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BORROMEAN

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Originally appearing in Volume V04, Page 275 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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BORROMEAN ISLANDS-See also:

BORROMEO. the See also:church and marry, that his See also:family might not become See also:extinct. He declined the proposal, however, and became henceforward still more fervent in exercises of piety, and more zealous for the welfare of the church. Owing to his See also:influence over See also:Pius IV., he was able to facilitate the final deliberations of the See also:council of See also:Trent, and he took a large See also:share in the See also:drawing up of the Tridentine See also:catechism (Catechismus See also:Romanus). On the See also:death of Pius IV. (1566), the skill and See also:diligence of Borromeo contributed materially to suppressing the. cabals of the See also:conclave. Subsequently he devoted himself wholly to the See also:reformation of his See also:diocese, which had fallen into a most unsatisfactory See also:condition owing to the prolonged absences of its previous archbishops. He made a See also:series of See also:pastoral visits, and restored decency and dignity to divine service. In conformity with the decrees of the council of Trent, he cleared the See also:cathedral of its gorgeous tombs, See also:rich ornaments, See also:banners, arms, sparing not even the monuments of his own relatives. He divided the See also:nave of the church into two compartments for the separation of the sexes. He extended his reforms to the collegiate churches (even to the See also:fraternities of penitents and particularly that of St See also:John the Baptist), and to the monasteries. The See also:great abuses which had overrun the church at this See also:time arose principally from the See also:ignorance of the See also:clergy.

Borromeo, therefore, established seminaries, colleges and communities for the See also:

education of candidates for See also:holy orders. The most remarkable, perhaps, of his See also:foundations was 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 " See also:Golden " or " Borromean " See also:league formed in 1586 by the Swiss See also:Catholic cantons of See also:Switzerland to expel heretics if necessary by armed force. In 1576, when See also:Milan was visited by the See also:plague, he went about giving directions for accommodating the sick and burying the dead, avoiding no danger and sparing no expense. He visited all the neighbouring parishes where the contagion raged, distributing See also:money, providing See also:accommodation for the sick, and punishing those, especially the clergy, who were remiss in discharging their duties. He met with much opposition to his reforms. The See also:governor of the See also:province, and many of the senators, apprehensive that the See also:cardinal's ordinances and proceedings would encroach upon the See also:civil See also:jurisdiction, addressed remonstrances and complaints to the courts of See also:Rome and See also:Madrid. But Borromeo had more formidable difficulties to struggle with, in the inveterate opposition of several religious orders, particularly that of the See also:Humiliati (See also:Brothers of Humility Some members of that society formed a See also:conspiracy against his See also:life, and a shot was fired at him in the archiepiscopal See also:chapel under circumstances which led to the belief that his See also:escape was miraculous. The number of his enemies was increased by his successful attack on his Jesuit See also:confessor See also:Ribera, who with other members of the See also:college of Milan was found to be guilty of unnatural offences. His manifold labours and austerities appear to have shortened his life. He was seized with an intermittent See also:fever, and died at Milan on the 4th of See also:November 1584. He was canonized in Oro, and his feast is celebrated on the 4th of November.

Besides the Nodes Vaticanae, to which he appears to have contributed, the only See also:

literary See also:relics of this intrepid and zealous reformer are some homilies, discourses and sermons, with a collection of letters. His sermons, which have little literary merit, were published by J. A. See also:Sax (5 vols., Milan, 1747–1748), and have been translated into many See also:languages. The See also:record of his episcopate is to be found in the two volumes of the Acta Ecclesiae Mediolanensis (Milan, 1599). Contrary to his last wishes a memorial was erected to him in Milan cathedral, as well as a statue 7o ft. high on the See also:hill above See also:Arona, by his admirers who regarded him as the See also:leader of a See also:Counter-Reformation. His See also:nephew, Federigo Borromeo (1564–1631), was See also:archbishop of Milan from 1595, and in 1609 founded the Ambrosian library in that See also:city. See G. P. Giussano, Vita di S. Carle Borromeo (161o, Eng. ed. by H. E.

See also:

Manning, See also:London, 1884) ; A. See also:Sala, Document's circa la vita e in gesta di Borromeo (4 vols., Milan, 1857–1859) ; Chanoine SilvaIn, Hisloire de St See also:Charles Borromee (Milan, 1884) ; and A. Cantono, Un grande riformatore del secolo X VI (See also:Florence, 1904) ; See also:article " Borromaus " in See also:Herzog-Hauck, Realencyklopadie (See also:Leipzig, 1897).

End of Article: BORROMEAN

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