It’s the Feast of St. Charles Borromeo, 3rd Class, with the color of White, and a commemoration of Sts. Vitalis and Agricola, Martyrs. In this episode: today in Church History: “A New Seminary for Catholic Tradition – 2016”, the meditation: “The General Resurrection”, today’s news from the Church: “Great Is the Confusion Under Heaven”, and today’s thought from the Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre.
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Sources Used Today:
- “The General Resurrection” — From the Assumption to Advent
- “Great Is the Confusion Under Heaven” (FSSPX.news)
- Spiritual Journey — Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre (Angelus Press)
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The cardinal was kneeling at prayer when someone shot him in the back. While his household panicked, he motioned for them to finish their prayers.
That was Saint Charles Borromeo, whose feast the traditional calendar celebrates on November fourth. His determination to reform the Church had made him enemies, including members of a religious order who arranged that assassination attempt. He survived with only a slight injury, then tried to obtain mercy for the conspirators.
Charles had begun life with every advantage. Born into an aristocratic family in 1538, he was a young man when his uncle became Pope Pius IV and made him a cardinal. A comfortable ecclesiastical career lay open before him.
Then his older brother died unexpectedly. Charles could have stepped into leadership of the family. Instead, the loss deepened his determination to give himself completely to God.
He helped bring the Council of Trent to its conclusion, then devoted himself to putting its reforms into practice. In Milan, that meant establishing seminaries, teaching the faith, correcting abuses, and visiting remote mountain communities. He expected priests to take their vocation seriously, and held himself to an exacting standard of prayer and penance.
But the clearest picture of Charles comes during the plague of 1576.
He stayed among his people, visiting the sick and organizing relief. As hunger followed disease, he poured his resources into feeding families and incurred debts to keep assistance coming. Even household tapestries and church hangings became material for clothing the needy. Imagine looking around an archbishop’s residence and deciding the furnishings would be more useful on somebody’s back.
He also worked to sustain worship during quarantine. Altars were erected at crossroads so that people confined to their homes could follow Mass from their windows. The streets themselves became places of prayer.
Another pilgrimage left a lasting mark. In 1578, Charles wanted to venerate the Holy Shroud. To shorten his journey, the Duke of Savoy brought it from Chambéry to Turin. Charles traveled there on foot, praying and fasting. The Shroud remained in Turin afterward.
Charles died in 1584, aged just forty-six. His body is venerated beneath Milan Cathedral, where pilgrims still encounter the memory of a shepherd who spent himself for his flock.
His motto was one word: Humilitas, humility. His life showed how much courage that virtue can require.
Saint Charles Borromeo, courageous shepherd and father of the poor, pray for us.
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Today in Church History: A New Seminary for Catholic Tradition – 2016
On November 4, 2016, more than a thousand Catholics gathered in the Virginia countryside to celebrate an extraordinary milestone for the Society of St. Pius X: the inauguration of its new St. Thomas Aquinas Seminary.
For nearly three decades, the Society’s American seminarians had studied in Winona, Minnesota. But with growing numbers of vocations, the old facilities were becoming increasingly crowded.
Now, after years of planning, construction, fundraising, and countless sacrifices, an enormous new seminary had risen in Dillwyn, Virginia.
Bishop Bernard Fellay, then Superior General of the SSPX, celebrated a Pontifical Mass and blessed the new buildings, surrounded by priests, seminarians, and faithful from across the country.
The occasion fell on the feast of St. Charles Borromeo, the great reforming bishop who had worked tirelessly to establish seminaries following the Council of Trent.
It was a particularly fitting coincidence.
In his sermon, Bishop Fellay emphasized that the beauty and dignity of the new buildings were intended to help form priests whose lives would be entirely dedicated to God.
For the Society, the project represented much more than a new campus.
It was a continuation of Archbishop Lefebvre’s central mission: preserving the Catholic priesthood, the Traditional Latin Mass, and the Church’s perennial teachings for generations yet to come.
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The SSPX Podcast is produced by Angelus Press, which has as its mission the fortification of traditional Catholics so that they can defend the Faith, and reaching out to those who have not yet found Tradition.
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The main goal of the Society of Saint Pius X is to preserve the Catholic Faith in its fullness and purity, to teach its truths, and to diffuse its virtues, especially through the Roman Catholic priesthood.
Authentic spiritual life, the sacraments, and the traditional liturgy are its primary means of bringing this life of grace to souls.
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