Borromeo

Borromeo, (1) Carlo, saint and cardinal, was born in 1538 at Arona, on Lago Maggiore. After studying the civil and canon law he was in 1560 appointed by his uncle, Pope Pius IV., apostolical prothonotary, and subsequently Cardinal and Archbishop of Milan. He was an important factor in the success of the Council of Trent, and principal contributor to the Catechismus Romanus. He founded and endowed colleges, seminaries, and communities, and devoted himself to good works, spending his revenues on the poor. He was indefatigable during the plague at Milan in 1576, going without any fear wherever he could afford relief to the sick. He died in 1584, and was canonised by Pope Paul V. in 1610. Besides the Noctes Vaticanae, his literary remains comprised homilies, discourses, sermons, and letters, published in 1747. A colossal statue of him in bronze overlooks Arona. (2) Count Frederigo, nephew of the preceding, born in 1564, was also Cardinal and Archbishop of Milan, 1595-1631. He, too, was famous for his rigid adherence to duty, and founded the Ambrosian library.