Saint Charles Borromeo, A Sketch Of The Reforming Cardinal, Audiobook

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Charles Borromeo (Italian: Carlo Borromeo, Latin: Carolus Borromeus, 2 October 1538 – 3 November 1584) was a cardinal who was archbishop of Milan from 1564 to 1584. Among the great reformers of the troubled sixteenth century, Borromeo, with St. Ignatius of Loyola, St. Philip Neri, and others, led the movement to combat the inroads of the Protestant Reformation. He was a leading figure during the Counter-Reformation and was responsible for significant reforms in the Catholic Church, including the founding of seminaries for the education of priests. He is honoured as a saint in the Catholic Church and his feast day is 4 November. Charles' biography was originally written by three of his contemporaries: Agostino Valerio (afterwards cardinal and Bishop of Verona) and Carlo Bascape (General of the Barnabites, afterwards Bishop of Novara), who wrote their contributions in Latin, and Pietro Giussanno (a priest), who wrote his in Italian. Father Giussanno's account was the most detailed of the three. Charles was a descendant of nobility: the family of Borromeo was one of the most ancient and wealthy in Lombardy, made famous by several notable men, both in the church and state.[1] The aristocratic Borromeo family's coat of arms included the Borromean rings, sometimes taken to symbolize the Holy Trinity. Charles' father Gilbert was Count of Arona; his mother Margaret was a member of the Milan branch of the House of Medici. The third son in a family of six children, he was born in the castle of Arona on Lake Maggiore, thirty-six miles from Milan, on 2 October 1538. Borromeo received the tonsure when he was about twelve years old. At this time his paternal uncle, Julius Caesar Borromeo, turned over to him the income from the rich Benedictine abbey of Sts. Gratinian and Felin, one of the ancient perquisites of this noble family. In spite of his youth, Charles made plain to his father that all revenues from the abbey beyond what was required to prepare him for a career in the Church belonged to the poor and could not be applied to secular use. The young man attended the University of Pavia, where he applied himself to the study of civil and canon law. Due to a slight impediment of speech, he was regarded as slow; yet his thoroughness and industry more than compensated for the handicap.[2] In 1554 his father died, and although he had an elder brother, Count Federico, he was requested by the family to take the management of their domestic affairs. After a time, he resumed his studies, and on 6 December 1559 he earned a doctorate in utroque iure (canon and civil law). Charles was appointed administrator of the Archdiocese of Milan on 7 February 1560. After his decision to put into practice the role of bishop, he decided to be ordained priest (4 September 1563) and on 7 December 1563 he was consecrated bishop in the Sistine Chapel by Cardinal Giovanni Serbelloni.[7] Charles was formally appointed archbishop of Milan on 12 May 1564 after the former archbishop Ippolito II d'Este waived his claims on that archbishopric, but he was only allowed by the pope to leave Rome one year later. Charles made his formal entry into Milan as archbishop on 23 September 1565. “An austere, dedicated, humorless and uncompromising personality” is the way that a biographer—an admiring biographer—describes Charles. Charged with implementing the reforms dictated by the Council of Trent, Charles had to be tough, and his toughness brought him into conflict with secular leaders, priests, and even the pope himself.[8] He met with much opposition to his reforms. The governor of the province, and many of the senators, addressed complaints to the courts of Rome and Madrid. They were apprehensive that the cardinal's ordinances would encroach upon the civil jurisdiction. He successfully attacked his Jesuit confessor, Giovanni Battista Ribera, who, with other members of the college of Milan, was found to be guilty of unnatural offenses. This action increased Borromeo's enemies within the church. Charles' manifold labors and austerities appear to have shortened his life. Travels in his diocese, especially in the difficult Alpine country, had weakened the bishop's constitution. In 1584, during his annual retreat at Monte Varallo, he was stricken with an intermittent fever and ague, and on returning to Milan grew rapidly worse. After receiving the Last Sacraments, the beloved bishop died quietly on 4 November at the age of 46. Saint Charles Borromeo, A Sketch Of The Reforming Cardinal