From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   November 4th - St. Charles Borromeo   
      
   St. Charles Borromeo (1538-1584), Bishop and Confessor, was called by God to   
   execute a true reform in the Church. The happy conclusion of the Council of   
   Trent is in great part due to his prudence. Cardinal at age 23, he was given   
   the   
   archbishopric of Milan. He presided over synods and councils, established   
   colleges and congregations, and renewed the spirit of his clergy and the   
   religious Orders. He was the founder of the diocesan seminaries.   
      
   St. Charles Borromeo put into practice the decisions taken at the Council of   
   Trent. He had both the natural and supernatural gifts necessary to be a holy   
   Bishop. His sole aim was to realize the model of the perfect Bishop. All his   
   life was ordained to this ideal. In him, the man disappeared and only the   
   Prelate appeared, manifesting splendorous sanctity.   
      
      
   Comments of the late Prof. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira: (died 1995)   
      
   Something that can be noticed in History is that when a people reach an   
   apogee,   
   great men start to appear. And many of these great men are so closely bound   
   to   
   the post that they occupy that the person almost seems to disappear and only   
   the   
   position shines. Let us consider some examples.   
      
   There is one man who until today is the Emperor of Emperors, the perfect and   
   definitive pattern for all Emperors. This is so true that when one thinks   
   about   
   an Emperor, one thinks foremost of him. He is Charlemagne. After Charlemagne   
   died, the invasions that he had stopped, began again; the Empire that he had   
   built, broke up; the Europe that he wanted to unite, fragmented into many   
   kingdoms and smaller political units; the dynasty he founded, was   
   extinguished.   
   Everything would lead to the conclusion that his memory would disappear. But   
   Charlemagne remained forever in the memory of all men as the prototype of   
   the   
   Catholic Emperor, and, therefore, the Emperor par excellence. The memory of   
   Charlemagne endured with all the imperial dignity, plenitude of personality,   
   and   
   elevation of spirit proper to an Emperor sent by God to do His work on   
   earth.   
      
   Louis XIV is the French King par excellence, the Sun King; Philip II of   
   Spain   
   was par excellence the King who defended the Faith. In the same way, you can   
   find other personages who personified all the facets of the roles they   
   exercised.   
      
   The same rule applies inside the Holy Church of God. St. Gregory VII was the   
   Pope par excellence, St. John Baptist Vianney was the model for all parish   
   priests, and St. Charles Borromeo was the prototype of a Bishop.   
      
   As a true Pastor who watches over his flock, he was alert to the way error   
   was   
   being presented at his time and took a strong position against it. Like many   
   other preeminent figures of the Counter-Reformation, he helped Catholic   
   doctrine   
   progress by developing the doctrine that Protestantism denied. In his   
   written   
   works, he deduced new developments from truths already known. His position   
   was   
   always militant, as a Bishop should be. He was not an ecumenical Prelate who   
   accepts little parts of truth that the error might have in order to appease   
   the   
   heretic. He would analyze the ensemble of the heresy he was dealing with and   
   discern its ultimate bad intentions. Then he would refute the error in these   
   malicious points and develop the opposite doctrine of the Church.   
      
   St. Charles Borromeo was not only a great Bishop of the Counter-Reformation,   
   but   
   in a certain sense he was the Bishop of the Counter-Reformation. This title   
   is   
   his not just because he was a very learned man, but rather because he became   
   the   
   very archetype of a Bishop. He was not satisfied with writing books against   
   the   
   errors of the time, which he did. But he did even more, he personified the   
   truths he defended in his books. He became the very symbol of what he wrote.   
      
   A Cardinal, as you know, is supposed to dress with pomp, grandeur, and   
   solemnity   
   to glorify Our Lord Jesus Christ before men. In addition to being a Prince   
   of   
   the Church, St. Charles Borromeo was a temporal Lord in Milan, born into a   
   great   
   and noble Italian family. In his 20s, he was entrusted with the responsible   
   post   
   of Papal Secretary of State. Therefore, he used to dress and appear in great   
   style.   
      
   Once his carriage was on its way to one of his appointments when a simple   
   friar,   
   who was walking on the road, approached it. St. Charles Borromeo ordered the   
   driver to stop the vehicle. The friar greeted him and said:   
      
       "Your Eminence, how nice it must be to live the life of a Cardinal, to   
   wear   
   such splendid clothes and travel in a magnificent carriage! Surely it is   
   much   
   more agreeable than to be a simple friar like me, and walk by foot."   
      
   Cardinal Borromeo kindly invited the friar to accompany him. The friar   
   seated   
   himself next to the Cardinal and the journey re-commenced. Shortly the friar   
   began to cry out in pain, because the beautiful cushions of the benches were   
   placed over a board of sharp iron nails of penance that the Cardinal   
   normally   
   used to mortify himself. The pain became more acute with every movement of   
   the   
   vehicle. The friar could not support such mortification, and begged that the   
   carriage stop for him to get out. Relieved, he returned to his "walk by   
   foot."   
      
   That is to say, the silks and crystals of the luxurious carriage were meant   
   to   
   be seen by the people to glorify God and the dignity of his post. Underneath   
   the   
   splendid appearance of a Cardinal, the Saint continued to practice penance   
   for   
   his sins and those of his flock.   
      
   We can ask St. Charles Borromeo to intercede with Our Lord and Our Lady for   
   several things on his feast day:   
      
         o for the reform of today's Bishops who so often are very different   
   from   
   the model he represented,   
      
         o for the restoration of the seminaries, so immersed in bad morals and   
   false doctrine,   
      
         o and finally, for the restoration of the entire Holy Catholic Church   
   today as he helped to restore her in his times.   
      
   For ourselves personally, we might ask him to give us his vigilance against   
   heresy and his heroic sense of sacrifice.   
      
   See Icons at:   
   http://www.traditioninaction.org/SOD/j100sdCharlesBorremeo_11-4.htm   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   Pray that neither self indulgence nor pride, nor any other evil passion,   
   prevent   
   me from seeing in my patients Jesus who suffers, and from healing and   
   comforting   
   Him.   
   -Saint Richard Pampuri in a letter to his sister, a missionary nun   
      
   Bible Quote:   
    I know how to live humbly, and I know how to live in abundance.  (Phil.   
   4:12)   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   Daily Thoughts and Prayers for Our Beloved Dead   
      
   "Have pity on me, have pity on me, at least you my friends, because the hand   
   of   
   the Lord hath touched me" Job. 19-21.   
      
   FOURTH DAY   
      
   Death separates us; it breaks the earthly tie which binds us one to another,   
   but   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)