PART TWO
HISTORY AND CHRONICLE
SECTION ONE
DOCUMENTS AND TESTIMONIES FROM OUTSIDE THE ORDER
(1526-1632)
IV
FROM THE EPISTOLARY OF SAINT CARLO BORROMEO
(1565-1584)
INTRODUCTION
TEXTS AND NOTES
by
CONSTANZO CARGNONI
I FRATI CAPPUCCINI. Documenti e Testimonianze del Primo Secolo. Edited by COSTANZO CARGNONI. Rome 1982, II, 359-365.
INTRODUCTION
We gather like small flowers from a vast grassland, that is, from the immense Borromean documentation preserved in the Biblioteca Ambrosiana in Milan, a series of letters, among many others, that add precious brushstrokes and insights into the Capuchin expansionism of the second half of the 16th century.
This consists of 12 letters signed by St Charles Borromeo and other 11 written to the saint. We are on the threshold of the implementation of the Tridentine Council, which goes from the restoration of episcopal authority, as a necessary instrument to relaunching the dispersed Catholic energies, to the dynamism especially of the new religious congregations, used and channelled both by the papacy who wanted to give the Tridentine decrees an ideal animation, and by the more discerning bishops who saw in the spirituality of the new Orders or in the reformed congregations a sure means to make the inspiration of the Council penetrate the life of the Church.[1]
Prominent among the bishops were, as has been noted, Carlo Borromeo in Milan, Gabriele Paleotti in Bologna, Bartolomeo de Martyribus in Braga, who had defended the Capuchins at the Council of Trent, among others. This fragment of St. Charles’ epistolary collected here runs from 1565 to 1584; it therefore embraces the final period of St. Charles’ life, during which the model of the post-Tridentine bishop gradually matured. In a short period, Borromeo had refined his religious personality in the last sessions of the Council. On 17 July 1563 he had been ordained a priest; between the end of September and the beginning of October he had met the primate of Portugal, the Dominican Archbishop Bartholomew of Martyribus, from whom he had absorbed fundamental elements for his future episcopal spirituality, centred on the importance of the Council and the urgency of reform. On 7 December 1564 he received episcopal consecration and matured his decision to dedicate himself entirely to the Milanese church. On 25 March 1564, he informed Milan of his decision to convene a provincial council according to the Tridentine prescriptions.
At that very time, it was felt in Rome that the powerful cardinal nephew had converted to a more intense spiritual life. There were those who gossiped about his ‘teatinerie’ [Theatines – new order founded in 1524 by Carafa, future Pope Paul IV]. The pope therefore warned the Jesuits not to influence his nephew. But the Jesuits defended themselves by claiming that Borromeo listened to others “more rigorous” than them.[2] The name was mentioned of the bishop of Modena, Foscarari, who was very strict about poverty. But his spiritual contacts go in several directions, for example the influence of St Philip Neri and, why not, also the poor and austere Capuchins.
This aspect was not even studied at the last major international conference in Milan on the occasion of the 4th centenary of the death of St Charles. Yet it cannot be evaded. The most convincing proof is precisely St Charles’ epistolary. Leaving Rome for good in 1565 for Milan, which he entered on 23 September. Seventeen days before arriving in Milan he had been in Poggibonsi, from where Borromeo wrote two short letters, one to the bishop and the other to the Lords of Lucca (doc. 53, 1-2) to exhort them to welcome the Capuchins in their city, as they were men “of the most holy life” and suitable for making Christian life flourish again among the people. He called himself “protector of their religion” and really intended to protect the Capuchins as an aspect of his programme as bishop. This protection concretely became a continuous focus to encourage their expansion and the foundation of their friaries in the various areas of his vast diocese.
So, already well established in Milan, two years later he wrote a pressing letter to the Capuchin General Chapter in Rome on 11 May 1567 (doc. 54.2) at which was elected vicar general Fr. Mario Fabiani da Mercato Saraceno, asking for the favourable vote of the Chapter members to open a friary at Vimercate, as a favourable and spiritually advantageous opportunity had presented itself, pointed out to the Cardinal by the provost of Vimercate Fr Luigi Secco Borrella on 10 May (doc. 54.1), who was enthusiastic about the preaching of Fr Francesco Sirmondi of Bormio, a Capuchin, and comforted by “seeing examples of religion and holiness that only procure the good and comfort of others”.
Three years later St Charles undertook the project of establishing a Capuchin friary in his native Arona, a city that had previously expressed a desire for the friars. In this regard he wrote to the city on 12 July 1570 to request their presence. In the letter he stated that he did not intend to “look at the cost” but that the population should also contribute a small amount. This was a dutiful contribution he had been waiting to request, as the previous year 1569 had been marked by a severe famine and poor harvest (doc. 55).
If Saint Charles supported the Capuchins, they too leaned on the saint, they sought him out, they wanted to know him and serve him, they knew they were safe with him in their commitment to reform and the application of the Council, as, for example, Fr. Silvestro da Rossano, one of the most dynamic Capuchin preachers of the second half of the 16th century, presented with admiration by a priest from Piacenza in a letter of 23 November 1570 (doc. 56) to the Cardinal of Milan, as being able and willing to support a Lenten preaching in Milan, should he be asked. It might seem, indirectly, to be a search for prestigious pulpits; but for the Calabrian friar, characterised in the letter with the most significant expressions of his pastoral activity, it became the fulfilment of a ‘very great desire’ to meet a holy bishop.
One of the most important reasons for St Charles’s decision to use the Capuchins was to oppose Protestantism in Valtellina and Graubünden. This was an essential implementation of the Council of Trent, even though the confrontation with Protestantism had lost much of its initial dynamic struggle and in its place had been replaced, irreversibly, by a rift that had resulted in a war of positions. In this regard, a letter from a benefactor of the Capuchins, Master Abbondio Spadano of Como, dated 7 March 1571, earnestly requested that Saint Charles take an interest in having the Capuchins come to Domaso on the north-western shore of Lake Como. The location was strategically advantageous for the fight against heresy in Valtellina. The suppression of the Umiliati (doc. 57) also provided an opportunity for the Capuchins of Novara to request from the archbishop of Milan, through the Vallombrosian abbot Antonio Canobio, permission to move to the former convent of S. Croce of the Umiliati within the city from the old and damp place outside the walls (doc. 58).
St Charles also took a direct interest in the foundation of the Capuchin friary of Acquanegra sul Chiese in the province of Mantua in 1582 (doc. 66,1-3), writing both to Card. Gambara to whom the land belonged, and to the town community. This documentation of St Charles’ interest in the foundation of Capuchin friaries could be greatly increased, but the examples given so far are more than sufficient to recall this aspect of the reforming work of the holy archbishop.
The remaining letters testify to other details of the saint’s love for the Capuchins. The first detail highlighted is their readiness to serve the plague victims. Since in the spring of 1576 the plague had made its appearance in the Milan area and the friars were “ready for such a holy service” to serve the sick, Saint Charles immediately wrote to the Vicar General Girolamo da Montefiore in Rome on 25 August of the same year, asking for the obedience and the permission for the friars to hear confession(doc. 59). It is probably the most beautiful letter to come from the pen of St Charles in praise of the Capuchin reform, described as “dedicated to offices of charity and support for the salvation of souls”, recalling in particular service in hospitals and among soldiers, as in the famous battle of Lepanto. There is also the love of the whole city of Milan because – and he addresses the Capuchin Vicar General directly – “you do not care to live except for the service of God and the salvation of souls, since the profession of your Rule and of your Seraphic Father is nothing other than to carry the cross with Christ Crucified”. A splendid definition of the Capuchin charism given by a saint!
A second detail is the preaching of the Capuchins that St. Charles always emphasises in the Tridentine renewal of the evangelisation and in diocesan reform. The figure of the Spaniard Fr Alphonso Lupo stands out in our collection. Having come to Italy and become a Capuchin, he was preaching Lent in Rome in 1577 in the Chiesa Nuova of the Oratorians with great success. St Charles requested him for Milan. His agent in Rome, Monsignor Cesare Speciano, took charge of him. In two subsequent letters to St Charles, dated 9 March 1577 and 22 November 1578, he presented the admirable oratorical technique of the Capuchin preacher: “Every day he makes many people weep… as this is a man who has no equal for moving the people to penance” (doc. 60,1-2).
Fr Lupo preached in Milan in 1579. We reproduce excerpts from letters of the Vicar General of St Charles, Monsignor Nicola Galiero, dated 15 October and 5 November 1579 that echo this fervent preaching (doc. 61,1-2).
St Charles had very precise ideas on preaching. Even if he did not reject itinerant preaching, as a vanguard and preparation of the ground, he preferred a more stable preaching, more prolonged preaching on site in order to deepen the themes better and cultivate the spiritual fruits and thus root them in the Christian custom. Explaining his preaching method to the Bishop of Rimini Monsignor Giovanni Battista Castelli in 1580, one can see the influence of the method used by Fr Lupo (doc. 62,1-2).
Indeed, he was so pleased with Fr Lupo’s sermons, for the admirable fruit they produced on the people, that he wrote in April 1580 to the Capuchin General Girolamo da Montefiore to have the same preacher for another two years (doc. 64). But Fr Lupo was also requested elsewhere, such as by the Archbishop of Naples who on 7 April 1581 asked Borromeo to release him from Milan to let him come to preach Lent in Naples (doc. 65). Annibale di Capua, reviewing the best known preachers available at the time, had found Fr Lupo himself the “most suitable for the need of this city”. He in fact preached there in 1582.
St Charles will also gladly use other Capuchins and especially p. Mattia Bellintani da Salò, who preached in Milan in 1572 and substituted Fr. Lupo ten years later.[3]
The simple and fervent preaching of the Capuchins also pleased country parish priests. A notable example is a parish priest of Besozzo who wrote enthusiastically to the Cardinal of Milan praising a Capuchin preacher who had moved the entire village. This enthusiasm led him to suggest to St Charles that he should always send a Capuchin to his parish to preach (doc. 67).
Another detail, also found in the epistolary of Saint Charles, concerns the commitment to ecclesiastical politics undertaken by the Capuchins. A characteristic letter from the agent in Rome of Saint Charles, Mgr C. Speciano, dated 23 April 1580, is selected in this regard (doc. 63). In the challenging diplomatic relations with the Spanish monarchy of Philip II, St Charles considered a mediation conducted with a diplomacy that was “entirely spiritual and without human circumstances”. Speciano immediately suggested Fr Mattia da Salò or another Capuchin, “known throughout the world for the austerity of their life”, as a suitable person for this. However, in this specific case Borromeo did not employ Capuchins. Nevertheless, the letter heralds a style of diplomatic activity in which many Capuchins would be engaged by the pope and ecclesiastical authorities, beginning with Bellintani himself, followed by St Lawrence of Brindisi Giacinto da Casale Valeriano Magni of Milan and later Marco d’Aviano.
In conclusion, as a summary of St Charles’ attitude towards the Capuchins, we quote a letter written by the holy Cardinal, a few months before his death, to the Capuchin General Giacomo da Mercato Saraceno, on 20th June 1584 (doc. 68Saint Charles brings together the various aspects of his devotion to the Order. He demonstrates his willingness to utilise them in preaching, support their foundation of friaries and employ them as vanguard workers in anti-heretical missions in Switzerland to re-catholicise those territories and impede Protestant advance. He also opens them to the ministry of confessions despite the Order’s contrary legislation, seemingly recognising its potential as a significant future commitment.
The programme of St Charles was indeed visionary.
- Cf. G. Alberigo, L’episcopato nel cattolicesimo post-tridentino, in Cristianesimo e storia 6 (1985) 71-91. ↑
- Cf. G. Alberigo, Carlo Borromeo e il suo modello di vescovo, in San Carlo e il suo tempo. Atti del Convegno Internazionale del Centenario della morte (Milano, 21-26 maggio 1984), vol. I, Rome 1986, 200. ↑
- Cf. F. Merelli, San Carlo Borromeo and Father Mattia da Salò. Epistolario, in CF 54 (1984) 285-313. ↑