Federico Borromeo. Federico Borromeo was an Italian cardinal and Archbishop of Milan.
Federico Borromeo was born in Milan as the second son of Giulio Cesare Borromeo, Count of Arona, and Margherita Trivulzio. The family was influential in both the secular and ecclesiastical spheres and Federico was cousin of Saint Charles Borromeo, the latter previous Archbishop of Milan and a leading figure during the Counter-Reformation.
He studied in Bologna with Cardinal Gabriele Paleotti and in 1580, at the age of 16, he asked to become a Jesuit. His cousin Charles Borromeo dissuaded him and sent him to the Collegio Borromeo of Pavia where he remained five years.
In May 1585 he earned a doctorate in theology at the University of Pavia. Following the death of his cousin Charles, he was sent to Rome for higher studies, where he was strongly influenced by Philip Neri, Caesar Baronius and Robert Bellarmine.
Federico Borromeo was created cardinal by Pope Sixtus V on 18 December 1587, at the age of only 23 years. As cardinal, he participated in the papal conclaves of 1590, 1591, 1592, 1605 and 1623. His attendance in the first conclave of 1590 at the age of 26 made him one of the youngest Cardinals to participate in the election of a pontiff. In Rome, Federico was not particularly interested in political issues, but he focused on scholarship and prayer. He collaborated on the issuing of the Sixto-Clementine Vulgat