Saint Francis Xavier He is one of the most prominent figures in the history of Christian evangelization, and each year his feast day reminds the Catholic Church that mission requires prior preparation, sending, and a truly universal vision.

His life, marked by total dedication, is naturally connected to the work carried out by institutions dedicated to priestly formation, such as the CARF Foundation. This relationship allows us to view his life not as an isolated historical episode, but as a living reference for the service that the Church provides throughout the world.

The Life of Saint Francis Xavier

Francisco de Jasso Azpilicueta was born in 1506 in the Javier Castle, Navarre, into a noble family. From a young age, he stood out for his intellectual and athletic abilities, which opened the doors to the University of Paris, where he became a professor. There he experienced a decisive period for his vocation: his encounter with Íñigo de Loyola, his roommate and friend: Saint Ignatius.

At first, Francisco had no intention of orienting his life toward the religious life or missionary. His goal was to advance academically. However, Ignatius knew how to challenge him with a phrase that became a turning point: «What good is it to gain the whole world if you lose your soul?» Over time, that message transformed his priorities.

This inner change led him to join the founding nucleus of the Society of Jesus in 1534. That decision marked the beginning of a life devoted entirely to serving the Catholic Church throughout the world.

In 1541, at the request of the king of Portugal, the Society of Jesus was commissioned to send missionaries to the kingdom's Asian territories. Although Ignatius had initially considered other companions, circumstances led Francisco Javier to set sail for the East. He accepted without hesitation.

His arrival in Goa in 1542 marked the beginning of an unprecedented missionary period. Saint Francis Xavier traveled throughout India, Malacca, the Moluccas, and Japan, always with a clear approach: closeness to the people, learning languages, seeking cultural adaptation, and an attitude of constant listening. His dream was to reach China, but he died in 1552 on the island of Shangchuan, at the gateway to the continent.

His method, based on direct presence and understanding of the local context, laid the foundations for what the Church today recognizes as respectful and deeply human evangelization.

Javier understood that his vocation as a missionary was not an abstract idea, but a concrete task that required humility, study, and perseverance. His ability to move between different cultures, learn languages, understand societies, and love them meant that his inner fire (his love for Jesus Christ) led him to baptize more than thirty thousand people. It is said that sometimes he had to support one arm with the other because his strength failed him from administering the sacrament so often.

His apostolate also reached Europe through passionate and enthusiastic letters that inspired many other young people to become missionaries in the following centuries.

The mission of formation in the Church

One of the most important elements of his work was the training of catechists, the creation of Christian communities, and the preparation of local leaders who would ensure the continuity of the Catholic Church's evangelization. St. Francis Xavier knew that it was not enough to reach new territories: it was essential to train people capable of sustaining the faith in each community.

This emphasis makes his life a direct reference point for those who work today in the comprehensive training of priests. The CARF Foundation carries out work that also connects with the missionary vision of St. Francis Xavier: to train seminarians and diocesan priests with sufficient intellectual, human, and spiritual preparation to evangelize anywhere in the world.

Each year, the Foundation supports seminarians and priests from more than 130 countries, many of them from places where the Church is growing, where resources are scarce, or where pastoral challenges are great. This diversity reflects the universality that St. Francis Xavier embodied during his life as a giant of the missions.

Saint Francis Xavier is known as the man who transformed the missions into a global adventure. His eagerness to save souls led him to never stop, and he always sought to go further. For all these reasons, the Catholic Church named him Universal Patron of Missions (alongside Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus, although for reasons different from hers).

Young people studying with the support of the CARF Foundation are trained for their home diocese and to serve the universal Church. They learn to engage in dialogue with different cultures, to understand complex social realities, and to support communities where, often, the priest is the only educational or social reference point.

Just as St. Francis Xavier knew that the mission needed well-trained people, the CARF Foundation helps parishes, dioceses, and mission territories to have solidly trained priests. All of these students return to their countries, where the figure of the priest is essential for education, spiritual guidance, community stability, and the transmission of the faith.

From a human perspective, which is difficult to explain, what is most striking about the life of Saint Francis Xavier was the sheer physical magnitude of his work. In the 16th century, without modern means of transportation, he traveled some 100,000 kilometers. kilometers (equivalent to circling the globe more than twice). It is rightly called the giant of missions.

If anything characterized the life of St. Francis Xavier, it was his global vision and his ability to break new ground. The mission of the CARF Foundation replicates his geographical adventure from its very essence: to create conditions for faith to reach where it is most needed, in an orderly, profound, and forward-looking manner.

St. Charles Borromeo was one of the most important persons of the Catholic Reformation, also known as the Counter-Reformation, in the 16th century. A man who was born into the opulence of the nobility and chose service and austerity.

His life shows how a priest, Armed with an iron will and faith, he can help transform the Church. He is remembered as a model pastor for his love of the Church. formation of seminarians and catechists.

The Borromeo family

Charles Borromeo was born on October 2, 1538 in the castle of Arona, on Lake Maggiore (Italy). His family, the Borromeo, was one of the oldest and most influential of the Lombard nobility. His father was Count Gilberto II Borromeo and his mother Margarita de Medici.

This maternal kinship would mark his destiny in a decisive way. His maternal uncle, Giovanni Angelo Medici, would become Pope Pius IV. From a young age, Charles showed remarkable piety and a serious inclination towards study, despite suffering from a slight speech impediment.

At the age of twelve, his family had already destined him for an ecclesiastical career, receiving the tonsure and the title of commendatory abbot. He studied Canonic Law and Civil Engineering at the University of Pavia.

A lay cardinal at the age of 22

The life of St. Charles Borromeo changed in 1559. After the death of Pope Paul IV, his maternal uncle was elected Pope, taking the name Pius IV. Almost immediately, the new pope called his nephew to Rome.

In 1560, at only 22 years of age and without having been ordained priest still, Charles was named cardinal deacon. It is essential to understand that, at that time, the cardinalate was often a political and administrative position. Pius IV also appointed him secretary of state of the Holy See.

It became, de facto, the most powerful man in Rome after the pope. He administered the affairs of the Papal States, managed Vatican diplomacy and oversaw countless projects. He lived like a Renaissance prince, surrounded by luxuries, although he personally maintained his piety.

Conversion and his call to the priesthood

The life of St. Charles Borromeo in Rome, although administratively efficient, was mundane. However, a tragic event shook his conscience: the sudden death of his older brother, Frederick, in 1562.

This loss caused him to reflect deeply on the vanity of the earthly life and the urgency of eternal salvation. Frederick was the heir of the family, and his death put pressure on Charles to leave the ecclesiastical life to ensure offspring.

Charles rejected this idea. He experienced a profound spiritual conversion. He decided that he would no longer be a lay administrator with a cardinal's title, but a true man of God. In 1563, it sought ordination and was consecrated priest, and soon after, bishop. His life changed radically: he adopted a lifestyle of extreme austerity, fasting and prayer.

The driving force behind the Council of Trent

The great work of the pontificate of Pius IV was the resumption and completion of the Council of Trent (1545-1563), which had been blocked for years. St. Charles Borromeo, In his position at the Secretariat of State, he was the diplomatic and organizational driving force that brought the Council to a successful conclusion in its final phase.

It was he who managed the tense negotiations between the European powers (Spain and France), the papal legates and the bishops. His tenacity was key to the council defining Catholic doctrine in the face of the Protestant reform and, crucially, establishing the decrees for the internal reform of the Church.

The council ended, St. Charles Borromeo did not rest. He dedicated himself body and soul to implementing his decrees. He chaired the commission that drafted the Roman Catechism (or Catechism of Trent), a fundamental tool for instructing the faithful and unifying teaching.

St. Charles Borromeo: resident archbishop of Milan

While in Rome, St. Charles Borromeo had been appointed archbishop of Milan in 1560. However, as was the custom of the time, he governed his diocese "in absentia" through vicars. He was a "shepherd without a flock".

The very Council of Trent that he helped conclude forbade this practice and required bishops to reside in their dioceses. True to his principles, Charles begged his uncle, the pope, to allow him to leave the glory of Rome for the difficult Milan.

In 1565, Pius IV agreed. The entry of St. Charles Borromeo in Milan marked the beginning of a new era. For the first time in almost 80 years, Milan had a resident archbishop.

Milan's challenge: a diocese in ruins

The archdiocese of Milan which found Charles Borromeo was a reflection of the ills of the pre-Tridentine Church. It was one of the largest and richest dioceses in Europe, but spiritually it was in anarchy.

The clergy were deeply relaxed and poorly trained. Many priests did not keep celibacy, lived luxuriously or were simply ignorant of basic doctrine. The religious ignorance of the people was vast. The monasteries, both male and female, had lost their discipline and had become centers of social life.

The relentless reform of St. Charles Borromeo

St. Charles Borromeo applied the decrees of Trent with superhuman energy. His method was clear: to visit, regulate, form and lead by example.

He began by reforming his own archiepiscopal house. He sold the luxurious furnishings, drastically reduced his servants and adopted an almost monastic regime of life. His example as priest austere was his first reform tool.

He began pastoral visits, tirelessly touring each of the more than 800 parishes in his diocese, many in difficult-to-access mountainous areas in the Alps. He inspected the churches, examined the clergy and preached to the people.

To implement the reform, he convoked numerous diocesan synods and provincial councils, where he promulgated strict laws to correct the abuses of the clergy and laity. He was not afraid to confront the nobles and Spanish governors, who saw his authority as an intrusion.

The creation of the seminar

St. Charles Borromeo understood perfectly well that the reform of the Church was impossible without a well-trained clergy. The Council of Trent had ordered the creation of seminars for this purpose, but the idea was at a very theoretical level.

Charles was the absolute pioneer in its practical implementation. He founded the major seminary in Milan in 1564, making it the model for the entire Catholic Church. He went on to establish minor seminaries and schools (like the Helvetic, to train clergy against Calvinism).

He established strict rules for the spiritual, academic and disciplinary life of every seminarian. I wanted the future priest was a man of deep prayer, learned in theology and morally blameless. The figure of the seminarian modern, dedicated exclusively to his formation for ministry, is a direct inheritance of the vision of St. Charles Borromeo. For this reason, he is considered the patron saint of all seminarian.

A priest for his people

The defining moment of the heroism of St. Charles Borromeo was the terrible plague that devastated Milan between 1576 and 1577, known as the plague of St. Charles.

When the epidemic broke out, the civil authorities and most of the nobles fled the city to save themselves. St. Charles Borromeo he stayed. He became the moral, spiritual and, in many ways, civil leader of the disease-ridden city.

He organized field hospitals (lazarettos), gathered his faithful clergy and urged them to care for the dying. He himself went through the most infected streets, giving Communion and Extreme Unction to the plague-stricken, without fear of contagion.

He sold his remaining possessions, including the tapestries of his palace, to buy food and medicine for the poor. So that the sick who could not leave their homes could attend Mass, he ordered the Eucharist to be celebrated in public squares. His figure, leading barefoot penitential processions through the city, became an important figure in the city's history. symbol of hope.

Opposition and attack

The reform of St. Charles Borromeo was neither easy nor popular. His rigor earned him powerful enemies. He constantly clashed with the Spanish governors of Milan, who tried to limit his jurisdiction.

But the most violent opposition came from within the Church. The Humiliati, The friars, a religious order that had become morally lax and possessed great wealth, refused to accept his reform. In 1569, a member of this order, Friar Girolamo Donato Farina, attempted to assassinate him.

While St. Charles Borromeo While he was praying on his knees in his chapel, the friar shot him in the back with an arquebus at point-blank range. Miraculously, the bullet only tore his vestments and caused a slight bruise. The people saw this as a divine sign, and Pope Pius V suppressed the order of the Humiliati shortly thereafter.

Legacy, death and canonization

The constant effort, extreme penances and tireless work exhausted the health of St. Charles Borromeo. In 1584, while performing a spiritual retreat on Mount Varallo, he contracted a fever.

He returned to Milan gravely ill and died on the night of November 3, 1584, at the age of 46. His last words were Ecce venio (Here I come).

His reputation for holiness was immediate. The people of Milan venerated him as the priest martyr to charity and reform. The process of canonization was extraordinarily rapid for the time. He was beatified in 1602 and canonized by Pope Paul V in 1610.

St. Charles Borromeo is universally recognized as the patron saint of bishops, catechists and, in a very special way, of all the bishops and catechists. seminarian and spiritual director. His influence on the definition of the priest post-Tridentine - formed, pious and dedicated to his people - is incalculable.