BORROMEO, CARLO (bor-ro-m˘'o) (1538-1584), saint and cardinal of the Roman Church, son of Ghiberto Borromeo, count of Arona, and Margarita de' Medici, was born at the castle of Arona on Lago Maggiore on Oct. 2, 1538. When in 156o his uncle, Cardinal Angelo de' Medici, was raised to the pontificate as Pius IV., Borromeo was made prothonotary and created car dinal with the administration of Romagna and the March of Ancona, and the supervision of the Franciscans, the Carmelites and the knights of Malta. He was thus at the age of 22 practi cally the leading statesman of the papal court. Soon after he was raised to the archbishopric of Milan. In compliance with the pope's desire, he lived in great splendour; yet his own temperance and humility were never brought into question. Owing to his influence over Pius IV., he was able to facilitate the final delibera tions of the Council of Trent, and he took a large share in the drawing up of the Tridentine catechism (Catechismus Romanus).
On the death of Pius IV. (1566), the skill and diligence of Borromeo contributed much to the suppressing of the cabals of the conclave. He had been all powerful during the later years of Pius IV., but he did not use this power, as he no doubt might have done, to secure his own election as pope. By the choice of Michele Ghislieri, he ensured the triumph of his own ideals of ascetisism and piety, and the suppression of corruption in the hierarchy. Subsequently, he devoted himself wholly to the reformation of his diocese. He made a series of pastoral visits, and restored decency and dignity to divine service. In conformity with the decrees of the Council of Trent, he cleared the cathedral of its gorgeous tombs, rich ornaments, banners, arms, sparing not even the monuments of his own relatives. He divided the nave of the church into two compartments for the separation of the sexes. He extended his reforms to the collegiate churches (even to the fraternities of penitents and particularly that of St. John the Baptist), and to the monasteries; and he established seminaries, colleges and communities for the education of candidates for holy orders. He founded the fraternity of the Oblates, a society whose members were pledged to give aid to the Church when and where it might be required. He further paved the way for the "Golden" or "Borromean" league formed in 1586 by the Swiss Catholic cantons of Switzerland to expel heretics, if necessary by armed force. In 1576, when Milan was visited by the plague, he went about giving directions for accommodating the sick and burying the dead, avoiding no danger and sparing no expense. Borromeo met with much opposition to his reforms. The governor of the province, and many of the senators, fearing encroachment upon the civil jurisdiction, addressed remonstrances and complaints to the courts of Rome and Madrid. But Borromeo had more formidable difficulties to struggle with, in the inveterate opposition of several religious orders, particularly that of the Humiliati (Brothers of Humility). He died at Milan on Nov. 4, 1584. He was canonized in 161o, and his feast is celebrated on Nov. 4.
Besides the Noctes Vaticanae, to which he appears to have con tributed, the only literary relics of this intrepid and zealous reformer are some homilies, discourses and sermons, with a collec tion of letters. His. sermons were published at Milan, and have been translated into many languages. Contrary to his last wishes a memorial was erected to him in Milan cathedral, as well as a statue 7oft. high on the hill above Arona, by his admirers who regarded him as the leader of a Counter-Reformation.
His nephew, FEDERIGO BORROMEO ( I 564—I 63I ), was archbishop of Milan from 1595, and in 1609 founded the Ambrosian library in that city.
See Acta Ecclesiae Mediolanensis (Milan, 1599); G. P. Giussano, Vita di S. Carlo Borromeo (16io, Eng. ed. by H. E. Manning, 1884) ; A. Sala, Documenti circa la vita e la gesta di Borromeo ; Chanoine Silvain, Histoire de St. Charles Borromee (1884) ; and A. Cantono, Un grande riforroatore del secolo XVI. (1904) ; article "Borromaus" in Realencyklopiidie (Leipzig, 1897).