SAINT CHARLES BORROMEO
Archbishop of Milan
(1538-1584)
About fifty years after the Protestant heresy broke out, Our Lord raised up a youth to renew the face of His Church. In 1560, Charles Borromeo, then twenty-two years of age, was elected cardinal, and by the side of his uncle, Pius IV, administered the affairs of the Holy See.
His first care was the direction of the Council of Trent. He urged forward its sessions, guided its deliberations by continual correspondence from Rome, and with firmness carried it to its conclusion. Then he entered upon a still more arduous work: the execution of its decrees.
As Archbishop of Milan, St. Charles enforced the reforms from the Council of Trent and restored the discipline of his see. He founded schools for the poor, seminaries for clerics, and trained his priests to perfection with his community. Inflexible in maintaining discipline, to his flock he was a tender father. He would sit by the roadside to teach a poor man the Pater and Ave, and would enter hovels so dirty that tough men would cringe.
During the great plague, he refused to leave Milan, and was ever by the sick and dying. He even sold his bed to support the work. He passed away as a faithful servant, following the Good Shepherd to paradise.