In the 16th century there were many abuses in the way the Catholic Church was run. The Protestant Reformation did not correct them. (You can never correct an institution by leaving it.) But credit must still be given to the Protestant reformers for arousing Catholic leaders out of their lethargy. The result was the great ecumenical council of Trent, which brought about true reform.
St. Charles Borromeo is an ideal representative of the Catholic-Church-unreformed and the Catholic-Church-reformed. One of the pre-reformation abuses in papal practice, for instance, was that of a pope’s naming his own relatives to high positions. As late as 1559, when Cardinal John Medici was elected pope (Paul IV), he named Charles Borromeo, his nephew, a Cardinal, although Charles was only 22 years old and still not ordained a priest! The pope brought him to Rome and gave him all sorts of important jobs. Time proved, however, that Paul IV had selected the right man. Charles was embarrassed by his position, but a holy archbishop assured him that he should take advantage of it so as to help the Church to correct bad habits. Cardinal Charles forged ahead on that basis. He became the leader in reconvening the reformist Council of Trent and guiding it on to its splendid conclusion. Among his special contributions was the great handbook of Catholic teaching, the Catechism of the Council of Trent.
Once the council’s work was done, of course, it had to be put into effect. (Our own experience since 1965 reminds us how difficult it can be to put a lot of new Church laws into effect - even very good laws.) Charles had been officially archbishop of Milan since 1560. Now he left Rome and went to his diocese, intent on enforcing the reform laws that he had played so great a part in framing. Prayerfully and with great diligence, he worked to make better Catholics out of his own archdiocesans and the rest of the Catholics under his jurisdiction in northern Italy and Switzerland. He enacted laws in local councils. He established the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, which instructed 40,000 children at Sunday schools. He encouraged new religious orders. He established seminars for training better priests. (Once he said, “Ah, you do not realize the worth of the life of one good priest!”) From 1575 to 1578 the bubonic plague hit Milan and its vicinity. Most of the city fathers fled, but the Cardinal Archbishop stayed in the city and took care of the plague-ridden with his own hands. Reforming people is more difficult, it seems, than bringing them to first conversion. St. Charles had to face not only stubborn non-cooperation, but violent rejection on the part of those who needed to be reformed. Thus the “chapter of canons” of the Church of Santa Maria della Scala declared that they would not allow the archbishop to make an official visitation of inquiry there, as he was supposed to do in all his churches. When he came to call, these priests slammed the door in his face. They appealed to the governor, who at first sided with the rebels and threatened to banish the Cardinal.
Then there was the religious order of the Humiliati. In its earlier years, these had done much good work. Now, however, the members were so unwilling to accept the new regulations that one of their priests named Farina shot the Cardinal point-blank as he knelt in prayer. Oddly, indeed miraculously, the bullet, though it penetrated his clothing, only raised a bruise on the victim’s skin.
In the 1920s, the then archbishop of Milan gave to the Church of St. Borromeo in Rochester, New York a part of a vestment that St. Charles was wearing when he was “assassinated”. It is a precious reminder of the great work that St. Charles did to infuse new life into Christianity. It is also a reminder of the problems that any pope and any bishop will have, even today, when they do their duty to renew those of us who object because we think more of what we want than of what God wants. --Father Robert F. McNamara
Scripture(Rom 12:3-13)
By the grace given to me I tell everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than one ought to think, but to think soberly, each according to the measure of faith that God has apportioned. For as in one body we have many parts, and all the parts do not have the same function, so we, though many, are one Body in Christ and individually parts of one another. Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us exercise them: if prophecy, in proportion to the faith; if ministry, in ministering; if one is a teacher, in teaching; if one exhorts, in exhortation; if one contributes, in generosity; if one is over others, with diligence; if one does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness. Let love be sincere; hate what is evil, hold on to what is good; love one another with mutual affection; anticipate one another in showing honor. Do not grow slack in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, endure in affliction, persevere in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the holy ones, exercise hospitality.
Writings
(Year C). There is another disposition which the Lord demands of you, and which I wish you diligently to consider today. This disposition consists in that diligent examination by which each of you shall scrutinize the intention and purpose you have for wanting to be numbered among the ministers of the altar. Look and see, all of you, whether it can be truly be said of you that, in the words employed by Holy Mother Church, This is the generation of them that seek the Lord (Ps. 23:6). Let each of you think carefully about why he is giving himself over to this divine service. Let him ask himself whether it is in order to escape poverty, to attain high ecclesiastical and clerical ranks, to become a parish pastor, to raise up indigent parents, to take life easy in leisure afterward, or for other reasons like those. If anyone among you is like that, let him hold back on this, I beg you through the mercies of our Lord Jesus Christ, so he does not bring such great insult and injury upon this most noble Sacrament. Let him beware of directing such a noble dignity to such an ignoble end. Otherwise woe to him; woe to him whose aim is not good. These are not the things to seek with such noble means, but the Lord alone is to be sought. You must be a generation of men seeking the Lord, so that from your heart you may be able to say to your God: My portion is you, O Lord (cf. Ps. 118:57). If there is anyone like that, and his sight and aim are pure and simple, then your whole body will be light (cf. Lk. 11:34). For you will find the Lord whom you seek, since he himself, who is infallible truth, has promised it: seek, and you shall find (Mt. 7:7). Meditate, therefore, on how great a thing it is to be called into the Lord's portion, to be distinguished as a minister of the Lord. Consider, I ask of you, how much the Lord required the ministers of the old covenant to be selected from the whole people, and how much he required them to be separated out from the entire mass of people, when he said to them: I have given you your brethren the Levites from among the children of Israel (Num. 18:6), and in another place: be holy because I am holy (Lev. 11:44). Those ministers only handled sheep, oxen and lambs as victims. Is it not therefore proper that you, who are to be priests of the new covenant and to handle the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, should be more outstanding than them, and _ in sum superior to them in holiness of life? Get with it then, most beloved brothers in God; recognize the sublimity of your future office and ministry, the excellence of your order, and approach with the sole aim which we have mentioned, with this pure intention to not offend your God and Lord. And so you may be strong enough for what is required of you, flee to the Holy Spirit, the One who bestows graces and gifts, and whose descent upon the apostles we recall in these days. Implore the aid of him who stands ready to help all who invoke him. Ask strength of him who gives to all men abundantly (Jas 1:5); so that serving God and his altar most agreeably, you may rightly receive the reward of the ministry carried out, from the Supreme Priest and Pontiff who is Christ in Heaven. Amen. (Homily to ordinands)
Musical Selection
Sacerdotes Dei, benedícite Dóminum: sancti, et húmiles corde, laudáte Deum. Ps. Benedícite, ómnia ópera Dómini, Dómino: laudáte et superexaltáte eum in sæcula. Gloria Patri....
O ye priests of the Lord, bless the Lord: O ye holy and humble of heart, praise God. Ps. All ye works of the Lord, bless the Lord, praise and exalt Him above all for ever. Glory be to the Father.
Collect
Almighty Father, who raised up Charles Borromeo to serve as a bishop and to reform the liturgy of the Church: let our Church be continually renewed and show the image of Christ to the world by being conformed to his likeness, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, forever and ever. Amen.(English Missal)
