Roberto de Mattei
Corrispondenza Romana
March 4, 2020
St. Charles Borromeo
(1538-1584), Cardinal of the Holy Roman Catholic Church and Archbishop of Milan
from 1565 to 1583, was described in the decree for his canonization, as “a man,
even while the world smiles on him with the utmost flattery, he lives crucified to
the world, spiritually, trampling earthly things, seeking continuously the
things of heaven, emulating the life of the Angels on earth, in his thoughts
and actions. (Paolo V, Bolla « Unigenitus »
del 1 Nov. 1610).
Devotion to the angels
accompanied St. Charles throughout his life. Count Enrique de Guzmán, Philip
II’s Ambassador to Rome, described him as “more of an angel than a man” (Giovanni Pietro Giussano, Vita di San Carlo Borromeo, Stamperia
della Camera Apostolica, Roma 1610, p.
441). Many artists, such as Teodoro
Vallonio in Palermo and Sebastien Bourdon in Fabriano, depicted Charles Borromeo
in their paintings while contemplating an angel re-sheathing his bloodied sword
into its scabbard, signifying the cessation of the terrible plague of 1576.
Everything
began in the month of August that year. Milan was celebrating joyfully the
arrival of Don John of Austria, on his way to Flanders, where he had been appointed
governor. The city authorities were abuzz with excitement in their desire to
bestow the highest honours on the Spanish prince, but Charles, who had been
Archbishop of the diocese for six years,
was following with concern the news coming from Trento, Verona and
Mantua, where the plague had begun claiming victims. The first cases exploded
in Milan on August 11th, right at the moment when Don John of
Austria arrived. The victor of Lepanto, followed by the governor, Antonio de Guzmán y Zuñiga, departed the city, while
Charles, who was in Lodi for the Bishop’s funeral, returned in haste.
Confusion and fear reigned in Milan and the Archbishop dedicated himself
completely to assisting the sick and ordering public and private prayers. Dom Prosper Guéranger sums up his
infinite charity in this way: “In the absence of local authorities, he
organized the health service, founded or renewed hospitals, sought money and provisions,
decreed preventive measures. Most importantly though, he took steps to ensure
spiritual help, assistance to the sick and the burial of the dead. Unafraid
of being infected, he paid in person, by
visiting hospitals, leading penitential processions, being everything to
everyone, like a father and true shepherd” (L'anno
liturgico - II. Tempo
Pasquale e dopo la Pentecoste, Paoline,
Alba 1959, pp. 1245-1248).
St. Charles was convinced that
the epidemic was “a scourge sent by Heaven” as chastisement for the sins of the
people and that recourse to spiritual measures was necessary to fight against
it: prayer and penitence. He rebuked the civil authorities for having placed
their trust in human measures rather than divine ones. “Hadn’t they prohibited
all the pious gatherings and processions during the time of the Jubilee? For him, and he was convinced of it, these
were the causes of the chastisement. (Chanoine Charles Sylvain, Histoire de Saint Charles Borromée,
Desclée de Brouwer, Lille 1884, vol. II, p. 135). The magistrates who governed
the city continued to oppose public ceremonies, out of fear that the large
gathering of people would spread contagion, but Charles “who was guided by the
Divine Spirit” – recounts another biographer – convinced them by citing various
examples, among which was the one regarding St. Gregory the Great who had
halted the plague devastating Rome in 590 (Giussano, op. cit. p. 266).
While the pestilence
spread, the Archbishop then ordered
three general processions to take place in Milan on the 3rd, 5th
and 6th of October, “to placate the wrath of God”. On the first day,
the Saint, despite it not being the Lenten season, placed ashes on the heads of
the thousands gathered, exhorting them to penitence. Once the ceremony was
over, the procession went to the Basilica of St. Ambrose. Charles put himself
at the head of the people, dressed in a hooded purple robe, barefoot,
penitential cord at his neck and large cross in his hand. In the church, he
preached on the first lament of the prophet Jeremiah Quomodo sedet sola civitas plena populo,
affirming that the sins of the people had provoked the just indignation of God.
The second procession led by
the Cardinal headed towards the Basilica of
San Lorenzo. In his sermon, he applied the dream of Nebuchadnezzar of
which Daniel speaks, to the city of Milan , “indicating that the vengeance of
God had come upon it” (Giussano, Vita di
San Carlo Borromeo, p. 267). The third day the procession from the Duomo
headed for the Basilica of Santa Maria at San Celso. St. Charles carried in his
hands a relique of Our Lord’s Holy Nail,
which had been given by the Emperor Theodosius to St. Ambrose in the 5th
century and he concluded the ceremony with a sermon entitled: Peccatum peccavit Jerusalem (Jeremiah 1,8).
The plague didn’t show any
signs of waning and Milan appeared depopulated, as a third of its citizens had
lost their lives and the others were in quarantine or didn’t dare leave their
homes. The Archbishop ordered about twenty stone columns with a cross at the
top to be erected in the main squares and city crossroads, allowing the
inhabitants from every quarter to take part in the Masses and public prayers -
from the windows of their homes. One of Milan’s protectors was St. Sebastian,
the martyr the Romans had recourse to during the plague in 672. St. Charles suggested that the magistrates of
Milan reconstruct the sanctuary dedicated to him, which was falling into ruins,
and to celebrate a solemn feast in his honour for ten years. Finally in July 1577, the plague ceased and in
September the founding stone was laid in the civic temple of St. Sebastian,
where on January 20th every year, even today a Mass is offered to
recall the end of the scourge.
The Milan plague of 1576 was
what the Sack of Rome by the Landsknechts was to the Romans fifty years before:
a chastisement, but also an opportunity for purification and conversion.
Charles Borromeo gathered his meditations in a Memorial, wherein, he writes
among other things: “City of Milan, your greatness reached the heavens; your
wealth extended to the confines of the universe world (…) Then, all of sudden,
from Heaven comes the pestilence which is the Hand of God, and, all of a sudden,
your pride was crushed” (Memoriale al suo
diletto popolo della città e diocesi di Milano, Michele Tini, Roma 1579,
pp. 28-29). The Saint was convinced that everything was due to the great mercy
of God: “He wounded and healed; He scourged and cured; He placed his hand on
the rod of chastisement and offered the staff of support” (Memoriale, p. 81).
St. Charles Borromeo died on
November 3rd 1584 and was buried in the Duomo of Milan. His heart was solemnly
translated to Rome, in the Basilica of Saints Ambrose and Charles in Via del
Corso where it is still venerated. Countless churches have been dedicated to
him, among which is the majestic Karlskirche of
Vienna, built in the 18th century as a votive act to the Emperor
Charles VI, who had entrusted the Saint with the protection of the city during
the plague of 1713.
During
his eighteen years of governing the diocese of Milan, Archbishop Borromeo, with
the same vigour, was devoted to
combating heresy which he considered the plague of the spirit. According to St.
Charles, “there is no other fault that God is so greatly offended by, none provokes
such indignation as the vice of heresy, and in turn, nothing can bring the
provinces and kingdoms to ruin more than that horrid plague can.” (Conc. Prov.
V, Pars I). St. Pius X, citing one of his phrases, describes him as “a model
for the flock and the shepherds of modern times, unflagging advocate and counselor
of authentic Catholic reform against those innovators of the time, whose intent
was not reintegration but rather deformation and destruction of the faith and
customs” (Encyclical Edita saepe del 26 May 1910).
Translation.
Contributor Francesca Romana
