Project BLACK MAMBA

'Tis the Memorial of Saint Charles Borromeo, Bishop (1538-1584), founder of the Ambrosians, formally the Oblates of St. Ambrose & St. Charles: Saint-link ūnus, Saint-link duo, & Wikipedia-link; Wikipedia-link Oblates.

Commentary: Wayback Machine. Quoth the Holy Redeemer bulletin:

With others, led the movement to combat the inroads of the Protestant Reformation. He was a leading figure during the Counter-Reformation & was responsible for significant reforms in the Catholic Church, including the founding of seminarians for the education of priests.

Quoth the Holy Family bulletin:

Charles Borromeo was born in northern Italy in 1538 to an established & wealthy family. Trained in civil & canon law in Pavia, he was called to Rome as a young man by his uncle, Pope Pius IV, to be secretary of state at the Vatican. He played an important role in convincing Pius to reconvene the Council of Trent, which sought to address corruption in a sixteenth-century church beleaguered by the Protestant Reformation. Under the auspices of that council, beginning in 1563 Borromeo supervised the writing of an accurate catechism, rewrote liturgical texts & music, & began enforcing clerical reform in Rome. Pope Pius IV named Borromeo archbishop of Milan, but kept him in Rome performing a multitude of official functions.

If I seemed overly harsh in describing yesterday's minor conflation of Ss. Martin de Porres & Peter Claver by Fr. Firestone during his homily, let me also add that I have a devil of a time keeping straight & separate the lives & times of Ss. Charles Borromeo & Robert Bellarmine (17 September), contemporaries & both bishops & Italians, though only the latter has been recognized as a Doctor of the Church.

'Tis also the feast of Saint Gregory of Burtscheid, Abbot, O.S.B. (circa 940-999, A.K.A. of Calabria): Saint-link & Wikipedia-link.

Scripture of the Day
Mass Readings
Weekday
The Letter to the Philippians, chapter three, verse seventeen thru chapter four, verse one;
Psalm One Hundred Twenty-two, verses one thru five;
The Gospel according to Luke, chapter sixteen, verses one thru eight;

or, for St. Charles:
The Letter to the Romans, chapter twelve, verses three thru thirteen;
Psalm Eighty-nine, verses two(a);
The Gospel according to John, chapter ten, verses eleven thru sixteen.