Charles Borromeo

Timeline

1. 1538–1559Arona · ItalyBorn in Arona in northern Italy, his father was Count of Milan and his mother a Medici (Pope Pius IV was his maternal uncle). He received elementary education in a Benedictine monastery, then studied civil and canon law at the University of Pavia, earning a doctorate in law in 1559. Thanks to his family background he enjoyed church benefices from an early age.
2. 1560–1565Rome · ItalyIn 1560 his uncle Pius IV was elected pope and promptly appointed the 21-year-old Charles cardinal, also making him secretary of state and holding other key posts. Known in Rome for serious virtue and administrative efficiency, he actively advanced the final phase of the Council of Trent (1562–1563) and played a key coordinating role in adopting the Tridentine Creed and issuing reform decrees.
3. 1565–1584Milan · ItalyIn 1565 he left Rome to take up the archbishopric of Milan, and for nearly twenty years led by example in thorough diocesan reform: regular episcopal visitations, multiple synods, founding seminaries to train clergy, reforming monastic discipline, and establishing a network of Sunday schools. During the Milan plague of 1576–1578 he personally remained in the city caring for the sick and donated a large sum of his own money, winning wide respect.