St. Charles Borromeo and the Plague

I highly recommend the Magnificat devotional magazine.  In addition to all the Mass prayers offered day by day, they have inspirational short reflections and commentaries on the great religious art of the day.

This month, there is a commentary on a beautiful painting of today's saint, Charles Borromeo, from 16th century Italy, the era of the Catholic Reformation (the rebuilding of the Church after many Protestants divided her after rejecting the Church's teaching).

He was an extraordinary man who lived a very short life, but in that brief time as Archbishop of Milan saw through many reforms, including increasing reverence for the the holy Mass and celebrating it in a consistent way and reforming seminaries so they could shape good priests.  (Please pray for our seminarians through his intercession this month that they will become good and holy priests, and for all the faculty who help make that happen).  He was an aesthetic, choosing not to become overly trapped in the luxuries of this world. 

But he was perhaps most famous for his charity.  As the incomparable art historian Elizabeth Lev notes in her piece linked above, he fearlessly helped the victims of the terrible Bubonic Plague in Milan, even when most of the rich and powerful simply abandoned the city.  The artwork (available in much higher resolution at the link above) depicts him in the act of giving Holy Communion to the victims of that plague -- the ultimate act of charity.   This Plague was leaps and bounds more deadly -- and contagious -- than the current Covid-19 pandemic, but St. Charles never contracted it.  Likewise, very few of the religious brother and sisters who assisted the victims succumbed to the dread disease. 

St. Charles, pray for us!