St. Charles Borromeo was born in 1538 in Italy and one of the great reformers of our Catholic faith during the Counter-Reformation.  He was one of the leading figures at the Council of Trent.

Charles was born of a noble and wealthy family.  He was a very good student and had to overcome a speech impediment.  His father died when he was just 16 years old.   With his father’s passing, he had to assume great responsibilities as a young man with school and taking care of his family.  

Pope Pius IV was elected as pope 1559.  He put his nephew, Charles, as deacon of Rome when Charles was just 21 years old.  This is called nepotism or favoring relatives or associates with jobs or positions of power.   Nepotism was in full swing in the 16^th century.  Charles was reasonably competent, but because his uncle was pope – he got this prestigious job.  No one really expected much from          St. Charles as other young men who had his job used the power for themselves.   St. Charles did the opposite.  

He promoted the interests of the Church and himself last.  It’s truly amazing that even with some of his relatives were such bad examples, he overcome all of this as a model of piety.

At this time, there was great need for clerical reform.  It’s one of the reasons for the Protestant Reformation.  Bishops and priests did not know their faith or failed to practice it well, which laid the seeds for the Protestant Reformers.

Pope Paul III called the Council of Trent in 1545.  The council was on and off for 18 years (1545 – 1563). St. Charles Borromeo convinced his uncle, Pope Paul IV, to finish the council.  Charles organized the final session of Trent.   This was a lot of work!  We have a lot of electronics for communication.   They did not have any of this.  Pope Paul IV wrote letters by hand and convened the Council of Trent in a couple of years because of Charles Borromeo’s efforts.   Charles was 25 years old and calling the Catholic world together to reform Catholic doctrine and morality.  God gives the Church the saints that she needs!

Because of the Council of Trent, the Church clarified her doctrine and even a catechism.  At this point, Charles discerned that God was calling him to be a priest.  He was just 26 years old (1564).  Three months later he was ordained a bishop and five months later was made the Archbishop of Milan, which was the largest Catholic diocese in the Catholic world and also the most corrupt.  His reward for bringing the Church together with the Council of Trent was to fix the biggest and most corrupt diocese in the Catholic world!

Charles began implementing the reforms of Trent.  Some of them included: A new catechism (people were generally very ignorant of the faith), establishing seminaries for educating young men to become priests (giving them a spiritual, intellectual, and moral education), and new systems to help the poor.  He also established the first “Sunday school” practice to teach children their faith.  Again, the Protestant Reformation came about because of weak, ignorant, and corrupt priests.

Charles drew up a rule of life for his clergy and had high expectations for them.   He abolished the sale of indulgences.   He insisted that priests be faithful to their promise of celibacy.  He insisted that his priests say their prayers.  He set the example himself by spending hours a day in prayer.

As a leader, he looked for people with great gifts – managing finances and administration.  In other words, he had the skill of recognizing the gifts in others and helping them to maximize their gifts.  He was able to put the right people in the right jobs.  

Charles took a retreat and contemplated leaving the Archdiocese of Milan and retiring to a monastery given the weight of reforming the diocese.  His spiritual director admonished him and told him, “Stay where you are. The archdiocese needs you.”  

In 1576, a famine and then a plague hit northern Italy that was so bad that civil authorities fled.  Charles had to care not only for the Church, but also the city of Milan.  Both religious and civic affairs fell on him.    At its height, over 100 people died a day.  17,000 people in Milan died.  

In response, Charles established hospitals and hospices for the victims.  He personally visited plague-stricken houses.  He walked barefoot with a rope around his neck.  Even more impressive, he tried to feed 60,000 to 70,000 people per day.  
Finally, Charles erected altars at crossways in streets as places where Mass was said daily so that all could see from their windows.   He saved thousands of people.  
         
Charles had utterly spent himself for his people.   Exhausted from work, when it was obvious he was about to die, he was given the last sacraments of the Church.   He died on November 4, 1584.  He was just 46 years old.  There are clerics who don’t do one-tenth of what Charles did in their eighty years of priesthood!  He had an incredible impact on the Church.  

Charles was beautified on May 12, 1602 by Pope Paul V.   He was canonized by the same pope on November 1, 1610.  He is the patron saint of bishops, catechists, and seminarians.    

For us today, it’s important to realize that the Church has always had her struggles (sometimes internally, sometimes externally) and it always will.  Thankfully, Jesus always guides His little boat.

Christ promised that He would always be with his Church.  In every age, our Lord raises up saints like Charles Borromeo to purify and guide the Church.  God-willing, like Charles Borromeo, you will be one of those people to help build up the Church.

                                                       ~St. Charles Borromeo, pray for us!