ST CHARLES, cardinal, and archbishop of Milan, was the son of Gilbert Borromeo, count of Arona, and of Mary of Medicis, and was born at the castle of Arona, upon the Lago Maggiore, in the Milanese, on the 2d October 1538. When he was about twelve years old, Julius Caesar Borromeus resigned to him an abbacy, which was considered as an hereditary appertenance of the family; and Charles accepted the benefice, but applied the revenue wholly in charity to the poor. Having acquired a sufficient knowledge of the languages at Milan, he studied the civil and canon law at Pavia; and derived great advantage from the company and conversation of Francis Aleat, one of the most learned men of the age. In the year 1554 his father died, an event which recalled him to his native place, Arona, where, although he had an elder brother, Count Frederick, he was requested by the family to take the management of their domestic affairs, which he at length consented to do.

After a time however he resumed his studies, and, in the year 1559, being then just twenty-one, he took his doctor's degree. The promotion of his uncle Cardinal de' Medici to the pontificate, by the name of Pius IV., which happened the year following, seemed to have little effect upon him; but he was soon made prothonotary, intrusted with both the public and privy seal of the ecclesiastical state, and created cardinal deacon, and soon after archbishop of Milan. In compliance with the wish of his uncle the pope, he lived in great splendour, having a brilliant retinue and a large number of domestics; yet his own temperance and humility were never brought into question. In order to render even his amusements useful, he established an academy of select and learned persons, each of whom was to write on some chosen subject, either in verse or in prose, and to communicate to the others in frequent conferences the fruits of his studies. The works produced by this society have been published in several volumes, under the title of Noctes Vaticanæ, printed at Venice in 1748, because these useful assemblies were held at the Vatican, in the evenings, after the business of the day had been concluded. About this time he also formed a design of founding a college at Pavia, and in prosecution of this design raised a large edifice upon the foundations of several houses which belonged to the Borromeo family in that city. He also obtained from the pope several benefices, which he attached to his establishment; he provided it, out of his own private income, with every thing necessary for the young scholars; and he dedicated the college thus founded to Justinia, virgin and martyr.

Upon the death of his elder brother Frederick, his relations, friends, and even the pope himself, advised him to change his state, quit the church, and marry, that his family might not become extinct. Contrary to this advice and the expectations of the world, however, Charles addressed the pope in these terms: "Do not complain of me, holy father, for I have taken a spouse whom I love, and on whom my wishes have long been fixed." From this time he became more fervent in the exercises of piety, and more zealous for the advancement of ecclesiastical knowledge.

A very intimate friendship subsisted between Borromeus and Don Barthélemy des Martyrs, archbishop of Prague, and author of a book entitled Stimulus Pastorum. This work falling into the hands of Borromeus, inspired him with an earnest desire to become a preacher, more especially as he was now convinced that predication was one of the principal duties of a prelate. Multiplicity of business, ill health, a feeble voice, and a difficult pronunciation, formed no inconsiderable obstacles to the success of his design, yet he at length surmounted them all; and although his beginnings were weak, perseverance enabled him ultimately to attain the object of his ambition. Meanwhile a change in the state of his relations with the holy see was at hand.

Pius IV. died on the 7th of January 1566, and twenty-eight days thereafter Cardinal Alexandrine mounted the papal throne under the title of Pius V., the skill and diligence of Borromeus having very materially contributed to stifle the cabals of the conclave. As soon as this event took place, and tranquillity had been re-established at Rome, which was generally disturbed by such elections, Borromeus gave himself wholly up to the reformation of his diocese of Milan, where the most flagitious irregularities were openly practised, and where, from the ignorance of the secular clergy, the insubordination of the regulars, the superstitious practices introduced into public worship, the scandalous negligence exhibited in the administration of the sacraments, and the gross abuse of all the functions of the holy ministry, matters had fallen into a most deplorable state. The archbishop began by making pastoral visits in his metropolis, where the canons were by no means distinguished for the purity of their manners. By a variety of wise and necessary regulations, he soon restored proper decency and dignity to divine service. In conformity to the decrees of the council of Trent, he cleared the cathedral of the gorgeous tombs, rich ornaments, banners, arms, and in general of all the trophies with which the vanity of man had disfigured the house of God; and in order to give a sanction to his reform by a decisive example, he spared not the monuments of his nearest relations. Nor did his zeal stop here. He divided the nave of the church throughout its whole length into two compartments, so that the sexes, being separated, might perform their devotions without any attention to each other, and with feelings and impressions suitable to the place. From the cathedral he proceeded next to the collegiate churches, and even to the fraternities of penitents, particularly that of St John the Baptist. The duty of this society was to attend criminals to the place of punishment, and to assist, comfort, and prepare them for death; but the spirit of the institution had been forgotten, and the wretches condemned to death were dragged to execution like beasts, without spiritual assistance or consolation. The archbishop revived the original fervour of the order, and persuaded many of the nobility and principal persons of the city to become members of a society appropriated to so eminent a branch of Christian charity. The reformation of the monasteries followed that of the churches; and the vigilance of the archbishop soon extended itself from the city to the country round it, which abounded with irregularities requiring correction. The great abuses which had overrun the church at this time arose principally from the ignorance of the clergy. In order, therefore, to attack the evil at its root, Charles established seminaries, colleges, and communities, for the education of young persons intended for holy orders. He met with many difficulties and much opposition in his endeavours to bring about a reformation of manners; but by an inflexible constancy, tempered with great sweetness of manners, he prevailed against every obstacle, and succeeded in rendering the most important services to the cause of morals as well as religion.

But the governor of the province, and many of the senators, were apprehensive that the cardinal's ordinances and proceedings would encroach upon the civil jurisdiction, and become inconsistent with the rights of his Catholic Majesty, to whom the duchy of Milan then belonged. And this proved a fruitful source of remonstrances, representations, and complaints, addressed to the courts of Rome and Madrid; these, however, in so far as concerned the king of Spain, Philip II., were referred entirely to the decision of the pope. But Borromeus had more formidable difficulties to struggle with, in the inveterate opposition of several religious orders, particularly that of the Brothers of Humility. Three provosts of the society entered into a conspiracy to cut him off; and one of their confederates, Jerome Donat, surnamed Furioso, took upon him to carry the design into execution. For this purpose he mixed with the crowd which repaired to the archiepiscopal chapel, where the cardinal spent an hour every evening in prayer with his domestics and other pious persons; and having watched his opportunity, he fired at his eminence a barquebus, loaded with a ball suited to the calibre of the piece, and with a considerable charge of leaden shot besides. It is said that the ball struck him on the spine, but dropped at his feet without doing any other damage than ruffling his rochet, and that one of the shot penetrated his clothes to the skin, and there stopped, without imprinting any wound; which was considered a miracle, especially as another shot tore away part of a wall, and went quite through a table. Without having recourse to such a solution, his escape is certainly wonderful, considering that the assassin had taken his station at the distance of only five or six paces from his intended victim. At the moment when the shot was fired the choir were chanting the fine old melody, Non turbetur cor vestrum neque formidet; and it is said, that after the discharge of the piece the cardinal archbishop continued the service without any apparent emotion. The assassin and three of his accomplices were seized, tried, condemned, and executed, notwithstanding every effort of the cardinal to screen them from the punishment which they so well merited. In the year 1576 the city and diocese of Milan were visited by the plague, which swept away great numbers. On this occasion the behaviour of Borromeus was truly Christian and heroic. He not only continued on the spot, but went about giving directions for accommodating the sick and burying the dead, with a zeal and attention that were at once ardent and deliberate, minute and comprehensive; and his example stimulated others to join in the good work. He avoided no danger, and he spared no expense; nor did he content himself with establishing proper regulations in the city, but went out into all the neighbouring parishes where the contagion raged, distributing money to the poor, ordering proper accommodations for the sick, and punishing those, especially the clergy, who were remiss in discharging the duties of their calling. But notwithstanding the fatigue and perplexity which he suffered in thus executing his pastoral charge, he abated nothing of the usual austerity of his life, nor omitted any of his stated devotions; whatever approached to luxury or magnificence he considered as incompatible with the propriety of his character; bread and water constituted his humble and daily fare.

But continual labours and austerities at last shortened the life of this remarkable man. Having gone to Verceil to put an end, if possible, to divisions which threatened the most fatal consequences, he there received a message from the duke of Savoy, requesting his presence at Turin, whither he immediately repaired. From Turin he retired to a place called the Sepulchre, on the mountain Varais, where being seized with an intermittent fever, he returned to Milan, and died there on the 4th of November 1584; the day after his return. Borromeus was canonized on the 1st of November 1610, in the pontificate of Leo XI. Besides the Noctes Vaticanæ, to which he appears to have contributed, the only literary relics of this intrepid and zealous reformer are some homilies, discourses, and sermons, with a collection of letters. Several lives of him have been published. That by Godeau, however, is too succinct; that by Touron, a Dominican, is too diffuse; and that by Ribadeneira, a Spanish Jesuit, is filled with incredible and ridiculous fables. But through all the mist of absurdity and superstition in which the character and actions of Borromeus have been involved, it is easy to discern, that if the Church of Rome had had many such men, religion might have been spared some grievous wounds, and the nations of Europe many afflicting and sanguinary convulsions.