Saint Charles Borromeo |
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Cardinal, Archbishop of Milan | |
Carlo Borromeo, by Giovanni Figino. Oil on canvas, 41 × 48 cm. Biblioteca Ambrosiana
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Native name | Count Carlo Borromeo di Arona |
Archdiocese | Milan |
See | Milan, Italy |
Appointed | 12 May 1564 |
Term ended | 3 November 1584 |
Predecessor | Giovanni Angelo de’ Medici |
Successor | Gaspare Visconti |
Other posts | Cardinal-Priest of Santa Prassede |
Orders | |
Ordination | 4 September 1563 by Federico Cesi |
Consecration | 7 December 1563 by Giovanni Serbelloni |
Created Cardinal | 31 January 1560 by Pius IV |
Rank | Cardinal-Priest |
Personal details | |
Born |
Castle of Arona, Duchy of Milan |
2 October 1538
Died | 3 November 1584 Milan |
(aged 46)
Buried | Milan Cathedral |
Denomination | Roman Catholic |
Parents |
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Previous post |
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Coat of arms | |
Sainthood | |
Feast day | 4 November |
Venerated in | Catholic Church |
Beatified | 12 May 1602 by Clement VIII |
Canonized | 1 November 1610 by Paul V |
Attributes | cord, red cardinal robes |
Patronage | against ulcers; apple orchards; bishops; catechists; catechumens; colic; intestinal disorders; Lombardy, Italy; Monterey California; cardinals; seminarians; spiritual directors; spiritual leaders; starch makers; stomach diseases; São Carlos city in Brazil (as the name indicates) |
Shrines | Milan Cathedral |
Ordination history of Charles Borromeo | |
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Diaconal ordination
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Date of ordination | 21 December 1560 |
Priestly ordination
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Ordained by | Federico Cesi (Sub-Dec. Sacr. Coll.) |
Date of ordination | 4 September 1563 |
Episcopal consecration
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Principal consecrator | Giovanni Antonio Serbelloni |
Co-consecrators |
Tolomeo Gallio (Novara) Felice Tiranni (Urbino) |
Date of consecration | 7 December 1563 |
Cardinalate
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Elevated by | Pius IV |
Date of elevation | 31 January 1560 |
Bishops consecrated by Charles Borromeo as principal consecrator
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Mark Sittich von Hohenems | 1564 |
Niccolò Sfondrati (later Gregory XIV) | 1564 |
Gabriele Paleotti | 10 February 1566 |
Alessandro Maria Sauli B | 12 March 1570 |
Galeazzo Moroni | 1573 |
Giovanni Francesco Bonomigni | 1 February 1573 |
Paolo del Grasso | 1574 |
Lodovico Michelio | 24 June 1584 |
Ottaviano Paravicini | 15 July 1584 |
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 November 4.
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. 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.