Saint Charles Borromeo, Bishop

Carlo Borromeo was born in 1538 at Arona on Lake Maggiore into a noble family. When his uncle became Pope Pius IV in 1559, he made Charles, aged 21, a cardinal and his secretary of state, and Charles helped bring the Council of Trent to its close in 1563. As archbishop of Milan, where he went to live in 1566, he put the council into practice: he held synods, visited his large diocese, opened seminaries, schools for Christian doctrine and colleges, and lived austerely. In 1569 a member of a religious order he was reforming fired at him while he prayed, and he survived. During the plague of 1576 he stayed in the city, organized care for the sick and gave away his possessions. He died on 3 November 1584, aged 46, and was canonized in 1610.