Patron Saint of Reform

Today the Church remembers St. Charles Borromeo, the Cardinal-Archbishop of Milan, Italy, who was one of the clerics who was mainly responsible for the counter-reformation. The counter-reformation sought to bring about changes in the discipline of the Church which had occasioned the Protestant Reformation. Though he lived a short forty-six years, his influence is still felt in the Church today. His name is one of four which appears at the beginning of the Catechism of the Catholic Church along with the names of St. Turibius of Mongrovejo, St. Peter Canius, and St. Robert Bellarmine.

His uncle, Pope Pius IV, invested him with many different offices within the church, including the role of Papal Secretary of State, while Charles was still a teenager. The irony of his life is that this is precisely the kind of ecclesiastical maneuvering which St. Charles worked to reform throughout his life. He was, for instance, the first to establish a seminary in his diocese for the education of the clergy. Before this, priests were taught by their pastors who then presented them for ordination. By establishing a seminary system, St. Charles was mainly responsible for the reformation of what had grown to be a corrupted and uneducated clergy.

St. Charles was a member of a noble family in Italy. When his older brother died leaving the family with no heir to its hereditary titles and wealth, his family asked Charles to forsake the priesthood, get married and father an heir. He refused to abandon the Church and continued to work within the Church for its reformation and sanctification.

St. Charles was also known for his pastoral care, especially during the bubonic plague which ravaged parts of Europe in the 16th century. He used his own family wealth to support the efforts of those who cared for the sick and the poor. He also punished the clergy who refused to minister to the sick and dying. Though at this time in the Church's history, the cardinals were thought of as the nobles of the Church, he would himself minister to the needs of the dying without considering the possibility of contagion and contracting the disease himself. He seemed to live out the motto which was emblazoned on his coat of arms: "Humility."

He was canonized just twenty-six years after his death and is still venerated by the church as an outstanding example of piety and learning. His advice was sought out by many of his brother cardinals, the popes he served as well as civil officials of his day. It is interesting to note that many cities have been named for this saint, including St. Charles, Missouri, in the United States. One of the Franciscan missions of California at Carmel is named for this saint who was at one time the Cardinal Protector of the Franciscan Order.

Among all of the other things that St. Charles accomplished in his life, one reform that is still felt by the majority of Catholic today is the introduction by St. Charles of what we know of today as the confessional, furnishing our parish churches with a place to protect the anonymity of the penitent.

Fr. Lawrence Jagdfeld, O.F.M., Administrator