuit who visited him at Milan in 1580 on his way to England, stopped with him some eight days, and conversed with him every day after dinner. Charles had much to do with England in the days of his assistance to Pius IV, and he'd a great veneration for the portrait of
Bishop Fisher.
Charles also had much to do with
Francis Borgia, General of the
Jesuits, and with
Andrew Avellino of the
Theatines, who gave great help to his work in Milan.
Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo in
Carmel-by-the-Sea, California was named for Charles, as was the city of
Saint Charles, Missouri. There are Roman Catholic schools and parishes named for him in
Paisley,
Scotland;
Staten Island,
New York;
Port Charlotte, Florida;
San Francisco, California;
Columbus, Ohio;
Lima, Ohio;
Pikesville, Maryland,
Arlington, Virginia,
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Ryde, New South Wales Australia and in
Cebu City,
Philippines. The
University of San Carlos in
Cebu City,
Philippines and the seminary of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania are both named after him.
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