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Francesco Caccianiga: St Carlo Borromeo Tended by an Angel

Prayer to Saint Charles Borromeo:

O Glorious St. Charles! The father of the clergy, and the perfect model of holy prelates! Thou art that good pastor, who, like thy divine Master, didst give up thy life for thy flock, if not by death, at least by the numerous sacrifices of thy painful mission. Thy sanctified life on earth was a spur to the most fervent, thy exemplary penance was a reproach to the slothful, and thy indefatigable zeal was the support of the Church.

St. Charles, Father and Guide of the Clergy, pray for us
St. Charles, the light and support of the Church, pray for us.

"ST. CHARLES was born at Arona, near Milan, of a noble family. He was bred up in virtue and learning; and being designed for the Church, a great abbey was resigned into his hands, while he was yet a youth. But he remonstrated with his father, that its revenues ought not to be converted to his own use, as if it had been a patrimony; and it being left to his disposal, he distributed it all among the poor. He did the same afterwards with a sum of forty thousand crowns, and another time with twenty thousand, left him as legacies. At the age of three-and-twenty, he was made cardinal by his uncle, Pope Pius IV., and soon after, in consideration of his great wisdom and virtue, he was made archbishop of Milan. In this charge, he labored with all possible zeal to reform his clergy, according to the decrees of the Council of Trent, both by frequently visiting his diocese and founding seminaries; but above all by his own example in a laborious, charitable, and penitential life. When Milan was visited with the plague, he sold all his household goods, even to his bed, for the relief of the distressed. He went every where to comfort the sick, and administered to them the holy sacraments. His zeal in doing good to others raised him many enemies; and even some, whose disorders could not bear this charity, attempted to take away his life. But nothing ever discouraging him, he went on with a truly apostolic spirit, doing good to all, and severe only to himself. Having retired into a solitude, he there employed some time in rigorous fasting and other austerities, and in meditating on the Passion of Christ. But being seized with fever, he returned to Milan, and there gave up his happy soul into the hands of God, in the year 1584, leaving nothing but skin and bones. Give thanks to God for this great prelate, who seems to have been chosen for an example to the whole Church Let not this day pass, without taking some lesson from this saint, as to charity, penance, and solicitude, in every duty.

 For more than eighty years Milan had been without a resident archbishop, and left to the government of a single Vicar, but too often a man of lax discipline, who have but a small portion of his time to the administration of the diocese. All this neglect, added to revolutions, wars, and other calamities of the times, had reduced the vineyard of the Lord to a deplorable condition. Not only was it barren of fruit, but the rank weeds of sin flourished in profusion for the chastisement of the wickedness of men. Ecclesiastical jurisdiction was almost entirely neglected, and in certain points was never exercised. (...) The lives and manners of the clergy were as scandalous as can be conceived, and gave the worst example, for their way of living was altogether worldly, and more sensual by far than that of laymen. They wore the secular dress, carried arms publicly, and lived for the most part in open and habitual concubinage, absenting themselves from their benefices, and neglecting all things appertaining to the service of God. The churches and sacred things were in consequence in a neglected and disgraceful state. So great was the ignorance of many who had cure of souls, that they did not know even the sacramental form of confession, nor that there were such things as reserved cases and censures. In some parts of the diocese ignorance had reached such a pitch that priests having cure of souls never went to confession, believing that they were not bound to do so, because they confessed others. Many other lamentable abuses were seen in the lives of the clergy, whose office was thus rendered contemptible, and little short of hateful, in the eyes of the laity, so that it had become a common saying, "If you want to go to hell, become a priest." Source: The Catholic Year; Or Daily Lessons on the Feasts of the Church by Rev. Fr. John Gother

"Even the regulars were not exempt from these disorders. From the bad lives of both the secular and regular clergy, there sprang up among the people countless errors, corruptions, and heresies. Numbers having entirely lost all knowledge of God, abandoned, as a natural consequence, the observance of His holy law. The sacraments, especially Confession and Communion, were very lightly esteemed. Many persons neglected them for ten and fifteen years, or even longer. There were to be found men of ripe age who had never made a confession, and who did not even know the meaning of it; whilst those persons who desired to keep up an appearance of Christianity, approached the sacraments once a year from custom rather than true devotion. A very small number were indeed yet to be found, both among clergy and people, who were assiduous in attending the sacred mysteries, whose Christian lives shone out in contrast to those of the majority around them. So much ignorance of the things of God prevailed, especially among the poor, that they had no knowledge of the foundations and principles of the Catholic faith, and were unable to say the Lord's Prayer or the Hail Mary. They did not know the Articles of the Faith or the Precepts of the Church, and could scarcely make the sign of the cross. Holy days were profaned by plays, dances, games, banquetings, and other disorders, as also by servile works, and public fairs and markets. It was as if Festivals had been ordained for the express purpose of multiplying occasions of offending God. Holy places were treated with the utmost irreverence. The business of the markets was carried on in the churches even during the time of the Divine Offices. Men laughed and talked loudly in the assembly of the faithful, walking up and down, as though it were a public lounge. Worse still, in some parts of the diocese banquets and balls were held in the churches; while, at other times, they were used without any scruple for threshing grain, and other profane purposes. Religion was brought so low that men, in a state of semi-intoxication, would actually mock priests by feigning a wish to go to confession. They would even show themselves in the church with masks on, and, under pretense of making their offering, would seize upon the offerings of others. The majority altogether disregarded the observance of fasting days, especially during Lent, when not only milk food, but even flesh meat, was eaten openly and without scruple; and the bacchanalian orgies of the carnival were prolonged for several days of the holy season, during which public feasts, dances, and disorders without number were carried on. The public scandals of adultery and of habitual concubinage were of continual occurrence, together with thousands of others vices and corruptions too numerous to mention. In like manner there was a neglect of discipline and strict observance in convents, the nuns allowing themselves the greatest liberty, coming in and going out at their pleasure, and admitting seculars freely, there being no observance of enclosure. It were needless and distressing to dwell at any length upon the public entertainments, profane dances, and such like disorders of these convents, together with grievous and deplorable scandals which resulted therefrom.

Such was the miserable condition of the Church of Milan before God blessed it with the presence of St. Charles. Often would the saint weep bitterly when on his visits to his diocese he witnessed with his own eyes these miseries. It was not, however, to be wondered at that weeds had overrun the vineyard, which had been so long deprived of a careful husbandman. Prelates and pastors may take warning from the sufferings entailed on their flocks by non-residence. Strict, indeed, will be the account they will have to render to God of all the souls whom their neglect has buried in hell."Source: The life of st. Charles Borromeo by  Fr. Giovanni Pietro Giussano