742 



BORROMEO. 



Borromeo. narch." See Coxe'a Travels in Switzerland, vol.iii. 

 ,. M ..m' i ett . 91. p. 312. Burnet's Letters' in Switzerland, 

 8vo. 1686, which is also published in Harris's Col- 

 lection of Voyages, vol. ii. ; and Keysler's Travels, 

 vol. i. Iett. 35. p. 374, &c. (j) 



BORROMEO, Charles, a celebrated Cardinal 

 of the Romish church, whose piety and zeal for re- 

 formation, entitle him to the remembrance of poste- 

 rity. He was born at the castle of Arona, upon the 

 Lago Maggiore, in October 1538, and was the son 

 of Gilbert Borromeo, Count of Arona, and of Mary 

 de Medicis. At the early age of twelve, he was ap- 

 pointed to an abbacy, which had been hereditary in 

 the family ; but he accepted of this office merely that 

 he might apply the revenue which it yielded to cha- 

 ritable purposes ; and he afterwards refused to hold 

 any new benefice, unless he was permitted to apply 

 the income which it afforded to some benevolent or 

 public use. After acquiring a knowledge of lan- 

 guages at Milan, and studying the canon and civil 

 law at Pavia, he took his doctor's degree in 1559. In 

 the following year, his uncle Pius IV. succeeded to 

 the pontificate, and the highest prospects of prefer- 

 ment were thus laid open to Borromeo. He was in- 

 vested with the dignities of cardinal nephew* arch- 

 bishop of Milan, legate of Ancona, Bologna, Ro- 

 magna, and protector of several crowns, and religious 

 orders. Elevated to such dignities at an early period 

 of life, and necessarily surrounded with a brilliant 

 train of attendants, we could scarcely have expected 

 any of that humility and temperance with which Bor- 

 romeo was distinguished. The first use which he 

 made of the high influence he possessed, was to in- 

 stitute an academy, composed both of laymen and 

 ecclesiastics, for the purpose of discussing liter- 

 ary topics, but particularly those which related to sa- 

 cred subjects. This society met in the Vatican, and 

 hence the transactions which they published were en- 

 titled Noctcs Vaticanae. 



After the council of Trent had issued its decrees 

 for the reformation of the clergy, Borromeo devoted 

 himself, with the utmost ardour, to carry into effect 

 these important resolutions. He dismissed at once 80 

 of his domestics ; he abandoned the use of silk in his 

 dress ; and he began to reform the clergy, by increa- 

 sing the means of their education. With this view, 

 he founded a college at Pavia, and a Jesuit's college 

 at Milan, and he took a principal part in erecting a 

 splendid building for the university of Bologna. 



Though strongly attached to the church of Rome, 

 he was by no means blind to the vices and corrup- 

 tions which were undermining its foundation, and 

 he set himself to carry through a system of reform, 

 perhaps too extensive for the power and influence of 

 a single individual. 



He revived the pastoral visits in Rome ; he gave 

 decency to public worship, by a number of salutary 

 regulations ; he cleared the cathedrals of those pom- 

 pous busts and ornaments with which they were dis- 

 figured ; and he began this unpopular work, by re- 

 moving the monuments of his nearest relations. 



This system was soon extended from the cathe- Borromeo. 

 drals to the other churches, to the fraternities of peai- 



tents, and even to the monasteries themselves, those 

 fertile sources of every species of iniquity. In these 

 6alutary attempts he met with the most formidable 

 opposition, which nothing but the most inflexible in- 

 tegrity could have surmounted. Even the civil power 

 began to regard such changes with a jealous eye, and, 

 contrary to its strongest interests, to retard, by re- 

 monstrances and complaints, the cc.mpletion of Bor- 

 romco's plans. This opposition, however, was not so 

 overpowering as that which he met with from sever- 

 al of the religious orders. Three provost3 of the or- 

 der of the Brothers of Humility, conspired against 

 the life of the cardinal, and one of their confederates 

 undertook the execution of their dark deeigr. While 

 Borromeo was performing his evening devotions in 

 the archiepiscopal chapel of Milan, the assassin fueda 

 harqucbuss at him, but he fortunately missed his aim, 

 and the life of the venerable cardinal was preserved. 



The plague, which visited Milan iu the v;ar 1576, 

 afforded a grand opportunity for the display of those 

 great virtues which distinguished Borromeo. It. pro- 

 curing accommodation for the sick, in buiying the 

 dead, and in making regulations for keeping conta- 

 gion from those that were healthy, the good cardi- 

 nal exposed himself to every danger, and even old his 

 goods, in order to procure the means of relieving the 

 distresses of his people. * 



Worn out with these labours, and by that abstemi- 

 ous severity which he prescribed to himself, Borro- 

 meo was seized with an intermittent fever while at a 

 place called the Sepulchre, on the mountain Varais. 

 The violence of the disease permitted him, with dif- 

 ficulty, to travel to Milan, where he expired the 

 day after his arrival, on the 4th of November 1584, 

 in the 47th year of his age. 



The sensations of true sorrow which were felt for 

 the loss of this great man, extended beyond his own 

 diocese to every corner of the province. He was 

 immediately worshipped as a saint by the vulgar, 

 though he was not regularly canonized till the year 

 1610. 



At a little distance from the town of Arona, to- 

 wards the Borromean islands, a colossal statue of brass 

 has been erected in honour of Borromeo. It is placed 

 on an eminence, very near a seminary for forty boys, 

 founded by the cardinal. It is about 35 ells high, \ 

 and stands upon a pedestal about 25 ells in height. 

 Borromeo is represented in the cardinal's habit, look- 

 ing towards Milan : he has a book under his left arm, 

 and his right hand is extended, as if he were in the 

 attitude of blessing the city. This statue was cast at 

 Milan, and was brought to Arona in separate pieces. 

 Keysler, however, says, that it consists of one single 

 piece. 



The writings of Borromeo were very numerous, 

 and were collected in 5 vols, folio, and printed at Mi- 

 lan in 1747. His Acta Ecclesia: Mediolanensis. 

 was published in folio, in 1519. A life of Borro- 

 meo was published in the 17th century by Riba- 



The exertions of Borromeo during the prevalence of the plague, form the subject of many of the finest pictures of Milan. 

 f Mr Coxe sys, that the height of litis statue is t0 feet. 



