When we think of the Council of Trent and its Roman Catechism, we may well reflect on the personalities of those men who were responsible for the direction of the Council and the implementation of its decrees. One of these great men of the Church was a principal exponent of the Catholic Counter-Reformation.

Our saint was favorably influenced by the life of St. Francis of Assisi, and in his spirit he wore a simple, rough cassock and insisted on sleeping on the floor. He continued this practice even as Bishop of Milan, although in public he wore the required vestments out of respect for his sacred office.

Because of his connections to high Church officials and his inclination towards the religious life, Charles received the tonsure when only twelve years old. During his early period of training he was given only a meager stipend by his father. Although this was a humiliation to Charles, he never complained; rather he grew in grace because of it. He pursued his studies with serious determination and became a doctor of civil and canon law in 1559, at the age of twenty-one. His uncle was elected Pope in that same year and called Charles to Rome, where he elevated him to the position of Cardinal-deacon and subsequently named him Administrator for the Archdiocese of Milan, as well as for all the papal states. Recognizing his nephew to be an astute businessman, the Pope gradually added to Charles's responsibilities, naming him protector of various Catholic states and religious orders.

BORROMEO WAS legal executor of his family's estate. All of these duties required a strict personal discipline. Young Borromeo realized the importance of personal balance and developed for himself a program of continued study, work, and recreation. He enjoyed playing the lute and violincello as well as a good, fast game of ball. While residing in Rome, Charles founded the Vatican Academy. Here both churchmen and laymen would meet in the evenings and contribute their talents to a compendium of literary works, which Charles assembled into book form, entitled Noctes Vaticanae.

The Council of Trent had been suspended ten years earlier. The moral state of Europe was disastrous. The rulers of France and Spain were attempting to exert their political influences on the Vatican. It fell to young Borromeo to organize the reconvening of this historic Council. The Council resumed on January 18, 1562. The various questions and disputes which arose threatened at times to break up the deliberations. It was primarily to the patient, attentive work and skill of Charles that the Council came to a successful conclusion at the twenty-fifth session on December 4, 1563. At a consistory on January 26, 1564, Pius IV confirmed the decrees of the Council and later appointed a congregation of eight Cardinals to see to the execution of these decrees.

The reader should bear in mind that Charles accomplished all of the above while still not a priest. There was great pressure on him, even from the Pope, to give up the ecclesiastical state and to marry. It was Federigo's death which deeply impressed upon him the determination to give himself over with greater strictness to religious matters. He decided that the priestly life was definitely his vocation and was ordained on September 4, 1563.

Since Charles had been the Administrator for the Archdiocese of Milan, his uncle now wished him to be Bishop for the same Archdiocese. Charles agreed and was consecrated on December 7, 1563. The Pope insisted that Charles remain physically at his side in Rome to assist him in the administration of Church affairs. This made Charles, in effect, the Secretary of State. Charles was stung in conscience by this, nevertheless he obeyed and sent other bishops and religious as his deputies to Milan to prepare the clergy and laity for the reforms prescribed by the Council of Trent. During this time Charles kept watch over his diocese by remaining in close contact with his deputies. He also worked on the production of the Catechism of Trent and the revision of the Missal and Breviary. He selected Palestrina to compose three Masses for the embellishment of sacred music, one of which is the famous Missa Papae Marcelli. Charles's one great desire was to save his soul, and he often thought of retiring to a monastery. His spiritual director, while admiring his desire, nevertheless counseled Charles to take courage and remain in the world, where his work was so necessary in assisting the Church to save souls. Discipline in monasteries and convents was woefully lacking, and Charles grew ever more concerned with the Archdiocese given to his charge. He pleaded with the Pope to allow him to travel to Milan to preside over a provincial council. The Pope finally agreed and at last on September 23, 1565, the Milanese people received their first resident Archbishop in eighty years. The first sermon he preached there was on one of his favorite subjects, Our Lord in the Most Blessed Sacrament. He chose as his theme the words of Jesus, "With desire have I desired to eat this Pasch with you."

The Council of Bishops opened on the following October 15th. Charles announced that the reform of discipline must begin with the Prelates. He told them, "We ought to walk in front, and our spiritual subjects will follow us more easily." His own energy at fulfilling the law was a source of inspiration to the auxiliary bishops. The council was finished on November 3rd and Charles returned to Rome to find his uncle, the Pope, near death. Charles and another Saint, Philip Neri, admonished the Holy Father to turn all his thoughts Heavenward and assisted him in his last condition. The Pope died on December 10th and on the following January 7th, Cardinal Michele Ghislieri, O.P., was elected to the Papacy, taking, at Charles's request, the name of Pius V. Pope Saint Pius V wished Charles to stay in Rome. Charles persuaded the Pope that as Archbishop of Milan, he should at least spend the summer in Milan. While on his second visit to that city, Charles gave up much of his property to the poor and practiced great mortification. He urged his religious and faithful to practice penance in reparation for the sins of their times. He filled important posts in his diocese with men noted for their sanctity, integrity, and ability. He was highly organized and insisted on having reports from all those he had placed in positions of responsibility. Under his direction diocesan seminaries were begun. He also opened orphanages. He showed great compassion for the poor and respect even for criminals. His chancery became known as the "holy tribunal". Through the conduct of his life many souls were won back to God. He re-instilled in his priests the theology of the Sacrament of Penance, which previously had been neglected. He was responsible for the starting of the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine which provided that children should be carefully and systematically instructed in the Faith.

In October, 1567, Charles traveled to Switzerland to continue the work of Church reform. Here he found that many priests were leading scandalous lives and that the people had grown cold in the practice of the Faith. Charles traveled, sometimes by mule, sometimes on foot, from one valley to another, exhorting both clergy and laity to a return to Jesus Christ.

TWO OCCASIONS Charles met with serious threats to his life. When attempting to visit the Church of Santa Maria della Scala, he was received with insults by the priests of the church. Cardinal Borromeo took the cross into his hands to pronounce sentence of excommunication and was replied to with gunfire; the cross itself was struck as the priests closed the doors of the church in Charles's face. Later Pius V allowed Charles to again deal with these rebellious clergy only after they had declared repentance and asked for pardon.

One evening in October of 1567, Charles was at evening prayer with his household, when a dissident member of the religious order of the Humiliati came into chapel dressed as a layman. He stood approximately fourteen feet from the Cardinal, who was dressed in Benediction cope, and fired a gun with deadly aim and struck the Cardinal in the back. Charles toppled over the altar, thinking himself mortally wounded. Once he had recovered his composure and the panic in the congregation had subsided, Charles motioned for the continuation of devotions, telling the faithful that they should always be prepared for death and be fully abandoned to the Will of God. Charles continued his unrelenting visitations of areas under his jurisdiction, always preaching against the Protestant heresy, as well as against the abuses in the Church which gave rise to it.

It was not his preaching itself which convinced people to mend their ways, for Charles was a very poor speaker. It was not his appearance, for he was what we might term "homely" in today's language. Rather it was his humility and obvious sense of mortification; it was his calmness, born of complete confidence in God, which spoke more eloquently than any words. Above all, it was his kindness which won the hearts and souls of religious and laity back to the practice of their Faith. His uncompromising stand against Protestant heresy was always combined with this kindness, so that even those who were foremost among Protestant reformers commented on this quality. At the request of the Holy Father, Charles continued his visitations and organizations of synods, all designed to encourage greater commitment of priests and religious to their vocations in the face of the Protestant revolt.

IN 1576, the dread plague struck Milan. Charles thought of nothing else except the well-being of his people. He was convinced that the disease had been sent as a chastisement for sin and he gave himself all the more to prayer. He then drew up his will and immediately set out to work with the plague-stricken. He visited them in their homes, in the hospitals, and in the streets. He finally persuaded his reluctant clergy to follow him in his endeavours. He set up work crews and went into debt to feed the hungry. He had altars set up in the streets so that the sick could assist at Mass from their windows.

After the plague ceased, Charles again resumed his regular duties. He renewed discipline in the seminaries, began a new religious society to assist in the catechizing of children, and organized new dioceses. It was his special care to leave behind him holy priests and good religious to guide the people. He wrote prodigiously, detailing instructions for the strict observance of the reforms of the Council of Trent. He carried on correspondence with the sovereigns of Europe, particularly Henry III of France, Philip II, and Mary, Queen of Scots. He was of immense support to Popes Pius IV, St. Pius V, and later Gregory XIII. He gave advice to and was influenced by saintly contemporaries, among them St. Philip Neri, St. Francis Borgia, St. Andrew Avellino, and St. Edmund Campion. Charles always had a great sympathy for the English Catholics in their trials. He kept a portrait of St. John Fisher, which he held in veneration. St. Edmund Campion spent eight days with St. Charles in Milan and stated that they conversed every day after dinner. St. Edmund encouraged the English in their struggles for the Faith by relating some of the accounts given him by St. Charles.

It is related that while on a visitation to the Valtelline Valley in the Grison Alps in July of 1580, he was invited to stay at the luxurious home of the Marquis Gonzaga. Charles politely refused the invitation, staying instead at the local rectory. While there, he met the Marquis's eldest son, Luigi, then twelve years old, now raised to the altars of the Church as St. Aloysius Gonzaga. Charles gave the boy his first Holy Communion.

THE LAST DAYS of St. Charles Borromeo were as all the others, except for his failing health. Although ill with fever and a painful leg condition, he continued his travels and correspondence. He said Mass daily, while in intense pain. He insisted on traveling by boat to Ascona to complete the foundation of a college. On the night of October 29, 1584, he was found in a chapel enroute to Ascona, lying prostrate on the floor before a representation of the Burial of Our Lord. He could barely continue, but pressed on, convinced that God would give him the strength to do as He willed. He rode to Arona, then took the boat to Ascona. He then finished his work there and continued to the novitiate he had founded, stayed overnight, and on All Saints' Day he said Mass for the last time, giving Communion to the novices and many of the faithful. The next day he assisted at Mass and received Communion. His cousin, René Borromeo, accompanied him by boat to Milan, where they arrived on November 3. At once a high fever set it, the doctors were summoned, and he lapsed into semi-consciousness. He received Holy Viaticum dressed in surplice and stole. When asked if he wished Extreme Unction, he replied, "At once." The prayers for the dying were said, the Passion was read, and Charles was heard to say, Ecce venio, "Behold, I come." He then passed to his eternal reward at the age of forty-six years. His requiem was sung on November 7th, and he was buried that evening in the spot which he had chosen.

The guiding ideal of his life is reflected in the motto: "To God all the glory, to my neighbor all the joy, to me all the sacrifice!" His virtues and exemplary life earned for him an immediate popular devotion, which soon spread to many parts of the Catholic world. On November 1, 1610, Pope Paul V solemnly canonized Charles Borromeo and fixed his feast for the 4th of November.

Ever keep Thy Church, O Lord, under the protection of St. Charles, Thy Confessor and Bishop, that through his intercession who became glorious by his watchful care over his flock, we may always be fervent in Thy love.