On November 4 the Church honors St. Charles Borromeo (1538-1584), Archbishop of Milan and one of the great figures of the Catholic Reformation. Born in 1538 at Arona on Lake Maggiore, the nephew of Pope Pius IV, he was created cardinal at twenty-two and appointed Archbishop of Milan at twenty-eight. He implemented the Council of Trent with a thoroughness that transformed his diocese — founding seminaries, reforming monasteries, and in 1576 personally leading the pastoral care of Milan during a plague that killed 17,000, when the city's governor and nobility fled. He founded the Oblates of St. Ambrose to serve the poor and educate the clergy.
He died on November 3, 1584, and was canonized in 1610. His relics are enshrined in the crypt of Milan Cathedral (Duomo di Milano), beneath the high altar. The great statue of him on the heights of Arona above his birthplace — 35 metres tall, built in 1697 — was for two centuries the largest bronze statue in the world. In Rome he lived and worked at the Vatican during his cardinalate, and the church of San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane, designed by Borromini in 1640, is dedicated to him.
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Milan
Italy · Europe
Milan holds profound Catholic significance as the seat of Saint Ambrose and Charles Borromeo, featuring the magnificent Duomo where Saint Augustine was baptized.
Rome
Italy · Europe
Rome holds the tombs of Peter and Paul, the four papal basilicas, the Holy Stairs and the catacombs of the early Church.