Charles Borromeo

This fellow fascinates me.  He destroys stereotypes.  In the 16th century he became a regular lawyer and then a canon lawyer in the church.  You expect a paper pusher in a church office, disconnected from any social justice activity.  On top of this, his uncle, the pope makes him a cardinal when Charles is only 23 and gives him an important job in the Vatican.  Charles runs the third session of The Council of Trent, the session that got the most done in the Counter Reformation.  He writes a catechism.  Now you figure this fellow lives in his head and is a career seeking guy in the Vatican.  Next he is made bishop of Milan, a neglected diocese.  You figure he will neglect it to and just hang around the Vatican or feather his own nest.  None of this happens.  The secular press is confounded!  Charles taught Sunday school, and attended personally to people in his diocese who were victims of the plague.  He died at 46, which can happen when you immerse yourself in caring for victims of the plague.  You just never know how grace is going to work in anyone's life.  Don't judge.  There are no stereotypes.  Grace is everywhere.  Maybe it is even in you!