The Catholic Church commemorates St. Charles Borromeo’s feast day on November 4; he was a cardinal and a well-known preacher of the Catholic faith. While many other authorities left due to the virus, he gave liberally to charity, sacrificing his own health to aid plague victims.
And he probably wasn’t overweight, despite what you may have heard.
Why is that relevant? Well, since Charles is revered as the patron saint of diets, obesity, and stomach issues. It is unknown how this specific relationship started since these patronages—and whether or not he was himself obese—are not referenced in hagiographies of St. Charles. Charles was not renowned for overindulging in food; rather, he was recognized for aiding the destitute during times of famine and for engaging in self-mortification.
Whether or not dieters should invoke St. Charles Borromeo, it is certain that he had a profound impact on the Church.
Near Milan, Charles was born in 1538. He belonged to the renowned powerful and affluent Medici family and was born into fortune, yet he preferred to spend his wealth for the Church’s benefit rather than his own.
Charles quickly took on astounding duties, acting as a papal envoy and overseeing important Catholic organizations, thanks in part to his well-connected family.
Charles had a key role at the Council of Trent (1545–1563), which acted as the Church’s formal response to the Protestant Reformation among other things. Its dual objectives were to reform the Church internally in order to address several long-standing issues and to explain Catholic theology in response to Protestant criticisms. Charles, then just 25 years old and serving as a papal delegate, took part in the council’s conclusion in 1563 and was ordaining a priest at the time. The Trent Catechism, which is a full summary of it, was also put together with significant help from him.
In 1563, Charles’ uncle, Pope Pius IV, made him the archbishop of Milan; shortly afterwards, he was elevated to the rank of cardinal. After two generations with almost no local leadership or administration, he found his diocese in a condition of dissolution. Charles started building colleges, seminaries, and places of worship right away. He oversaw the education of the children and the ongoing restoration of church discipline in every aspect. He exercised self-mortification and made every effort to lead a humble life, giving to the needy whenever he could.
The clergy of the period were often reckless and loose, leading scandalous lifestyles, which caused the populace to become as careless and wicked. St. Charles supervised several drastic and successful changes to the clergy, the liturgy, and religious education while serving as the bishop of Milan. He faced fierce resistance to such changes, to the point that a gang of enraged monks tried to assassinate him; yet astonishingly, he was unscathed when an assassin shot a pistol directly at him while bowing in prayer before an altar.
He was well known for converting many lapsed Catholics back to the Church and was highly active in preaching and ministry. He is now revered as the patron saint of catechists and catechumens, those who pass on the religion. In reality, he was the creator of the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, the precursor of the contemporary “Sunday school,” which methodically taught youngsters the religion.
When a major famine struck the area where Charles was working in 1571, he worked diligently to aid the needy, providing food for as many as 3,000 people each day for three months at his own cost. Charles himself had a number of illnesses at the same period, including a mild temperature.
A pandemic attacked Milan a short time afterwards. Charles tried to devote himself even more to prayer and serving his people because he believed that the plague was brought as a punishment for sin. He personally visited plague-stricken homes to console the afflicted, and as a kind of penance, he marched in procession barefoot while holding a relic in his hand and a rope around his neck.
Charles was still traveling to care for his diocese at the end of 1584 despite having a skin illness in one of his legs. On Nov. 3, 1584, he passed away at the age of 46. He was canonized 26 years later, in 1610.