Prayer to St. Charles Borromeo

 

Prayer:

Successor of Ambrose, thou didst inherit his zeal for the house of God; thy action also was powerful in the Church; and though separated in time by a thousand years, your names are now united in one common glory. May your prayers also mingle before the throne of God for us in these times of decadence; and may your power in heaven obtain for us pastors worthy to continue, or if need be to renew, your work on earth. How obviously applicable to both of you were those words of Holy Writ: What manner of man the ruler of the city is, such also are they that dwell therein (Eccli. x. 2). And again: I will fill the soul of the priests with fatness; and my people shall be filled with my good things, saith the Lord (Jerem. xxxi. 14).

Rightly didst thou say, O Charles: "Never did Israel hear a more awful threat than this: Lex peribit a sacerdote (The law shall perish, shall fail, shall be silent, in the heart of the priest and on his lips. Ezech. vii. 26). Priests are divine instruments, upon "whom depends the welfare of the world; their abundance is the riches of all, their default is the "ruin of nations (Concio I ad Clerum, in Synod. dioeces. xi)."

And when, from the midst of thy priests convoked in synod, thou didst pass to the venerable assembly of seventeen bishops thy suffragans, thy language became, if possible, still more vehement: "Let us fear lest the angered Judge say to us: If you were the enlighteners of my Church, why have you closed your eyes? If you pretended to be shepherds of the flock, why have you suffered it to stray? Salt of the earth, you have lost your savour. Light of the world, they that sat in darkness and the shadow of death have never seen you shine. You were Apostles; who, then, put your apostolic firmness to the test, since you have done nothing but seek to please men? You were the mouth of the Lord, and you have made that mouth dumb. If you allege in excuse that the burden was beyond your strength, why did you make it the object of your ambitious intrigues (Oratio havita in concil. prov. ii)?

But, by the grace of God blessing thy zeal for the amendment of both sheep and lambs, thou couldst add, O Charles: "Province of Milan, take heart again. Behold, thy fathers have come to thee, and are assembled once more for the purpose of remedying thy ills. They have no other care, than to see thee bring forth the fruits of salvation; and for this end they multiply their united efforts (In concil. prov. vi)."

My little children, of whom I am in labour again, until Christ be formed in you (Gal. iv. 19). Such is the aspiration of the Bride, which will cease only in heaven: and synods, visitations, reformation, decrees concerning preaching and government and ministry, were, in thy eyes, but the manifestation of this one desire of the Church, the expression of the mother's cry as she brings forth her children (Concio I ad Clerum, in Synod. dioeces. xi).

Deign, O blessed Pontiff, to restore in all places the love of holy discipline, wherein the pastoral solicitude that rendered thee so glorious (Collect of the feast) found the secret of its marvellous fecundity. It may be sufficient for the simple faithful merely to know that among the treasures of the Church there exists, side by side with her doctrine and Sacraments, an incomparable code, the work of ages, an object of legitimate pride to all her sons, whose divine privileges it protects. But the priest, entirely devoted to the Church, cannot serve her usefully without that profound and persevering study, which will give him the understanding of her laws in detail. But clergy and laity alike must beseech God, that the miseries of the times may not impede the meeting of our venerated superiors in the councils and synods prescribed at Trent (Sessio xxxiv, de Reformatione cap. II), and so grandly carried out by thee, O Charles, who didst prove by experience their value for the salvation of the world. May heaven, for thy sake, hear our prayer; and then we shall be able to say with thee (Concio I ad Clerum in Synod xi) to the Church: "O tender mother, let thy voice cease from weeping,. .. for there is a reward for thy work, saith the Lord; and thy sons shall return out of the land of the enemy. And I will fill the soul of the priests with fatness: and my people shall be filled with my good things (Jerem. xxxi, 16, 14)."

Prayer for Holy Priests

O Jesus, eternal priest, keep Thy priests within the shelter of Thy sacred heart, where none may touch them. Keep unstained their anointed hands, which daily touch Thy sacred body. Keep unsullied their lips, daily purpled with Thy precious blood. Keep pure and unearthly their hearts, sealed with the sublime mark of the priesthood. Let Thy holy love keep them from the world's contagion. Bless their labors with abundant fruit, and may the souls to whom they minister be their joy and consolation here and their everlasting crown hereafter. Amen