St. Charles Borromeo: Feast Day, Patronage & Prayers
Updated: Oct 3
Feast day: November 4 (Memorial of St. Charles Borromeo, Bishop)
Patron of: Seminarians, catechists, and bishops.
About St. Charles Borromeo
St. Charles Borromeo was born in 1538 into a noble family in the castle of Arona on Lake Maggiore, Italy. His uncle became Pope Pius IV and in 1560 called him to Rome, making him a cardinal and administrator of the Archdiocese of Milan while he was still only twenty-two. Charles worked tirelessly to bring the Council of Trent to a successful conclusion and helped prepare the Roman Catechism.
After the sudden death of his older brother, he chose to be ordained a priest and then bishop, and in 1566 he moved to Milan, the first resident archbishop there in decades. He put the reforms of Trent into practice with great energy: he founded seminaries to train good priests, held synods, visited even remote mountain parishes, organized Sunday schools to teach the catechism, and lived austerely, giving much of his wealth to the poor. During the plague of 1576 he stayed in the city when many officials fled, organizing care, feeding thousands, and caring for the sick himself. Worn out by his labors, he died in 1584 at forty-six and was canonized in 1610.
Prayers to St. Charles Borromeo on Daily Catholic Prayers
Browse every saint in our Catalog of Saints A–Z.
Comments