November IV

Saint Charles Borromeo, Cardinal

archbishop of milan, and confessor

His life was originally and accurately written by three eminent persons, who had all had the happiness of living some time with him; by two in Latin, Austin Valerio, afterwards cardinal and bishop of Veron, and Charles Bascap, or a Basilic S. Petri, general of the Barnabites, afterwards bishop of Novara; and more in detail in Italian, by Peter Giussano, a priest of the Congregation of the Oblates at Milan. Many others have since compiled lives of this saint, principally Ripamont, (who, in his history of Milan, employs eight books chiefly about St. Charles.) Ciaconius speaks of him, (In vitis Pontif. et Cardin. t. 3, p. 891,) and the eloquent Godeau, bishop of Venice, who wrote the life of this saint at the request of the French clergy, to whom he dedicated that performance, which is less useful than that of Giussano, because the history of public transactions leaves too little room for a just detail of the saint’s private actions and virtues, in which his spirit chiefly shines. See also Vagliano. Sommario delle vite degli arcivescovi di Milano, in Milano, an. 1715, c. 126, p. 340; and his life by John Baptist. Possevini, priest of Mantua. Likewise Lettera di Agata Sfondrata, priora di S. Paolo in Milano alla priora de Angeliche di S. Marta di Cremona, per la morte di San Carlo. Inter sermones S. Caroli per Saxium, t. 5, p. 292. Lades S. Carolo tribut, ib. p. 299; and Oltrocchi, Not. in Giuss., printed at Milan, 1751.

a. d. 1584.

St. Charles Borromeo, the model of pastors, and the reformer of ecclesiastical discipline in these degenerate ages, was son of Gilbert Borromeo count of Arona, and his lady, Margaret of Medicis, sister to John James of Medicis, marquis of Marignan, and of Cardinal John Angelus of Medicis, afterwards Pope Pius IV. The family of Borromeo is one of the most ancient in Lombardy, and has been famous for several great men, both in the church and state. The saint’s parents were remarkable for their discretion and piety. Count Gilbert behaved in such a manner in the wars between the French and Spaniards in Lombardy, as to preserve the favor of both courts; and the Emperor Charles V., when he was left in quiet possession of the dutchy of Milan, made him senator of the city and colonel, and honored him with other considerable posts. The count was so pious that he communicated every Sunday, said every day the office of the church on his knees, and often shut himself up for many hours together, in a little retired chapel which he made in the castle of Arona, where, covered with sackcloth, in the habit of a penitent, he spent a considerable part of his time alone at his devotions. By much praying his knees became hard and brawny. He was a tender father to all his tenants and vassals, took care of all orphans, and was so charitable that his friends often told him he injured his children. To whom he made answer: “If I have care of the poor, God will have care of my children.” It was a custom with him never to take any meal without first giving some alms. His abstemiousness and rigorous fasts were not less remarkable than his charities. The countess was by her pious deportment a living rule to all the ladies in Milan, and to cut off all dangerous visits scarce ever went out of doors but to some church or monastery. Their family consisted of six children, Count Frederic, who afterwards married the sister of the Duke of Urbino, and our saint, and four daughters; Isabel, who became a nun in the monastery called of the Virgins in Milan, Camilla, married to Csar Gonzaga, prince of Malfetto, Jeronima, married to Fabricio Gesualdi, eldest son to the Prince of Venosa; and Anne married to Fabricio, eldest sort of Mark-Antony Colonna, a Roman prince and viceroy of Sicily. All these children were very virtuous: Anne though engaged in the world, imitated all the religious exercises and austerities of her brother Charles, prayed many hours together with a recollection that astonished every one; and in order to increase the fund of her excessive charities, retrenched every superfluous expense in her table, clothes, and housekeeping. By her virtue, and the saintly education of her children, she was the admiration of all Italy and Sicily, and died at Palermo in 1582.

St. Charles was born on the 2d of October, in 1538, in the castle of Arona, upon the borders of Lake-Major,^* fourteen miles from Milan. The saint in his infancy gave proofs of his future sanctity, loved prayer, was from the beginning very diligent in his studies; and it was his usual amusement to build little chapels, adorn altars, and sing the divine office. By his happy inclination to piety and love of ecclesiastical functions, his parents judged him to be designed by God for the clerical state, and initiated him in it as soon as his age would allow him to receive the tonsure. This destination was the saint’s earnest choice; and though by the canons he was not yet capable of taking upon him an irrevocable obligation, both he and his father were far from the sacrilegious abuse of those who determine their children, or make choice of the inheritance of Christ, with a view merely to temporal interest, or the convenience of their family. Charles was careful, even in his childhood, that the gravity of his dress and his whole conduct should be such as became the sanctity of his profession. When he was twelve years old, his uncle, Julius Csar Borromeo, resigned to him the rich Benedictin abbey of SS. Gratinian and Felin, martyrs, in the territory of Arona, which had been long enjoyed by some clergymen of that family in commendam. St. Charles, as young as he was, put his father in mind, that the revenue, except what was expended on his necessary education at his studies, for the service of the church, was the patrimony of the poor, and could not be applied to any other uses, or blended with his other money. The father wept for joy at the pious solicitude of the child; and though during his son’s nonage the administration of the revenues was committed to him, he gave this up to the young saint that he might himself dispose of the overplus in alms; which he did with the most scrupulous fidelity in his accounts St. Charles learned Latin and humanity at Milan, and was afterwards sent by his father to the university of Pavia, where he studied the civil and canon law under Francis Alciat, the eminent civilian, who was afterwards promoted, by St. Charles’s interest, to the dignity of cardinal, and who had then succeeded in the professorship to Andrew Alciat, whom De Thou commends for banishing barbarism of style out of the schools and writings of lawyers. In a judicious course of the canon law, the articles of our holy faith and the condemnation of heresies are expounded, and often a fuller resolution of practical cases, and of Christian duties, enforced, not only from the canons, but also from scriptures, tradition, and the law of nature or reason, than is found in courses of moral theology; and this study, which presupposes some acquaintance with the civil or imperial law, is of great importance for the care of souls, especially in the chief pastors. St. Charles, though on account of an impediment in his speech, and his love of silence, was by some esteemed slow, yet by the soundness of his judgment, and a diligent application, made good progress in it. And the prudence, piety, and strictness of his conduct rendered him a model of the youth in the university, and proof against evil company, and all other dangers which he watchfully shunned. Such was the corruption of that place that several snares were laid for his virtue; but prayer and retirement were his arms against all assaults, and the grace of God carried him through difficulties which seemed almost insurmountable. He communicated every eight days, after the example of his father; and shunned all connections or visits which could interrupt his regular exercises, or hours of retirement: yet was he very obliging to all who desired to speak to him. His father’s death brought him to Milan in 1558: but when he had settled the affairs of his family with surprising prudence and address, he went back to Pavia, and after completing his studies took the degree of doctor in the laws towards the end of the year 1559.

A little before this, his uncle, the cardinal of Medicis, resigned to him another abbey and priory; but the saint made no addition to his private expenses, so that the poor were the only gainers by this increase of his fortune. It was only with a view to the foundation of a college at Pavia that he accepted these benefices. When he had taken the degree of doctor he returned to Milan, where he soon after received news that his uncle, the cardinal of Medicis, by whom he was tenderly beloved, was chosen pope on the 25th of December in 1559, in the conclave held after the death of Paul IV. The new pope being a patrician of Milan, that city made extraordinary rejoicings, and complimented his two nephews in the most pompous and solemn manner. St. Charles gave no signs of joy on the occasion; but only persuaded his brother Frederic to go with him to confession and communion; which they did. Count Frederic went to Rome to compliment his holiness; but St. Charles stayed at Milan, living in the same manner he did before, till his uncle sent for him, and on the last day of the same year created him cardinal, and on the 8th of February following nominated him archbishop of Milan, when he was in the twenty-third year of his age. The pope, however, detained him at Rome, placed him at the head of the consult or council, with power to sign in his name all requests, and intrusted him with the entire administration of the ecclesiastical state. St. Charles endeavored as much as possible to decline these posts, and absolutely refused the camerlingate, the second and most lucrative dignity in the Roman court; but after he was made priest, he accepted the office of grand penitentiary, wherein he was to labor for God and the people. He was also legate of Bologna, Romaniola, and the marquisate of Ancona, and protector of Portugal, the Low Countries, the Catholic cantons of Switzerland, and the orders of St. Francis, the Carmelites, the Knights of Malta, and others. By the entire confidence which his uncle reposed in him, he may be said to have governed the church during his pontificate; and as he received from him daily the most sensible tokens of the strongest and most sincere affection, so, full of the most tender sentiments of gratitude, he constantly made him the best return of duty, tenderness, and affection, he was able, and studied by his fidelity and diligence in all affairs to be to him a firm support, and to ease and comfort him in all difficulties and perplexities. The sole end which he proposed to himself in all his actions and undertakings, was the glory of God and the good of his church: and nothing was more admirable in him than his perfect disinterestedness, and the little regard he had for the most pressing human considerations. For fear of ever deceiving himself, he had about him several persons of approved wisdom and virtue, without whose advice he took no resolution, and to whom he listened with great humility and prudence. In the government of the ecclesiastical state he was very careful that provisions should be everywhere plentiful and cheap, and that all judges and magistrates should be persons of consummate prudence and inflexible integrity. His patience in bearing contradictions and hearing the complaints of persons of all ranks, was a proof of his sincere charity. It is incredible what a multiplicity of business he dispatched without ever being in a hurry, merely by the dint of unwearied application, by his a version to idle amusements, and being regular and methodical in all that he did. He always found time, in the first place, for his devotions and sacred studies, and for conversing with himself by reflection and pious reading. He read also some of the ancient Stoic philosophers, and reaped much benefit from the Enchyridion of Epictetus, as he frequently expressed. He was a great patron of learning, and promoted exceedingly all its useful branches among the clergy; and among other establishments for this end, having also in view to banish idleness out of the pope’s court, he instituted in the Vatican an academy of clergymen and seculars whose conferences and studies tended to enforce the practice of virtue, and to promote sacred learning.^* This academy produced many bishops and cardinals, and one pope, who was Gregory XIII. By the conferences which St. Charles made in this public assembly, he, with much difficulty, overcame a natural bashfulness, and a great imperfection in his speech when he harangued, and he acquired a habit of delivering himself slowly and distinctly, by which he qualified himself to preach the word of God with dignity and fruit: the object of his most earnest desires.¹ To fashion and perfect his style he read diligently the philosophical works of Cicero, in which he took great delight.²

St. Charles judged it so far necessary to conform to the custom of the court as to have a magnificent palace well furnished, to keep a sumptuous equipage, and a table suitable to his rank, and to give entertainments. Yet he was in his heart most perfectly disengaged from all these things, most mortified in his senses, humble, meek, and patient, in all his conduct Honored and caressed by the whole Christian world, having in his power the distribution of riches and honors, and enjoying himself whatever the world could bestow, he considered in all this nothing but dangers; and far from taking any delight herein, watched with trembling over his own heart lest any subtle poison of the love of the world should insinuate itself, and in all things sought only the establishment of the kingdom of God. Many are converted to God by adversity; but St. Charles, in the softest gale of prosperity, by taking a near view of the emptiness, and arming himself against the snares of the world, became every day more and more disentangled from it, and more an inhabitant of heaven. He sighed after the liberty of the saints, and trembled at the sight both of the dangers, and of the obligations of his situation; he also considered that obedience to the chief pastor fixed him for a time at a distance from the church of Milan, the charge of which he had taken upon himself. And though he had provided for its government and the remedying of its disorders in the best manner he was able, by excellent regulations, by a suffragan bishop named Jerom Ferragata, (whom he sent thither to make the visitation and to officiate in his place,) and by a vicar-general of great experience, learning, and piety, called Nicholas Ormanetto, (who had formerly been grand-vicar of Verona, had afterwards attended cardinal Pole in his legation in England, and been there his chief assistant, and after his return would take upon him no other charge but that of a single curacy in the diocese of Verona,) yet St. Charles considered the duty of personal service and residence; neither did the command of the pope, by which he was obliged to attend for some time the government of the universal church for a greater good and necessity, make him easy.

It happened that Bartholomew de Martyribus, the most pious and learned archbishop of Braga, came from Trent to Rome to wait upon his holiness. To him as to a faithful servant of God, enlightened by him, and best able to direct others in perplexing circumstances, the saint opened his heart, in the manner following: “For this long time I have begged of God, with all the earnestness I am able, to enlighten me with regard to the state in which I live. You see my condition. You know what it is to be a pope’s nephew, and a nephew most tenderly beloved by him: nor are you ignorant what it is to live in the court of Rome. The dangers which encompass me are infinite. I see a great number; and there are a great many more which I do not discern. What then ought I to do, young as I am, and without experience; and having no part or ingredient of virtue but through the divine grace, an earnest desire of obtaining it?” The holy cardinal proceeded to explain his difficulties and fears; then added: “God has inspired me with a vehement ardor for penance, and an earnest desire to prefer his fear and my salvation to all things: and I have some thoughts of breaking my bonds, and retiring into some monastery, there to live as if there were only God and myself in the world.” This he said with an amiable sincerity which charmed the director who, after a short pause, cleared all his doubts, assuring him by solid reasons, that he ought not to quit his hold of the helm which God put into his hands for the necessary and most important service of the universal church, his uncle being very old; but that he ought to contrive means to attend his own church as soon as God should open him a way to it. St. Charles rising up embraced him, and said God had sent him thither for his sake, and that his words had removed a heavy weight from his heart: and he begged that God, who by his grace had shown him the station in which it was his will that he should labor in his service, would vouchsafe to support him in it by his divine grace.³ The Chrysostoms, the Austins, and the Gregories trembled at the charge of one soul, a burden which would appear dreadful even to angels: he who does not tremble is undone by his presumption. This fear makes the pastor humble, solicitous, always watchful, and earnest in prayer. But this distrust of himself is no longer humility, but abjection and pusillanimity, if it weakens the necessary confidence he ought to have in God, when called to undertake any thing for his glory. He chooses the weak and the things that are not, to confound and beat down the wise and the strong. I can do all things in him who strengthens me, said the apostle. In the same sentiments St. Charles spared not himself, but humbly having continual recourse to God, did wonders for the advancement of his honor.

In November, 1562, the saint’s elder and only brother was carried off in the bloom of life and the most flourishing fortune, by a sudden fever. St. Charles, who had never forsaken him during his illness, bore his death, which overwhelmed all other friends with consternation and grief, with surprising resignation; the sentiments of a lively faith being stronger in him than those of flesh and blood. In profound recollection he adored the decrees of Providence, and was penetrated more seriously than ever with a sense of eternity, and of the instability of human things. All his friends, and the pope himself, pressed him to resign his ecclesiastical dignities, and marry to support his family: but more effectually to rid himself of their solicitations, he made more haste to engage himself in orders, and was ordained priest before the end of that year. The pope soon after created him grand-penitentiary, and arch-priest of St. Mary Major. St. Charles founded at that time the noble college of the Borromeos at Pavia, for the education of the clergy of Milan, and obtained several bulls for the reformation of many abuses in ecclesiastical discipline. The council of Trent,^* which had been often interrupted and resumed, was brought to a conclusion in 1563, the last session being held on the 5th of December, in which the decrees of all the former sessions under Paul III., Julius III., and Pius VI., were confirmed, and subscribed by two hundred and fifty-five fathers, viz.: four legates of the holy see, two cardinals, three patriarchs, twenty-five archbishops, one hundred and sixty-eight bishops, thirty-nine deputies of absent prelates seven abbots, and seven generals of religious orders. Difficulties which seemed insurmountable had been thrown in the way, sometimes by the emperor, sometimes by the king of France, sometimes by the king of Spain, or others; and it was owing to the unwearied zeal and prudence, and doubtless to the prayers of St. Charles Borromeo, that they were all happily removed; who informing the prelates and princes of his uncle’s sickness, engaged them by his pressing solicitations to hasten the close of that venerable assembly. No sooner was it finished but St. Charles began strenuously to enforce the execution of all its decrees for the reformation of discipline. At his instigation, the pope pressed earnestly all bishops to found seminaries according to the decree of the council, and set the example by establishing such a seminary at Rome, the care of which was committed to the Jesuits.⁴ In opposition to the new errors, his holiness published, in 1564, the Creed which bears his name, and commanded all who are preferred to ecclesiastical livings, dignities, &c., to subscribe the same.⁵ The council had recommended to the pope⁶ the revisal of the Missal and Breviary; likewise the composition of a catechism. To compile this last work Charles detained at Rome for some time F. Francisco Foreiro, a very learned and pious Dominican, who had attended the council in quality of theologian from the king of Portugal. Foreiro was assisted in this work by Leonardus Marini, archbishop of Lanciano, and Giles Forscarari, bishop of Modena, all three Dominicans. The work was revised by cardinal Sirlet. Paulus Manutius is said to have corrected the style.⁷ This is the catechism called of Trent, or the Roman, or ad Parochos; which is recommended both by the erudition, exactness, and conciseness with which it is written, and by the neatness and elegance of the style, as an excellent judge and master of the Latin style observes.⁸ He says the same of the acts of the church of Milan, or St. Charles’s councils. A barbarous and half Latin language disgraces and derogates from the dignity of the sublime oracles of religion, which by the dress they wear, appear quite different things, as secretary Lucchesini elegantly shows.⁹ The Roman catechism was published in 1566.^*

St. Charles had always about him several very learned and virtuous persons. His spiritual director in Rome was F. Ribera, a learned Jesuit, and by his advice he regulated his retreats and devotions. He had the greatest confidence in F. Foreiro during the year that he detained him in Rome before he returned to Portugal; and the saint conversed much with other pious and religious men, and was assisted by some in reviewing a course of theological studies. He retrenched his retinue, discharging the greatest part of his domestics, after handsomely recompensing every one of them; he neither wore any silk, nor allowed any in his family to do it; he banished all superfluities from his house and table, fasted once a week on bread and water, and made every day two meditations of an hour. Full of tenderness for his flock, he wrote every week long and most zealous and affectionate letters to his grand-vicar, and sent some learned Jesuits thither to preach, whom he settled in the church of St. Vitus. Ormanetto began to build a seminary, published the council of Trent, held a diocesan synod, in which twelve hundred persons were assembled, and made the visitation of the churches and monasteries of the city, and part of the country. But finding it impossible to reform all abuses, he wrote to St. Charles, begging leave to return to his curacy, and representing to him that no other but himself could put things upon a proper footing. This advice pierced the good pastor to the quick, and he renewed his solicitations with his uncle with so much earnestness that he obtained leave to go to Milan, but only to hold a provincial council, and make his visitation.

King Philip II. had settled upon St. Charles a yearly pension of nine thousand crowns, and confirmed to him the gift of the principality of Oria which he had before bestowed on his elder brother, Frederic. The pope before his departure created him legate a latere through all Italy. The saint left Rome on the 1st of September in 1565, stopped some days at Bologna where he was legate, and was received at Milan with the utmost joy and pomp that can be imagined, the people calling him in their acclamations a second St. Ambrose. After having prayed a long time prostrate before the blessed sacrament in the great church, he went to his palace, and received visits, but made this necessary ceremony of civility as short as possible. On Sunday he made a pathetic sermon, and soon after opened his first provincial council, at which assisted two foreign cardinals, and eleven suffragan bishops, among whom were Bernardin Scoti, cardinal of Trani, bishop of Placentia, Guy Ferrier, bishop of Vercelli, (to whom St. Charles gave the cardinal’s hat in this council by his uncle’s deputation,) Jerom Vida, the famous bishop of Alba,^* and Nicholas Sfondrat, bishop of Cremona, afterwards pope Gregory XIV. Five suffragan bishops (of whom two were cardinals) sent deputies, being themselves hindered from making their appearance; the suffragan see of Ventimil was vacant. The dignity, majesty, and piety with which this council was celebrated by a young cardinal, only twenty-six years of age, and the excellence of its regulations for the reception and observance of the council of Trent, for the reformation of the clergy, the celebration of the divine office, the administration of the sacraments, the manner of giving catechism in all parish churches on Sundays and holydays, and many other points, surprised every one; and the pope wrote to St. Charles a letter of congratulation.¹⁰ When the council was broke up, St. Charles set about the visitation of his diocese; but went through Verona to Trent, by the pope’s orders, to receive the two sisters of the emperor Maximilian II.: Barbara, married to Alphonsus of Esti, duke of Ferrara, and Jane, married to Francis of Medicis, duke of Florence. The former he attended to Ferrara, and the latter as far as Fiorenzola in Tuscany, where he received news by an express that the pope lay dangerously ill. He hastened to Rome, and being informed by the physicians that his uncle’s life was despaired of, he went into his chamber, and showing him a crucifix which he held in his hand, said to him: “Most holy father, all your desires and thoughts ought to be turned towards heaven. Behold Jesus Christ crucified, who is the only foundation of our hope; he is our mediator and advocate; the victim and sacrifice for our sins. He is goodness and patience itself; his mercy is moved by the tears of sinners, and he never refuses pardon and grace to those who ask it with a truly contrite and humble heart.” He then conjured his holiness to grant him one favor, as the greatest he had ever received from him. The pope said, any thing in his power should be granted him. “The favor which I most earnestly beg,” said the saint, “is, that as you have but a very short time to live, you lay aside all worldly business and thoughts, and employ your strength and all your powers in thinking on your salvation, and in preparing yourself to the best of your power for your last passage.” His holiness received this tender advice with great comfort, and the cardinal gave strict orders that no one should speak to the pope upon any other subject. He continued by his uncle’s bed side to his last breath, never ceasing to dispose him for death by all the pious practices and sentiments which his charity could suggest; and administering himself the viaticum and extreme unction. Pope Pius IV. was also assisted in his last moments by St. Philip Neri, and died on the 10th of December, in 1565, being sixty-six years and nine months old, and having sat six years wanting sixteen days. His last words as he expired were: “Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace.” In the conclave, in which St. Charles had much the greatest sway, our saint’s conduct was such as convinced his colleagues that he had nothing but the glory of God and the good of the church at heart, and that the most subtle passions which so often blind men in their views, and insinuate themselves into their actions, had no place in his heart. At first he had thoughts of preferring cardinal Morone, whose moderation, zeal, and experience had recommended him at Trent, or the most pious cardinal Sirlet; but finding obstacles raised, he concurred strenuously to the promotion of St. Pius V., though he was a creature of the Caraffas, and consequently esteemed no friend to his uncle and his family. The saint in his letter to Cardinal Henry of Portugal, giving an account of this election says, that entering into the conclave, he had looked upon it as his principal duty and care to watch over himself with great circumspection, and examined narrowly his heart for fear of being seduced by any personal affection or interest which might have any secret influence, and infect the purity of his views and intention. St. Pius V., who was chosen on the 7th of January, in 1566, did all in his power to engage St. Charles to stay at Rome, and accept of the same employments which he had enjoyed under his predecessor. But the holy archbishop feared that even to resign his church without having remedied the disorders which had taken root in it, would have been to abandon it; and pressed his return to his people with such zeal that the pope, after having taken his advice for several days, dismissed him with his blessing.

St. Charles arrived at Milan in April, 1566, and went vigorously to work for the reformation of his diocese. He began by the regulation of his own family, considering that the task would be easier when all he could prescribe to others was already practised at home. He labored, in the first place, for the most perfect sanctification of his own soul, the episcopal character being a state of the greatest perfection and sanctity, and was most severe towards himself. The austerities which he practised amidst the incredible fatigues of his apostolic life seem almost excessive. His fasts were at first moderate, that he might inure his body by degrees to greater severities; but for a long time he continued every week to increase them out of an earnest desire of practising every means of advancing in the path of Christian perfection. Yet his austerities were discreet, and even at the end of his life his strength seemed never to fail him for his functions; it seemed to redouble through his zeal when extraordinary fatigues presented themselves, so that he never sunk under any burden. To exclude the imperfection of secretly seeking his own will in his austerities, (which he said was to corrupt our penance,) he treated his body with an entire indifference, and ate either wheat, or black bread, or chesnuts; and drank either clear, dirty, or snow water, such as he met with where he came. For several years before his death he fasted every day on bread and water, Sundays and holydays only excepted, on which he took with his bread some pulse, herbs, or apples; but never touched any flesh, fish, eggs, or wine; nor would he allow the water he drank to have been warmed. In Lent he abstained even from bread, and lived on dried figs and boiled beans; in Holy week his food was only a small bitter sort of peas which he ate raw. The whole year he never ate oftener than once a day. From a violent cold and long sickness which he had contracted while he was a student at Pavia, in the twentieth year of his age, he was for many years troubled with phlegm, which caused frequent disorders in his health; and which no remedies could cure, till, by this excessive abstemiousness, it was perfectly removed. Whence it became a proverb to call a long and rigorous abstinence, “The remedy of cardinal Borromeo.”^* The archbishop of Valentia, in Spain, and F. Lewis of Granada, for whom the saint had the highest esteem, both wrote to him in the strongest manner, insisting that such excessive rigors were incompatible with the labors of the episcopal charge. St. Charles answered the former, that he found the contrary by experience; and that, as to the fatigues of the ministry, a bishop must look upon it as the greatest happiness that could befall him if he lost his life in serving his church, for which Christ died: therefore he ought not too nicely to spare himself in the discharge of his functions. To F. Granada the saint answered, that the Chrysostoms, the Spiridions, the Basils, and many other bishops of very extensive sees, lived in the practice of perpetual watchings and fasts, yet many of them arrived at a very advanced age. Pope Gregory XIII. commanded him by a brief to moderate his austerities. The saint received this order after he had passed the Lent to the last week without any other food than dried figs; and, in compliance, mitigated some little of his intended rigors in Holy-Week. He wrote to his holiness, declaring his readiness to obey, but assuring him that he found by experience that a spare diet was conducive to his health. Whereupon the pope left him to his discretion; and the same rigid life he continued to his death. St. Charles constantly wore a rough hair shirt; took very little rest: and before great festivals passed the whole night in watching. When others advised him to allow more to the necessity of nature, he used to say, his uncle, John James of Medicis, a famous captain, and many other generals only slept a short time in a chair in the night: “and ought not a bishop who is engaged in a warfare against hell,” said he, “to do as much?” The saint only slept sitting in a chair, or lying down upon a rough bed in his clothes, till, at the earnest request of the bishops of his province, he consented to alter this custom. From which time he lay on a bed of straw, having for his pillow a sack filled with straw, without any other covering than a poor counterpane stuffed with straw, and two coarse sheets laid on a straw bed.

His patience in bearing cold and all other hardships he carried to a like excess. When one would have had a bed aired for him, he said with a smile: “The best way not to find the bed cold is to go colder to bed than the bed is.” The bishop of Asti, in his funeral oration, said of him: “Out of his revenues he expended nothing for his own use except what was necessary for buying a little bread and water for his diet, and straw for his bed. When I attended him in making a visitation in the valley Mesolcina, a very cold country, I found him studying in the night in a single black tattered old gown. I entreated him, if he would not perish with cold, to put on some better garment. He answered me smiling: ‘What will you say if I have no other? The robes which I am obliged to wear in the day belong to the dignity of cardinal: but this garment is my own, and I will have no other either for winter or summer.’ ” Out of the most scrupulous love of purity he would never suffer any servant to see his arm, or foot, or any other part of his body that was usually covered, bare; neither would he speak to any woman, not even to his pious aunt, or sisters, or any nun, but in sight at least of two persons, and in as few words as possible. Seeing one of his chaplains drink once out of meals, he severely chid him, saying: “It is better to suffer thirst than to gratify sensuality.” His austerities are not mentioned as imitable; yet ought to excite all to the constant practice of some mortification, in order to keep the senses in due subjection, and to make our lives a constant martyrdom of penance. But the essential mortification is that of the will and the passions, to which this exterior is a great help. How eminently St. Charles excelled herein appears by his humility, meekness, and entire disengagement from all earthly things. So deeply was he grounded in the knowledge and contempt of himself, that the highest honors which he enjoyed under his uncle made no impression upon his mind; he regarded them as burdens, and declined all except those which he was obliged to accept for the good of the church and the salvation of souls. In his undertakings he never suffered any thing to be ascribed to himself but faults. At Milan he removed out of his palace the fine sculptures, paintings, and hangings, and especially the arms of his family, which some had put up before his arrival: nor would he suffer his name, or the arms of his family, but only those of his bishopric, to be set up upon any edifices which he raised. Under his robes he wore a very poor garment which he called his own, and which was so mean, and usually so old and ragged, that once a beggar refused to accept of it. His servants he chiefly employed in other affairs, but did every thing for himself that he could, and it was his delight even to serve others: though he did this in such a manner as never to do any thing unbecoming his dignity, being sensible what he owed to his rank. The least shadow of praise or flattery was most hateful to him. All supernatural favors and interior graces and consolations which he received in prayer, he was most careful to conceal; and he had a little cell in the garrets of his palace at a distance from the chambers of others, to which he often retired. He never spoke of his own actions unless to ask advice or to condemn himself. It was an extreme pleasure to him to converse with, and to catechise the poor, which he did among the poor inhabitants of the wildest mountains. The bishop of Ferrara coming to meet him when he was occupied in the visitation of a poor valley, found him sick of an ague, lying on a coarse bed in a very poor cottage. At the sight, he was so struck as to be scarce able to speak. St. Charles perceiving his confusion, told him he was treated very well, and much better than he deserved. The accent with which he spoke this astonished the bishop much more than what he saw. If he was put in mind of any fault, he expressed the most sincere gratitude; and he gave a commission to two prudent and pious priests of his household to put him in mind of every thing they saw amiss in his actions, and he often begged that favor of strangers. The sweetness and gravity with which he reproved or exhorted others was the fruit of his sincere humility and charity. From his childhood mildness seemed to form his character, and even in his youth he seemed never to feel any emotion of anger against schoolfellows or others. This virtue was daily more and more perfected in him as he advanced in the victory over himself. The most atrocious injuries, even accusations sent to the king of Spain against him, and the blackest actions of ingratitude, never discomposed his mind: and defamatory libels published against him he burnt without reading them, or inquiring after the authors. A certain priest who took delight in finding fault with his actions he kept constantly in his family, treated him with the greatest regard, and in his will left him a pension for life upon his estate. The saint’s tongue was always the interpreter of his heart: his candor and sincerity appeared in all his words and transactions, and his promises were inviolable. The confidence which every one on this account reposed in him showed the incomparable advantage which a character of strict sincerity and veracity gives over lying and hypocrisy, which the saint could never bear in any one. He refused dispensations and grants which seemed unjust, with invincible firmness, but with so much sweetness as to make the parties themselves enter into his reasons. Thus when a lady of great quality desired leave to go into a monastery to see her daughter who lay dying, the saint represented to her, that such a visit would be a very short satisfaction; but that the edification of her example, in preferring the rule of enclosure, would be of great advantage to the church: in which the lady voluntarily acquiesced.

The management of his temporalities he left entirely to stewards of approved probity and experience, whose accounts he took once a-year. To inspire his clergy with the love of holy poverty he severely reproved even bishops who discovered a spirit of interestedness; and he used to repeat to them the prayer of St. Austin, who often begged of God that he would take from his heart the love of riches, which strangely withdraws a man from the love of God, and alienates his affections from spiritual exercises: certainly nothing can be baser in a minister of the altar, or more unworthy and more contrary to his character than that foul passion. When others told him he ought to have a garden at Milan to take the air in, his answer was, that the holy scriptures ought to be the garden of a bishop. If any spoke to him of fine palaces or gardens, he said, We ought to build and to think of eternal houses in heaven. When he came to reside at Milan, though his revenues when he left Rome amounted to above one hundred thousand crowns a-year, including his legations or governments, he reduced them to twenty thousand crowns, for he reserved nothing besides the income of his archbishopric, the pension which the king of Spain had granted him, and a pension upon his own estate. His other benefices he resigned, or converted into colleges and seminaries for the education of youth. He made over the marquisate of Romagonora to Frederic Ferrier his kinsman, and his other estates in the Milanese to his uncles the counts of Borromeo, those estates being feoffments or perpetual entails in the family, though his for life. The principality of Oria in the kingdom of Naples, which yielded him ten thousand ducats a-year for his life, he sold for forty thousand crowns: which sum was brought to his palace, according to the terms of the sale. But he could not bear the thought of a treasure lodged in a bishop’s house, and ordered his almoner to distribute the whole without delay among the poor and the hospitals. When the list which the almoner showed him for the distribution, amounted by mistake to forty-two thousand crowns, the saint said the mistake was too much to the advantage of the poor to be corrected: and the forty-two thousand crowns were accordingly distributed in one day. When the officers of king Philip II. seized the castle of Arona for the crown, in which a garrison was always kept, and which was the most honorable title of the family of Borromeo, and of the whole country, the saint could not be prevailed upon to send any remonstrances to the court, or to make interest to recover it. Upon the death of his brother Frederic, he caused the rich furniture, jewels, paintings, and other precious effects to be sold at Rome, Milan, and Venice, and the price which amounted to thirty thousand crowns, he gave to the poor. When he came first to reside at Milan, he sold plate and other effects to the value of thirty thousand crowns, and applied the whole sum for the relief of distressed families in that diocese. Count Frederic’s widow, Virginia of Rouera, left him by will a legacy of twenty thousand crowns; which he made over to the poor without touching a farthing of it. His chief almoner, who was a pious priest named Julius Petrucci, was ordered to give among the poor of Milan, of whom he kept an exact list, two hundred crowns a month, besides whatever extraordinary sums he should call upon the stewards for, which were very frequent, and so great that they were obliged to contract considerable debts to satisfy them, of which they often complained to St. Charles, but could not prevail with him to moderate his alms. The saint would never suffer any beggar to be dismissed without some alms, wherever he was.

Hospitality the saint looked upon as a bishop’s indispensable duty, and he was most obliging and liberal in entertaining princes, prelates, and strangers of all ranks, but often at the table at which his upper family ate all together, and without dainties or luxury; and he endeavored as much as possible to conceal his own abstemiousness; of which he would not suffer the least sign to be given or notice taken, every one being free to eat as he pleased at his table. His liberality appears in many monuments which yet remain at Rome, Milan, and in many parts of that diocese. The church of St. Praxedes at Rome, which gave him the title of cardinal, was magnificently repaired and almost rebuilt by him. He adorned the church of St. Mary Major, of which he was arch-priest. At Bologna, while he was legate there, he built the public schools in a stately and finished manner, with a beautiful fountain in the middle of the city. At Milan he did many things to adorn the metropolitical church, and built houses for all the canons of an admirable architecture, with a subterraneous passage for them to go to the church without being seen by any one; also a dwelling-place for the rest of the clergy of that church: and the archiepiscopal palace, chapel, prisons, and stables; the great seminary at Milan, and two other seminaries there: three more in other parts of the diocese: the convent of capuchins, (whom he established at Milan,) with apartments for his clergy to make retreats there, near one of his seminaries. He settled at Milan the Theatins; also the Jesuits, whose college of Brera he founded at Milan, and to whom he made over for the foundation of their novitiate, his abbey of St. Gratinian at Arona. It would be tedious to enumerate the pious settlements he made for his Oblats, and the churches, hospitals, and other public buildings which he repaired or adorned. The revenues of his archbishopric he divided into three parts, one of which was appropriated to his household, another to the poor, and the third to the reparation of churches: and the account of these revenues, to the last farthing, he laid before his provincial councils, saying he was no more than the administrator and steward. Though he tenderly loved his relations, he visited them only twice or thrice a-year; and if they sent him any recommendations he was more scrupulous and severe in examining the affairs or parties than in any others, fearing the danger of any bias upon his mind. He employed no clergyman of his kindred in the government of his diocese, and resigned none of the benefices which had been conferred on him in his youth to any of them. He indeed educated his cousin-german Frederic Borromeo in the college he had founded in Pavia, and he became one of the greatest ornaments of the church.^*

The saint expressed always a particular joy when he found any opportunity of serving his enemies, or of returning good for evil. This watchfulness over his heart against all inordinate affections made him also watchful in his words, in which he was very sparing, and careful never to say anything superfluous. Fearing to mispend, or rob from the great obligations of his charge, one moment of his time, he laid it all out in serious employments; at table, or whilst his hair was cutting, he listened to some pious book that was read to him, or he dictated letters or instructions. When he fasted on bread and water, and dined in private, he ate and read at the same time, and on his knees when the book was the holy scripture; and, at the same time, his cheeks were often watered abundantly with his tears. After dinner he gave audience to his country vicars^† and curates, instead of conversing. In his journeys he always either prayed or studied on the road, and in the regular distribution of his time allowed himself none for recreation, finding in the different employments of his charge both corporal exercise and relaxation of the mind sufficient for maintaining the vigor of the mind and health of body. He said, that “A bishop ought never to take a walk either alone or with others.” Certain persons telling him, that a very experienced and pious director said a person ought generally to allow himself seven hours for rest every night, he said bishops must be excepted from that rule. When some persons told him he ought to read some newspapers in order to be acquainted with certain public transactions, for his own conduct on certain occasions, and might spare now and then three or four minutes for this, he made answer, that a bishop ought totally to employ his mind and heart in meditating on the law of God: which he cannot do who fills his soul with the vain curiosities of the world: and he attends more easily to God who hears least of them. To make recreations an employ, or to give to them any considerable time, or to indulge an eagerness or passion after hearing news is a vicious and vain curiosity, sloth and dissipation of mind, most pernicious to the spirit of devotion, and particularly contrary to the gravity and sanctity of a clerical state. Motives of charity to ourselves or others may sanctify some small degree of such amusements or actions which St. Charles’s great dignity and authority allowed him the happy liberty of entirely retrenching, and practising in the world a virtue no less severe than that of the most austere penitential religious order.

It was a rule, which he inviolably observed, to go every morning to confession, before he said mass, and to make a spiritual retreat twice every year, in each of which he made a general confession for the time since his last spiritual exercises. After employing many hours on his knees in astonishing sentiments of compunction, he accused himself of the least failings and omissions with abundance of tears. His confessors at Milan were F. Francis Adorno, a very pious Jesuit, and an interior man whom he had invited from Genoa; under whose direction he most frequently made his retreats; but sometimes under F. Alexander Saulo, a Barnabite, (afterwards bishop of Pavia,) of whose virtue and prudence he had from experience the highest opinion. The first retreat and general confession which he made with this holy director in 1568, the saint ever after called his conversion to God: so great was the spiritual profit which he reaped from it. But St. Charles’s ordinary confessor was Mr. Gryffydh Roberts,^* a Welshman, a canon and theologal of the great church. A priest, from once hearing the saint’s confession, might learn the most perfect lessons of his duties in all his actions: nor could those who had any acquaintance with his interior, sufficiently admire the purity of his conscience, the wonderful light with which he discerned the least failings, or the fervour of his compunction, and the sincerity of his humility, by which he esteemed himself the last of creatures, and of all others the most unfaithful and ungrateful to God. It happened once that in giving the holy communion at Brescia, by the fault of him who served at mass, he let the host fall: for which, in the deepest compunction and humiliation, he fasted most rigorously eight days, and abstained four days from saying mass. Except on this occasion he never omitted to say mass every day, even in his journeys, and greatest hurries of business, unless in extreme fits of illness, and then he at least received every day the holy communion. Out of respect and devotion to the adorable sacrifice he always kept a religious silence (unless some important business intervened) from the evening prayer and meditation till the next day after mass, and his long thanksgiving. He prepared himself to offer the sacrifice by the sacrament of penance, and by many vocal and mental prayers; and used to say that it was unbecoming a priest to apply his mind to any temporal business before that great duty.

He always recited the divine office on his knees with his head bare, and his soul seemed all the while absorbed in God. The better to fix his attention, he never said any part of it by heart, but read it all in the breviary: which practice he recommended to all his clergy. He never would be excused from any part of it in any sickness, how grievous soever, except the day before he died; and on that would have his chaplain recite it by him upon his knees, and attended to it with great devotion. He always said each part as near as might be to the canonical hour to which it corresponded; but on Sundays and holidays sung it all in choir in the great church, and passed there the greatest part of those days after the public office on his knees before a private altar. He had an extraordinary devotion to the Blessed Virgin, under whose patronage he put all his colleges: he had a singular devotion to St. Ambrose and the other saints of his church, and had a great veneration for holy relics. He carried always about him, among others in a gold cross, a particle of the true cross of Christ, and a small image of St. Ambrose. He always kept with great respect a little picture of bishop Fisher, who was put to death for his religion under Henry VIII., in England.^* The passion of Christ was a constant object of his devotions and meditations. At Rome he frequently spent five hours together on his knees in the chapel of the holy pillar, in the church of St. Praxedes, and so in other places of devotion; sometimes whole days or nights. Having once passed the night in the church of St. Sebastian at the Catacombs, he spent the day following in that of St. Agnes. But what was most astonishing and edifying was the extraordinary exterior and interior recollection with which he prayed. His extreme care that neither persons nor business (unless in some pressing necessity) should interrupt or disturb him at that time, and his strict watchfulness over his eyes and all his senses, made it easy for his soul to remain totally absorbed in the divine presence: and condemned those, who, by neglecting these precautions, and the due preparation of their souls, present themselves before God rather to mock him than to pray. The foot of the altar was the centre of this saint’s delights, as he sometimes called it. When he was drawn away he left his heart there in desire to continue paying to God without interruption the homage of praise and love, and imploring his mercy. He never said any prayer, or performed any religious ceremony with precipitation, whatever business of importance he had upon his hands, how much soever he was pressed for time, or how long soever his functions continued, which was sometimes from morning till late in the night. In giving audience, and in the greatest hurry of exterior affairs, his very countenance, all his words, and his modesty, showed his mind to be perfectly recollected in God, the centre of his heart, his repose, strength, and comfort. From this spirit of prayer, and the ardent love of God which burned in his breast, his words infused a certain spiritual joy into others, gained their hearts, and kindled in them a strong desire of persevering in virtue, and cheerfully suffering all things for its sake. One word spoken by him frequently so animated slothful or desponding priests, that they counted labors their gain, and braved dangers without fear. St. Philip Neri testified that he once saw the saint’s countenance shining with a heavenly brightness. The practice of always walking in the divine presence he strongly recommended as the principal means of attaining to Christian virtue. To a gentleman who begged he would prescribe him the rules of advancing in piety, he gave this answer: “He who desires to make any progress in the service of God must begin every day of his life with new ardor, must keep himself in the presence of God as much as possible, and must have no other view or end in all his actions but the divine honor.”

The saint, who labored so strenuously for the sanctification of his own soul, began the reformation of his diocese by the regulation of his own family: including the vicars and the officers of their courts, it consisted of about a hundred persons, the greater part being clergymen whom he employed in his own affairs, and in those of his diocese. All the priests were obliged to go to confession once a week, the others at least once a month, and to communicate at the archbishop’s hands. The priests said mass every day: all assisted every day at regular prayers at night and morning, meditations, and pious reading: abstained from flesh all Wednesdays, and all Advent: fasted many vigils besides those of precept; and on fast-days had no regular collation; but those that called for it were allowed to take an ounce and a half of bread. No person in his family was ever to expect any benefice from him; so much did he dread the danger of simony stealing into any one’s intention in serving him. When one of them had obtained a small benefice from his grand vicar, St. Charles discharged him; though he had a good opinion of his learning and virtue, and afterwards recommended him to another bishop. All were allowed handsome salaries, and were strictly forbid to receive presents from any one. Idleness was banished his house, and those who at any time were not employed, were obliged to read the lives of saints or other pious books. St. Charles had about him persons of the greatest learning and piety, whose advice he took in all matters of moment: and he took no resolution of importance without having earnestly implored the light of heaven by his own and others’ prayers; whence his resolutions were most prudent and happy. His household was a most regular community, and all dined together in a common refectory. Out of the clergy that composed his family, twelve became eminent bishops, and many were employed by popes in quality of nuncios, and in other great posts in the government of the church. Ormanetto, his grand vicar, (who was afterwards bishop of Padua,) had two other assistants who were also grand vicars; for St. Charles established a vicariat, that things might be done with deliberation and counsel, which many other bishops imitated. He also appointed sixty foraneous or country vicars, (whose authority and commission was limited by particular mandates;) these were mostly the rural deans: they held frequent conferences, and inspected the behavior of the curates under their jurisdiction, admonished them of their faults, and, if necessary, informed the archbishop or vicar-general.

The diocese of Milan, when the saint arrived in it, with regard to ignorance and disorders, was in the most deplorable condition. The great truths of salvation were little known or understood, and religious practices were profaned by gross abuses, and disgraced by superstition. The sacraments were generally neglected, the priests scarce knew how to administer them, and were slothful, ignorant, and debauched; and the monasteries were full of disorder. St. Charles, by six provincial councils, and eleven diocesan synods, also by many pastoral instructions and mandates, made excellent regulations for the reformation of the manners both of the clergy and people, which all zealous pastors have since regarded as a finished model, and have studied to square their conduct by them. The first part of these, St. Charles collected into one volume in folio; which work, that his name might not be mentioned in it, he, out of humility, entitled the Acts of the Church of Milan. The rest were gathered into a second volume after his death.^* Partly by the most tender and zealous entreaties and remonstrances, and partly by an inflexible firmness in the most rigorous execution of these most wholesome decrees, without favor, distinction of persons, or regard to rank or pretended privileges, the saint overcame the most obstinate, and broke through difficulties which would have daunted the most courageous. Preaching being the means established by God for the conversion of souls, and the principal obligation of a pastor, St. Charles applied himself to it with an unwearied zeal, though every thing in this function cost him much time and pains. A natural impediment in his speech seemed to disqualify him for it: yet this he overcame by much labor and attention.¹¹ By his disputations and harangues in the Vatican palace he perfectly overcame a natural bashfulness and timidity, which at first gave him great difficulty. It was a more painful task still to break a custom of speaking his discourses too fast, and of conquering a thickness of speech, and other impediments. But his pains were at length crowned with incredible success. The composition also cost him a great deal of study; though an excellent judgment compensated this difficulty. That liveliness of genius, those sprightly thoughts, witty turns, and beautiful flowers, which we admire in the Basils and Chrysostoms, seemed not to be his talent. But zeal, sincere piety, and a thorough acquaintance with the lessons and motives of Christian virtue, could not fail to qualify him for this function. His sermons were solid and pathetic, and he spoke with a vehemence which strongly affects a soul, and with an unction which always penetrates the heart. While those preachers who tickle the ears with the harmonious turn of their periods were dry and barren, the saint’s sermons produced, wherever he came, infinite fruits among all ranks of people. He preached every Sunday and holiday, and often in his visitations two or three times a day. F. Charles Bascape assures us, that hearing him preach he was so strongly affected with the excellent things he said, and the holy energy with which he spoke them, that though he desired to take notice of the preacher and his manner of delivery, it was not in his power to do it; but, in spite of his endeavours, he forgot the sacred orator, being wholly transported and possessed with the great truths he preached; thought his longest sermons short, and was very sorry when he concluded his discourse, that it was over. Possevinus and others assure us of the same. The saint’s zeal in procuring that all children and others throughout his diocese should be perfectly instructed in the catechism or Christian doctrine, was fruitful in expedients to promote and perpetuate this most important duty of religion. Not content with strictly enjoining all parish priests to give public catechism every Sunday and holiday, he established everywhere, under admirable regulations, schools of the Christian doctrine, which amounted to the number of seven hundred and forty, in which were three thousand and forty catechists, and forty thousand and ninety-eight scholars, as Giussano testifies.

The congregation of regular clerks called Barnabites, in Milan, abounding at that time with spiritual and interior men, the saint conceived a particular esteem and affection for this order, and employed very much these good religious men in the most important spiritual functions. To supply his diocese with good pastors he founded many colleges and seminaries and with the same view instituted, in 1578, the congregation of secular priests, called Oblats of St. Ambrose, because they voluntarily offer themselves to the bishop, making a simple vow of obedience to him, and being ready at his discretion to be employed in any manner whatever in laboring for the salvation of souls.¹² St. Charles made excellent regulations for their frequent conferences in all parts of the diocese under proper superiors, who assembled them together; also for their exercises, private conduct, and government. For their chief house he gave them the church of the Holy Sepulchre, with a convenient contiguous building, where a certain number always reside to be ready for any commission or emergency. Out of these Oblats he chose his ablest curates and vicars, and employed others in particular missions and other important services. His great seminary, which he had first committed to the care of the Jesuits, he took from them with their free consent, and put it in the hands of the Oblats. He associated several pious ladies of Milan in regular exercises of devotion and Christian perfection, by whose examples others were engaged to spend much time devoutly in churches