MEMORIAL OF SAINT CHARLES BORROMEO, BISHOP AND SAINTS VITALIS AND AGRICOLA, MARTYRS – FEAST DAY ~ NOVEMBER 4TH: Today, we celebrate the Memorial of Saint Charles Borromeo, Bishop and Saints Vitalis and Agricola, Martyrs.
SAINT CHARLES BORROMEO, BISHOP: Saint Charles Borromeo (1538-1584) was the bishop of Milan, came from a wealthy, aristocratic Italian family. He was born in the family castle, and lived a rather lavish life, entertaining sumptuously as befit a Renaissance court. He personally enjoyed athletics, music, art, and the fine dining that went along with lifestyles of the rich and famous of the sixteenth century. He studied at Milan and afterward at the University of Pavia, where he received his Doctorate in Civil and Canon Law in 1559. His maternal uncle, from the powerful Medici family, was pope. He’s a nephew of Pope Pius IV. As was typical of the times, his uncle-pope made him a cardinal-deacon at age twenty-three and bestowed on him numerous offices. He was appointed papal legate to Bologna, the Low Countries, and the cantons of Switzerland, and the religious orders of St. Francis, the Carmelites, the Knights of Malta, and others. When Count Frederick Borromeo passed away, many people thought Charles would give up the clerical life and marry now that he had become head of the Borromeo family. But he did not. He deferred to another uncle and became a priest. Shortly thereafter he was appointed bishop of Milan, a city that had not had a resident bishop for over eighty years.
Although raised to the grand life, St. Charles Borromeo spent much of his time dealing with hardship and suffering. In the great plague at Milan, in 1570, he showed himself the true shepherd by his self-sacrificing charity and heroism. The famine required him to bring in food to feed three thousand people a day for three months. Six years later in 1576, a two-year plague swept through the region. St. Charles Borromeo mobilized priests, religious, and lay volunteers to feed and care for the sixty to seventy thousand people living in the Alpine villages of his district. He personally cared for many who were sick and dying. In the process, St. Charles Borromeo ran up huge debts, depleting his resources in order to feed, clothe, administer medical care, and build shelters for thousands of plague-stricken people. Great was St. Charles’ love of neighbor and liberality toward the poor. When the plague raged in Milan, he sold his household furniture, even his bed, to aid the sick and needy, and thereafter slept upon bare boards. He visited those stricken by the disease, consoled them as a tender father, conferred upon them the sacraments with his own hands. A true mediator, he implored forgiveness day and night from the throne of grace. He once ordered an atonement procession and appeared in it with a rope about his neck, with bare and bloody feet, a cross upon his shoulder—thus presenting himself as an expiatory sacrifice for his people to ward off divine punishment.
As if the natural disasters facing him were not enough, a disgruntled priest from a religious order falling out of favor with Church authorities attempted to assassinate St. Charles Borromeo. As St. Charles knelt in prayer before the altar, the would-be assassin pulled a gun and shot him. At first, St. Charles thought he was dying, but the bullet never passed through the thick vestments he was wearing. It only bruised him. St. Charles combined the love of the good life with the self-sacrificing zeal one would expect of a Renaissance churchman. Once when he was playing billiards, someone asked what he would do if he knew he only had fifteen more minutes to live. “Keep playing billiards,” he replied. Exhausted from his reforming labors, he died not at the billiard table but quietly in bed. He died, dressed in sackcloth and ashes, holding a picture of Jesus Crucified in his hands, on November 3,1584 at the age of forty-six. His last words were, “See, Lord, I am coming, I am coming soon.” His tomb in the cathedral of Milan is of white marble. He was canonized 26 years later, in 1610 by Pope Paul V. Saint Charles Borromeo gave Saint Aloysius his first Holy Communion. In 1572, Charles concurred in the election of Gregory XIII. St. Charles Borromeo is the Patron Saint of bishops; seminarians; catechists; catechumens; spiritual directors; spiritual leaders; colic; intestinal disorders; starch makers; stomach diseases; Against ulcers; apple orchards; diocese of Monterey, California
St. Charles used the following strong language to the assembly of bishops during the convocation of the Synod: “Let us fear lest the angered judge say to us: If you were the enlighteners of My Church, why have you closed your eyes? If you pretended to be shepherds of the flock, why have you suffered it to stray? Salt of the earth, you have lost your savor. Light of the world, they that sat in darkness and the shadow of death have never seen you shine. You were apostles; who, then, put your apostolic firmness to the test, since you have done nothing but seek to please men? You were the mouth of the Lord, and you have made that mouth dumb. If you allege in excuse that the burden was beyond your strength, why did you make it the object of your ambitious intrigues?”
Saint Charles Borromeo wrote the following prayer to his Guardian Angel: “O beloved angel, who has been given me as a protector by the Divine Majesty, I desire to die in the Faith which the Holy, Roman and Apostolic Church adheres to and defends, in which all the saints of the New Testament have died, and outside of which there is no salvation.” 🙏
PRAYER: God, maintain in Your people that spirit with which You inspired Your Bishop, St. Charles, so that Your Church may be constantly renewed, conforming herself to Christ and manifesting Christ to the world. Amen 🙏
QUOTES OF SAINT CHARLES BORROMEO
☆”Charity is that with which no man is lost, and without which no man is saved.”
☆”We must meditate before, during and after everything we do. The prophet says: “I will pray, and then I will understand.” This is the way we can easily overcome the countless difficulties we have to face day after day, which, after all, are part of our work. In meditation we find the strength to bring Christ to birth in ourselves and in others.”
☆”If we wish to make any progress in the service of God we must begin every day of our life with new eagerness. We must keep ourselves in the presence of God as much as possible and have no other view or end in all our actions but the divine honor.”
☆”If a tiny spark of God’s love already burns within you, do not expose it to the wind, for it may get blown out… Stay quiet with God. Do not spend your time in useless chatter… Do not give yourself to others so completely that you have nothing left for yourself.”
SAINTS VITALIS AND AGRICOLA, MARTYRS: Saints Vitalis and Agricola were venerated as martyrs of Bologna, who are considered to have died at Bologna about 304, during the persecution ordered by Roman Emperor Diocletian. St. Agricola was a Christian citizen of Bologna who converted his slave, Vitalis to Christianity; they became deeply attached to each other. Vitalis was first to suffer martyrdom, being executed in the amphitheatre. The authorities then tortured Agricola, but failed to make him give up his religion. He was finally crucified. According to legendary account, in vain was Vitalis tempted by promises to renounce his faith; he merely showed himself more constant as a confessor of Christ. He was tortured most dreadfully, but bore all with incomparable patience till in prayer he gave up the spirit. Agricola’s sentence was delayed in the hope that the torments of his slave would frighten him into a denial of Christ, but the constancy of Vitalis confirmed him in the faith. He was nailed to a cross and thereby became a comrade and sharer with his servant in the crown of martyrdom (c. 304). Their bodies were discovered in 393 during the episcopate of St. Ambrose who was present at the translation of their relics.
Saints Vitalis and Agricola, Martyrs ~ Pray for us 🙏