Our Patron Saint

OVERVIEW

The parish is named for St. Charles Borromeo, made Archbishop of Milan at the age of 22 by his uncle, Pope Pius IV. St. Charles insisted on living a simple life and did so in great piety and humility despite his personal wealth and the temptations of the society in which he lived. He was dedicated to helping the poor and founded several hospitals, seminaries and schools.


AN IN-DEPTH LOOK AT OUR PATRON SAINT


BIRTH AND EARLY LIFE

Holiness exemplified the life of St. Charles Borromeo. St. Charles was born on October 2, 1538 in a small town named Arona along the shores of Lake Maggiore, Italy. He was the third of six children born to Count Gilberto Borromeo and Margherita de’ Medici Borromeo and was raised in the family-owned castle. His mother was a devout Christian and raised the children with a solid foundation of the Catholic faith: teaching and engraving upon their hearts how to lead a holy life [1] .
The Borromeo family was one of the oldest noble families living in Italy. Being from a noble family it was possible for St. Charles to attend school and received his tonsure (the preliminary act to become a priest or monk) at the age of twelve. [2] He graduated from the University of Pavia, Milan, Italy, in 1559 with a doctorate in civil and canon law. Upon graduation Cardinal Giovanni Angelo de’Medici, his uncle, took the name Pope Pius IV and summoned young St. Charles to Rome to become Cardinal Secretary of State. The office of Secretary of State required St. Charles to be skilled as a diplomat. His duties included being the administrator of all the Papal States. He was later appointed Archbishop of his beloved city, Milan.

It was the sudden death of his older brother Frederick Borromeo, in 1562 that prompted St. Charles to retreat to a Jesuit monastery and consult his spiritual confessor, Father Battista Ribera, S.J. St. Charles writes, “This blow is so terrible. …that no human consideration can console me.” [3] He was secretly ordained by Cardinal Cesi and celebrated his first Mass in St. Peter’s Cathedral, Rome, at the Alter of the Confession, on the Feast of the Assumption, August 15, 1563. [4] He was consecrated bishop in the Sistine Chapel on the Feast of St. Ambrose, Dec. 7, 1563.


COUNCIL OF TRENT AND CHURCH REFORMS

Pope Pius IV reconvened the Council of Trent in 1562 (was first convened in 1545) to discuss the issues raised by the Protestant Reformation. He appointed St. Charles to organize the historic meeting and to participate in the discussion about how the Council would institute ecclesiastical reform. The Council of Trent was convened “for the glory of God, for the advance and exaltation of the Christian faith, for the extirpation of heresies, for peace and unity of the church, for the reform of the clergy and Christian people, and for the confusion of the enemies of the Christian name.” [5] The reforms included a need for better supervision, education, and ecclesiastical discipline among clergy, monasteries, and convents; establishment of schools for the poor; establishment of the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine; to publish a catechism of the Church; and to revise the Missal, Breviary and church music. [6]


ARCHBISHOP OF MILAN, ITALY

In 1565, St. Charles petitioned and was granted permission by his uncle, Pope Pius IV, to reside and lead his flock in Milan, Italy, where he was the first resident Archbishop in over eighty years. From Milan, St. Charles went to work vigorously implementing reforms in his diocese promulgated at the Council of Trent. When parishes or religious communities lacked the necessary resources to institute the reforms, St. Charles provided for their needs personally. The reforms began in his house and among his own servants. St. Charles strictly forbade his servants from accepting presents from anyone and they were required to read pious books or the lives of the saints. [7]

As for St. Charles himself, he went to confession weekly and before he said daily Mass. One day, during the distribution of Holy Communion, he dropped a piece of the Consecrated Host, and for penance, he fasted for four days. St. Charles recited the Rosary while riding his mule to visit his parishes. He advocated walking or working in the Divine Presence as a means to attain Christian virtue and holiness. St. Charles displayed an extraordinary devotion to Mary, the Mother of God, St. Ambrose, the Sacraments of the Church, and holy relics. His austerities included wearing a rough hair shirt against his body. “He excelled herein appears by his humility, meekness, and entire disengagement from all earthly things.” [8] He had a love of poverty and for his enemies. The austere life he led inspired religious and lay people alike to follow the teachings of the church.


EFFORTS TO ESTABLISH LASTING CHURCH REFORMS

Not all of the reforms from the Council of Trent were eagerly embraced by the people of the day. The institution of some of the reforms resulted in two noteworthy assassination attempts on St. Charles’ life. First, members of the pious lay and religious order named the Humiliati were ordered by St. Charles to establish reforms and accept new disciplinary measures. For example, St. Charles had determined that the members had abandoned all spiritual worthiness (under the rule of St. Bernard), lived a secular and material existence, accepted money from the local farmers, and used the pretense of leading holy lives only to be determined to be unfit. [9] Previous Popes had attempted to establish lasting reforms but failed. In October 1569, while St. Charles was kneeling in prayer with other people from the local community, Gerolamo Donato (commonly known as Farina), a priest from the Humiliati Order, fired a shot at the back of St. Charles, which glanced off. Farina and three accomplices were found, tried, and condemned to death; however St. Charles forgave them and mitigated for their release. He was only successful in releasing one man named, Nassino, who was imprisoned for five years for his role in the assassination attempt.

In another attempt on his life, St. Charles was visiting the collegiate Church of St. Mary della Scala, located in Milan, Italy. [10] Members of the collegiate did not recognize the episcopal authority vested in St. Charles, as the Archbishop by the Pope because the religious members did not recognize the validity of the Council of Trent, and prevented any interference from the Archbishop’s authority. St. Charles made a pastoral visitation to the Church and was attacked at the entrance of the church. St. Charles wrote, “…I saw my attendants who had entered the gate of the cemetery were thrust back by various persons with arms and in other ways. Then I decided to dismount, took the crosier in my hand and was able with great difficulty to get a little way inside. But when I had thus entered, many swords were drawn against me. The procurator was in their midst. All rushed toward me with arms, outcries, and other scandalous uproar. They forced me out.” [11] The cross in his hand was damaged. As he stepped into the doors of the church, St. Charles issued a sentence of excommunication.

Rome was informed of the disastrous turn of events and the ecclesiastical membership was ordered to be punished. Six months later, the religious proceeded to the Cathedral of Milan, presented themselves on their knees to St. Charles in repentance, where he absolved them of their sins. St. Charles did impose, as reparation for their sins, an order for them to present themselves annually to him for ten successive years as an act of submission to the Archbishop’s authority.


GOD’S GRACE OF CHARITY, HUMILITY, AND LOVE

His charity and zeal for the love of God’s people, the Milanese, was greatly tested during two great events, which allowed the people to understand that St. Charles emulated the life of Christ, through His Holy Church. The great famine of 1570 and the outbreak of the plague in 1576 were two of the most demanding events during St. Charles’ reign as Archbishop. After leading civil servants evacuated the town during the famine of 1570, St. Charles immense family wealth supplied food for 3000 people every day for three months, offered assistance to convents, poor houses, public hospitals, and homes. [12] In addition, he offered meaningful work by starting modernization projects in churches, convents, schools, seminaries, and hospitals. “For the relief of those that were destitute; he melted down all his plate and gave all his furniture, even his own straw bed in which he lay, taking his rest on the boards.” [13] The palace curtains were torn down and made into garments for those who had none. St. Charles reverently called upon the Grace of God to mitigate the Milanese plight with prayer, fasting, frequent reception and distribution of Holy Communion, and the other Sacraments. Calling upon Divine Mercy, St. Charles, as penance for the entire population, walked barefoot; a halter secured around his neck, carried a crucifix, and processed through the city with the relic of the Holy Nail, with tears running down his face. [14] As a response the entire city joined in his processions, attending Mass, singing hymns, and praying for forgiveness of their sins.

In 1576 a violent plague gripped the city of Milan and lasted until January, 1578. St. Charles made personal visits to the plague stricken victims in their homes and in the city’s poorly run, unsanitary, and understaffed public hospital called the Lazzaretto. [15] Plague victims sent to the Lazzaretto were assured of dying a terrible and painful death because physicians and staff refused to treat them. St. Charles protested to the authorities about this treatment of the sick and dying and was allowed to bring priests in to offer help, absolution, and last rites. Many priests arrived in Milan for the purpose of serving the plague victims, their families, and the dying. Fra Paolo Bellintano, a humble Capuchin friar, came to St. Charles’ aid and became the Lazzaretto’s Superintendent. He entered the dying patient’s rooms, heard their aliments, relayed them to the doctors standing outside the patient’s window, and would prescribe treatment. Because the Lazzaretto could not support all of the dying victims, St. Charles personally purchased six other properties to care for the victims. Temporary alters were erected on street corners at the request of St. Charles. Homebound victims received Holy Communion from their windows from priests who would climb on ladders. [16]

Once the plague was over, the temporary alters were torn down and crosses were erected to remind future generations of God’s Mercy. Many wealthy people gave a portion of their riches to help the poor. Milan was spiritually transformed because of St. Charles Borromeo’s acts of piety, humility, love of God, and people of Milan. He ordered church bells to be rung every morning and night so that the people would be recalled to prayer. Thousands were sponsored by the Archbishop at their confirmation for example.


PATRON SAINT OF THE CLERGY
 
St. Charles is the patron saint for the clergy. Upon the closing of the Council of Trent, St. Charles opened seminaries to educate the clergy, even buying the Jesuits their own printing press. He encouraged priests to study, pray, and spiritually prepare themselves before Mass and giving sermons. Study groups were encouraged to discuss theology and doctrine. [17] He even imposed severe penalties upon those priests who were lazy in the execution of their priestly duties.
 

PATRON SAINT OF THE ARTS

St. Charles was educated in the fine arts and music. He considered sacred art to be holy and encouraged skilled artists to decorate churches, monasteries, and convents. Music was also important part of the sacred liturgy. He wrote, “Wherever there is sufficient number of clerics, it would be well to chant the psalms and litanies with some ineligible and devout music to arouse greater devotion among the people.”[18] Orsenigo concludes that art opens, “the heart to nobler aspirations for good and thus nourishes that insatiable desire for moral beauty, which is the soul of art.” [19]
 

PATRON SAINT OF LEARNING
 
St. Charles spent as much time as possible reading his many books, especially Holy Scripture. The Ambrosian Library was dedicated to all of St. Charles manuscripts and books, and the founder of the library was St. Charles’ nephew, Cardinal Frederico Borromeo, his brother’s only son who was ordained a priest shortly after the Archbishop’s death in 1578. The purpose of the Ambrosian Library is to further scholarly research in art history, and religion. The name of the library stems from the fact that St. Charles, in 1578, founded a society of secular priests called the Oblates of St. Ambrose (later changed to the Oblates of St. Charles Borromeo). [20]
 

DEATH OF ST. CHARLES BORROMEO
 
St. Charles Borromeo died in Milan, Italy, November 3, 1584, from complications of an infection and a fever. He suffered from erysipelas, an acute bacterial skin infection of the leg. [21] “His piety became more fervent, his prayers interminable, his penances more severe, his zeal for the reform of his people more ardent, his exhortations to the clergy more frequent.” [22] As he lay dying, he wore a penitential shirt with ashes sprinkled on it, perhaps to remind himself of his body returning to the earth. Father Adorno, S.J., St, Charles’ spiritual director, held the crucifix in front of St. Charles in order for him to pray silently as he lay dying. Soon after the Sacrament of Extreme Unction (Last rites), was administered to St. Charles he died.
 

CANONIZATION EFFORTS
 
Veneration of his body began immediately after his death because he was considered a living saint among the Milanese population. Pilgrimages also began and many miracles were credited to St. Charles’ intersession. Canonization efforts were started in 1585, one year after his death. At his death the Archdiocese of Milan recorded 740 schools of Christian Doctrine, with over 40,000 enrolled; 556 confraternities of the Most Blessed Sacrament; 24 Welfare organizations helping 100,000 poor people; new hospitals for the orphaned, widowed, sick, aged, mentally ill, and destitute. [23] Cardinal Bellermine said, “Because of the doctrine of Christ is nothing else than the love of God and neighbor, contempt of the world and self, it can be said that St. Charles in his entire life and in all particulars of his life was a confessor of the doctrine of Christ. [24] On November 4, 1610, Pope Paul V, celebrated Mass in honor of St. Charles Borromeo’s canonization in the Cathedral of Milan, and the entire city celebrated. His body lay in state at the Cathedral. In 1683, King Philip IV of Spain, donated a silver and crystal coffin which now holds his venerable body. [25] A cross made of gold was given by Maria Theresa of Austria which now rests in his hands.
 

LEGACY

Today there are hundreds of Catholic Schools named after St. Charles Borromeo in the United States. Catholics around the world celebrate and honor his feast day (November 4th). The Catholic Church also honors his holiness, love of God, piety, humility, and devotion. Many Catholic charity organizations, schools, and religious education efforts can trace their origins to St. Charles Borromeo. His family crest and his tomb depict the word “Humiliati” (Humility), and Catholic Christians around the world, especially in his beloved city of Milan, Italy, can be proud and emulate the holy virtues St. Charles possessed for the Glory of God. Amen.


REFERENCES
[1] Orsenigo, Cesare, Most Reverend, Life of St. Charles Borromeo, B. Herder Book Company, St. Louis, MO, 1943., p. 9-10
[2] Morris, William, Editor, The American heritage Dictionary of the English Language, American heritage Publishing Co., Inc., New York, 1973.
[3] Orsenigo, Cesare, Most Reverend, Life of St. Charles Borromeo, B. Herder Book Company, St. Louis, MO, 1943., p. 35.
[4] Ibid. p 36.
[5] Ibid. p.58.
[6] [6] Heraty, Jack and Associates, Inc., New Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume III, Reprinted, Catholic University of America, 1967 and reprinted 1981, p. 115.
[7] Eternal Word Television Network, Irondale AL, www.etwn.com, page 11
[8] Ibid. p. 7.
[9] Orsenigo, Cesare, Most Reverend, Life of St. Charles Borromeo, B. Herder Book Company, St. Louis, MO, 1943., p. 124.
[10] Knight, Kevin, The Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. III, Robert Appleton Co., Copyright 1908, Online Edition, 1999, p. 14.
[11] Ibid. p. 129
[12] Ibid. p. 241.
[13] Eternal Word Television Network, Irondale AL, www.etwn.com, p.15
[14] Knight, Kevin, The Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. III, Robert Appleton Co., Copyright 1908, Online Edition, 1999, p. 5.
[15] Orsenigo, Cesare, Most Reverend, Life of St. Charles Borromeo, B. Herder Book Company, St. Louis, MO, 1943., p. 245.
[16] Ibid. p. 248.