St Charles Borromeo and the Venerable English College

At the back of the Venerable English College church are four lunettes depicting scenes from the long history of the English institutions that have stood on the spot. One of them shows a group of College students being greeted by St Charles Borromeo (1538–1584), the reforming archbishop of Milan, in his own home as they passed through Milan en route from Rome to England to face possible imprisonment and death. 

The actual encounter took place in April 1580. Among the group visiting the archbishop were the future martyrs St Edmund Campion (1540–1581), St Ralph Sherwin (1550–1581) and St Luke Kirby (c. 1549–1582), and the noted Jesuit, Robert Persons (1546–1610), a future rector of the College.

Shortly afterwards, Borromeo sent a letter to the College’s Jesuit rector, Alfonso Agazzari (1549–1602): dated 30 June 1580, it is still kept in the College Archives.  In it the saint encouraged future members of the College who were travelling through Milan on their way back to England to visit him.

AVCAU, Scritture 13/6/2 — letter of San Carlo Borromeo to Alfonso Agazzari, SJ, rector of the Venerable English College, Rome, 30 June 1580. Borromeo signed the letter as cardinal priest of Santa Prassede, his titular church in Rome.

Borromeo’s letter has often been seen surrounded with a hagiographic halo: the pious communication of a saint who hoped to meet future martyrs. For a man of deep faith, this was undoubtedly one of his motivations. It is likely, however, that he was also aware of the situation concerning English and Welsh Catholic exiles in Rome and wanted to maintain links with the nascent college.

The archbishop had a keen interest in the affairs of England and Wales. In his study he kept a painting of St John Fisher (1469–1535), the cardinal bishop of Rochester, who was seen by many as a model bishop and who was executed for his opposition to the divorce of Henry VIII (1491–1547).

Portrait of St John Fisher today displayed in the Biblioteca Ambrosiano in Milan. Might this be the portrait which San Carlo Borromeo kept in his private study in Milan?

Borromeo numbered among his household several former associates of Cardinal Reginald Pole (1500–1558), cousin of Henry VIII, a noted humanist and reformer, and last Catholic archbishop of Canterbury. Pole had organised a Legatine Synod in London in 1555 to tackle a number of issues, including the improvement of preaching, clerical discipline, lay piety and the formation of priests. Indeed, his Reformatio Angliae, as it was called, influenced many of the decrees of the Council of Trent, even though it was never implemented in England. When the acts of the Synod were published in Rome in 1562, they left a deep impression on many reform–minded Catholics across Europe, including Borromeo.

Cardinal Reginald Pole’s Reformatio Angliae, published posthumously in Rome in 1562

Three of Borromeo’s vicars general in Milan had previously been part of Pole’s household and had been involved in this work of reform. Thomas Goldwell (1501–1585), Pole’s chaplain during his time as governor of Bagnoregio and later bishop of St Asaph, had joined the Theatine order and had moved to Milan in 1563. Then there was the Welshman, Dr Morus Clynnog (c.1525–1580?), previously Pole’s almoner and secretary during his time at Canterbury. He was appointed the first rector of the newly founded English College in Rome in 1579, until being dismissed after a few months due to the ongoing tensions between English and Welsh factions and replaced by Fr Agazzari. Borromeo was undoubtedly aware of the College’s early years and its many challenges and opportunities.

The third vicar general is perhaps less well–known: Nicolò Ormanetto (c. 1515–1577), Pole’s onetime private secretary, who had also been associated with the reformist bishop of Verona, Gian Matteo Giberti (1495–1543). Ormanetto came to Milan in 1563, where he was closely involved in building the diocesan seminary and organising a Synod, just nine years after his participation in the Synod of London.

Nicolò Ormanetto (c. 1515–1577)

From the late 1560s onwards English and Welsh Catholics looked to Milan with admiration. What had been achieved there, thanks to Borromeo and his associates, had proved impossible to implement in London, owing to the deaths of Mary I and Pole and the accession of Elizabeth I in 1558. The saintly archbishop was seen not only as a model reformer but as a link with the halcyon days of the Catholic restoration of the 1550s. Pride was taken in the fact that he provided moral support for many of the exiles and showed a keen interest in the English College, as well as the fact he found inspiration in the lives of Fisher and Pole. Unsurprisingly, there was a strong devotion to Borromeo among English and Welsh Catholics following his canonisation in 1610, including the relic of his biretta which was kept at the English College, Douai.[1]

[1] This was subsequently hidden during the French Revolution, rediscovered during building works in 1920s and is now in the possession of St Edmund’s College, Ware.