November 4th- St. Charles Borromeo, Bishop, Third Order Franciscan

S. Caroli Episcopi et Confessoris

  Reading 

 Charles, of the noble family of Borromeo, was born (on the 2nd day of October, in the year of our Lord 1538,) at (the Castle of Arona, fourteen miles from) Milan. In foretoken of his holy life, God caused a bright light to shine by night over the chamber where his mother lay in travail. As soon as his age would allow him, he received the tonsure. When he was twelve years old, he was made Abbat (of the rich Benedictine Abbey of St Gratinian and St Felin,) but reminded his father that the revenues thereof were not to be used as mere family property. His father, to whom the administration of these revenues fell during his son's non-age, still gave them forthwith over to him, and whatever was left over, he gave to the poor. While he was young he studied letters at Pavia. He kept his purity thoroughly, so that he scared away the unclean women, of whom many were set upon him, to overthrow his self-control. In the twenty-third year of his age, his uncle Pius IV. made him a Cardinal, in which dignity he was a burning and shining light of godliness and all graces before the whole of the Sacred College. About forty days afterwards the same Pope created him Archbishop of Milan. 

As such it was his great desire to order the Church committed to his charge in accordance with the requirements of the most holy Council of Trent, which was in great part by his labours brought to a conclusion. To raise up the degraded lives of the people, he oftentimes held Synods, but himself set an example of deep godliness. He worked earnestly to purge the parts about the Alps and borders of Switzerland of heresy, and brought many of the heretics to the Christian faith.

 Charity was the brightest mark of his life. His principality of Oria, (in the kingdom of Naples,) he sold for forty thousand crowns, and gave the whole sum to the poor in one day. Twenty thousand crowns being left him as a legacy (by Virginia, widow of Count Frederick Borromeo,) he gave the whole to the poor. The incomes of the benefices wherewith he had been loaded by his uncle, he spent upon the needs of the poor, except what he used for himself. When the plague grievously raged in Milan, he gave up to the sick poor the furniture of his own house, even to his own bedding, and thenceforward slept upon the boards. He constantly visited the sick, cheered them by his fatherly kindness, and wonderfully comforted them, ministering to them with his own hands the Sacraments of the Church. At the same time he drew near to plead for them with God in lowly entreaty, and ordered a public Procession wherein he walked himself carrying a Cross, with a rope halter round his neck, and his bare feet bleeding from the stones, and fain to turn away the Divine anger by offering himself as a scapegoat for the sins of his people. He was a stout defender of the freedom of the Church. But in the Church he was an earnest reformer of discipline, and once, when he was engaged in prayer, (the paid agent of) some conspirators took a shot at him with a blunderbuss, but, though the ball struck him, the power of God kept him unharmed.

He was remarkable for his abstinence. He very often fasted upon nothing but bread and water, and sometimes nothing but lupines. He tamed his body by depriving himself of sleep, by very rough haircloth, and by constant scourging. He was an earnest practiser of lowliness and meekness. However much he was taken up with business, he never gave himself relaxation from prayer and from preaching the word of God. He built many Churches, convents, and schools. He wrote much matter, useful more especially for the good of Bishops. The publication of the Parish Priests' Catechism was due to his care. In October, 1584, he withdrew himself, for the purpose of making a retreat, to (what is called) the Sacro Monte of Varallo, an hill whereon (many sacred subjects and especially) the incidents of the Lord's sufferings are represented in life-size groups of coloured figures. On Oct. 24 he was taken ill of a (tertian) ague, but concealed it, and lived there for some days a life of torture by voluntary suffering, but of sweetness by thoughts of Christ's woes. After his return to Milan, (which he reached in a litter upon All Souls' Day,) his sickness became hopeless, and early in the night between the (3rd and) 4th days of November, in the 47th year of his own age, and in that of our Lord 1584, covered with ashes and sackcloth, and with his eyes fixed upon the image of Christ crucified, he exchanged earth for heaven. He was famous for miracles, and Pope Paul V. numbered him among the Saints.

V. But thou, O Lord, have mercy upon us.
R. Thanks be to God.


Commemoration of Charles Borromeo, bishop

Well done, my good and faithful servant; since you were faithful in small matters, I will give you great responsibilities. Come, share your master's joy.

V. The Lord guided the righteous in right paths.
R. And showed him the kingdom of God. 

O God, by your Holy Spirit you give to some the word of wisdom, to others the world of knowledge, and to others the word of faith: We praise your Name for the gifts of grace manifested in your servant Charles Borromeo, and we pray that your Church may never be destitute of such gifts; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Postscript: 

Although the Franciscan breviary contains the feast of St. Charles on November 4th and indicates that he was Cardinal Protector of the Friars Minor, it fails to mention that he was also a Franciscan Tertiary. The fact is that he was a close follower of the Poverello, a prelate according to the heart of St. Francis, and he deserves to be recognized, honored, and imitated as one of the greatest saints of the Third Order. In his life of St. Charles Borromeo, Orsenigo says that "enrolled in the Third Order of St. Francis, he not only faithfully wore the habit... but above all... took the poverty of St. Francis of Assisi as the model for his life.