4 NOVEMBER

. . .is the feast day of St. Charles Borromeo.

“Day of death: November 3, 1584; canonized 1610. Grave: in the cathedral at Milan. Life. Our saint, one of the glories of the Catholic Church in the sixteenth century, was noted for (a) Church reform, a very urgent need at that time; (b) care of souls in Milan. At first he labored at the side of his uncle, Pope Pius IV, to bring to a successful conclusion the Council of Trent; his pastoral instructions have remained classic to the present day. Born in 1538 of a noble Milanese family and dedicated to spiritual things at an early age, he became a cardinal at twenty-three (1560); soon after, archbishop of Milan. His greatest concern was to put into effect throughout his province the decrees of the Council of Trent. Due to his reforming efforts there soon arose enemies and opponents of high civil and ecclesiastical rank.

Great was Charles’ love of neighbor and liberality toward the poor. When the plague raged in Milan, he sold his household furniture, even his bed, to aid the sick and needy, and thereafter slept upon bare boards. He visited those stricken by the disease, consoled them as a tender father, and conferred upon them the sacraments with his own hands. A true mediator, he implored forgiveness day and night from the throne of grace. He once ordered an atonement procession and appeared in it with a rope about his neck, with bare and bloody feet, a cross upon his shoulder – thus presenting himself as an expiatory sacrifice for his people to ward off divine punishment. He died, dressed in sackcloth and ashes, holding a picture of the Crucified in his hands. His last words were, ‘See, Lord, I am coming, I am coming soon.’ His tomb in the cathedral of Milan is of white marble.”
-from The Church’s Year of Grace, vol V, Pius Parsch.


The 4th of November is also the feast of St. Emeric. From John J. Delaney’s Dictionary of Saints: “The only son of King St. Stephen of Hungary, who planned to have him succeed him as King. Emeric was killed while hunting. Many miracles were reported at his tomb at Szekesfehervar, and he was canonized, with his father, in 1083.”

Amerigo is the Italian version of the name Emeric. It was Amerigo Vespucci who provided an early map of the western hemisphere which, taking the long way round, ended in being called after him: America. So St. Emeric’s day is the “onomastico” -- the name day or feast day – of the United States of “America”.