Today it is mostly a pedestrian city – buses run along the two main streets and only those who live in the city are permitted to bring cars into the central region. Narrow cobbled streets and a proliferation of churches – many of which ring bells at important times of the day from about 7.00 am to 7.00 pm – all contribute to the sense of delight at living in such a place. The most common building material is brick; simple red brick was used by the Romans and this was the material for nearly all of the thirty and more churches in the city. Many of the buildings, given the age of the town, have an air of decay, but then many others are in the throes of renovation and restoration. Mostly the restoration consists of plastering, or replastering, over the bricks – improves weather resistance perhaps – but an engaging feature of this updating process is the leaving of elements of the original brickwork exposed through ‘windows’ in the plaster covering.
The local architectural guidebook emphasises that many of the Pavian churches have significant histories and were important sites in the development of the church in Lombardy as far back as the fourth century. One of them houses the bones of St Augustine.
Amongst this profusion of endlessly engaging buildings one was clearly very different. Construction of Collegio Borromeo was commenced in the sixteenth century during the Counter Reformation. At first sight one realises that this building is a very different from nearly every other in Pavia, as the majority are clearly much older and in a less grand style.
Building of the college started in 1563 after Carlo Borromeo had obtained the agreement of Pope Pius IV (his uncle) in 1561. Earlier Borromeo had been a student at the University of Pavia. The college was founded as a place to foster not only knowledge but also wisdom (Italian has a special word for this combination – sapienza). The fact that today it is still a vigorous college committed, as at the beginning, to the formation of young people imbued with sapienza is testament to the foresight of Carlo Borromeo in founding the college.
In May this year I participated in a two-day conference at the Collegio and gave a lecture in a truly splendid room in which the ceiling and front and rear walls were painted with frescoes.(see back cover) The experience of giving a lecture in such a room assisted by late twentieth century technology was really quite engaging. The ceiling and wall paintings were devoted to scenes from the life of St Charles Borromeo, whose feast we celebrate on November 4. He was canonised on 1 November 1610. The founding of the college was a significant achievement. However, to merit canonisation, there must have been more to his life. It was an extraordinarily busy and fruitful life. It was also a short life – he died in 1584 aged 46.
Soon after his election in 1559, Pope Pius IV called Borromeo to Rome to take charge of the administration of the Papal States. At the time Borromeo was twenty-one years of age. Not being ordained, he was made a cardinal-deacon. Despite his youth, he was a gifted diplomat and skilled negotiator. His major achievement of this period was re-assembling the Council of Trent, which had been suspended in 1552, and bringing it to a conclusion at the end of 1563. To achieve this required extraordinary patience and an enormous correspondence to overcome the difficulties presented by Spain and France. After the completion of the Council, Borromeo was involved in producing a catechism embodying the teaching of the council as well as the revision of the Missal and Breviary. A few years later he was involved with the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, founded for the systematic instruction of children along the lines of what would now be called Sunday school. So important is this aspect of his work that it is noted in an inscription in a Unitarian church in London! So Borromeo had a major role in bringing the Council of Trent to a conclusion and was then involved with many facets of the consequential reforms in the Church. These ongoing reforms were also high on his agenda when later he was resident as archbishop of Milan.
At the end of 1562, the death of his older brother made him head of the Borromeo family. He then came under considerable pressure to give up his ecclesiastical position, to marry and take responsibility for the management of the family affairs. The family even persuaded the Pope to support this suggestion. Carlo responded by being secretly ordained towards the end of 1563. At this point in his life he was at the age a young man might be ordained today, but already he had a very significant career as a churchman behind him.
From here, things were frustrating for him. He would have preferred to have been resident in Milan as archbishop and overseeing the implementation of the reforms of the Council of Trent. Instead he had to appoint others and oversee things from afar whilst still engaged in Rome. It was not until 1565 that he returned to Milan, becoming the first resident bishop in eighty years. However, continuing responsibilities in Rome, or elsewhere at the behest of the Pope, meant he was frequently away from the diocese; a situation that continued to the end of his life. Implementation of the reforms set in place by the Council of Trent was an important part of his leadership of the diocese. Notable as well were the exemplary manner in which his house was run and his giving much of his property to the poor. In the late 1560s there were serious factional problems in the diocese; more than once his life was in danger.
In 1576 plague appeared in Milan. Carlo made personal visits to plague-stricken houses and also to the hospital of St Gregory, where the worst cases were to be found. These visitations are the subject of one of the ceiling frescoes painted at the Collegio Borromeo in Pavia. Despite attending to plague victims, he did not become a victim himself. Carlo interpreted the plague as chastisement for sin; as well as visiting and comforting victims, he wished to do penance for his people and walked in procession through the city barefoot. He died of fever in 1584, having driven himself right to the end, attending to all manner of administrative, ecclesiastical, and pastoral matters – perhaps exhaustion contributed to his early death.
Viewing his life from our perspective more than four hundred years after his death, it seems amazing that a young man in his early twenties could have had so much influence. Admittedly he came from a very influential family; would that have given him the necessary life experience? Immediately after being elected Pope, his uncle called him to Rome to administer the Papal States; hardly a task for an immature youth. Clearly comparative youthfulness is no barrier to the workings of the Holy Spirit.
For me, the privilege of giving a lecture in truly splendid room at the Collegio Borromeo triggered a wish to find out more about the college and its founder. This has been a thoroughly worthwhile quest. Clearly Carlo Borromeo was a wonderful human being. His influence is with us still; especially for the students who continue to pass through the college.
Michael Pender is Professor of Geotechnical Engineering at Auckland University, and is a visiting Professor at Pavia University, Italy
