Saint Charles Borromeo Bishop Franciscan Tertiary



Carlos Borromeo developed enormous activity to reform the Church from within, fight against Protestantism and spread the catechism, especially among the youngest. Therefore, he is the patron saint of catechists.

A member of a very rich and influential family, he renounced his possessions and was always at the disposal of the faithful of his diocese, because, as Pope Francis said in 2016, “he wanted pastors to be servants of God and fathers of the people, in especially, of the poor.”

Son of Gilberto Borromeo and Margaret de' Medici, he was born in the castle of Arona, next to Lake Maggiore, on October 2, 1538. At the age of 12, his uncle, Julius Caesar Borromeo gave him the Benedictine abbey of San Gracián and San Felino, in Arona. Then, little Charles warned his father that the abbey's income should not be applied to secular expenses.

Despite the difficulties that his teachers attributed to him, he progressed in his studies in Milan and at the University of Pavia. At the age of 22 he obtained the degree of doctor in civil and ecclesiastical laws. By then he had lost his father and mother, and had to return to Milan. There, in 1559, he learned that his uncle, Cardinal de' Medici, had been elected Pope and adopted the name Pius IV.
The new Pope had Charles as his favorite nephew. He created him a cardinal deacon at the age of 22 and appointed him administrator of the bishopric of Milan, but retained him in Rome to entrust him with other positions. In fact, he became Pius IV's secretary of state.

Thanks to his enormous work capacity, he fulfilled everything entrusted to him and, in addition, founded a literary academy in the Vatican made up of clerics and laymen, some of whose conferences and works were published under the title Noctes Vaticanae.

Many thought that he was going to abandon his religious duties, but Carlos did the opposite. He renounced his rights in favor of his uncle Julio and, in 1563, in Santa María Maggiore, he received the habits of a priest. Shortly afterwards, in the Sistine Chapel, he was consecrated archbishop of Milan.

The see of Milan needed a bishop and in 1565, the Pope authorized Charles to take charge of it. Returning to the city, he implemented the observance of what was decreed at the Council of Trent on the discipline and training of the clergy, the celebration of the offices and the teaching of the catechism.
He spent some time in Rome, to say his last goodbye to Pius IV. Then, the new pontiff, Pius V, asked him to continue as a Vatican official, but Charles asked him to let him return to Milan and the Pope accepted. In this way, starting in 1556, he continued working on the reform of a diocese, which had fallen into abandonment at a time of crisis for the Church affected by the advance of Protestantism.

To strengthen the Church, Carlos created the Brotherhood of Christian Doctrine, which had 740 schools, 3,000 catechists and 40,000 students. In 1578, he founded a congregation of secular priests, the Oblates of Saint Ambrose (current Oblates of Saint Ambrose and Saint Charles).

On his travels to the Alpine valleys, where corruption of the clergy reigned, he preached and replaced unworthy priests with others capable of resisting Protestantism.

These efforts earned him opposition from the Humiliati (“humiliated”), an order that had apparently accepted his orders. However, one of his priests, in 1569, shot him almost at point-blank range. The archbishop of Milan was miraculously unharmed. One of his best-known miracles was curing Duke Charles of Savoy, who was dying in Vercelli. As soon as he entered his room, the duke exclaimed: “I am cured!”

But around 1584, Carlos Borromeo himself began to suffer serious health problems. After making his annual retreat in Monte Varallo, he returned to Milan on All Souls' Day. He died on November 4 of that year. Pope Paul V declared him a saint in 1610.

He was born in Arona (Lombardy, Italy) in 1538, into a noble and pious family. He embraced ecclesiastical life as a young boy and, after finishing his studies in Pavia, his maternal uncle, Pope Pius IV, called him to Rome and created him a cardinal, making him Secretary of State. To the extent possible, he promoted the completion of the Council of Trent and the implementation of its decrees. Elected archbishop of Milan in 1565, he was a true shepherd of souls. He carried out great legislative, organizational, pastoral, liturgical and devotional work. He toured the entire diocese many times, convened synods, decreed many provisions aimed at the training of the clergy and the reform of customs, in order to carry out the pastoral ordinations of the Council of Trent. He founded seminaries and built hospitals and hospices. He used his family's wealth to help the poor. He died in Milan on November 3, 1584.

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