“Be sure that you first preach by the way you live.”
Charles was born in 1538, the 3rd of 6 children at the castle of Arona near Milan. His father was the Count of Arona and his mother a member of the House of Medici.
At the age of 12, he dedicated himself to a life of service to the Church. His uncle was elected Pope Pius IV, giving Charles several important roles, even as a young student. His family and relatives insisted he marry and preserve the family name but he chose to be ordained a priest instead.
Soon after he was consecrated as Bishop of Milan at the age of 25 and then Archbishop the following year with the largest diocese in the Church which was rampant with corruption. He worked diligently to reform every phase of Catholic life among both clergy and laity with education and regulations. He founded schools, colleges and seminaries.
He set the example by which they should live by giving all he had to charity, forbidding himself all luxury, imposing severe penances upon himself and paid no attention to honors or esteem. He ended indulgences and personally inspected various regions for review.
Cleaning up the Church also made him enemies with complaints and assassination attempts, which only emboldened him, serving as confirmation of his efforts to eradicated corruption.
During the plague and famine, his goal was to feed around 60,000 people daily, ministering to the sick and dying, while the Civil Authorities fled.
At the age of 45 he traveled to Switzerland to work on suppressing heresy and witchcraft and founded the Collegium Helveticum to serve and educate the Swiss Catholics. His work began to take a toll and the following year he became ill. Returning to Milan he worsened, was given his last Sacraments, and died at the age of 46.
By 1610 he was canonized and is the patron of Clergy and Spiritual Leaders.
“If we wish to make any progress in the service of God, we must begin every day of our life with new eagerness.”
He is the patron saint of apple orchards, Bishops, Catechists, Catechumens, Seminarians, spiritual directors, starch makers, ulcers, and the Diocese of Monterey, California.
His feast day is November 4.
For God’s Glory.
