The history of the popes, from the close of the middle ages : drawn ...

120 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
and in spite of the difficulty he had to contend with in speaking
in pubhc, he began to preach, a thing hitherto unknown for
a Cardinal to do.^ He performed the most severe penances in
secret, a scourge with spikes serving the purpose of lacerating
his tender body, and sometimes he also used a triple chain,
held together by a knot. The curiosity of his chamberlain,
Ambrogio Fornero, discovered these instruments of penance,
when the Cardinal once forgot to remove the key from the
box in which they were hidden from the gaze of those not
intended to see them. Soranzo declares in 1565 that Borromeo
had become extremely thin, through his zeal for work and
study, as well as his fasts, vigils, and other mortifications.
Borromeo kept up his strength in a wonderful way, and it
was only at the end of the reign of Pius V. that a complete
breakdown of his health took place.
^ Bascape, 9-10. The date, which is missing, can be seen
from a letter ofFr. Tonina of June 10, 1564 ;
^
" *n card. Borromeo
ha cassata tutta la famiglia sua, cento boche in poi, et a molti
anco delli ritenuti ha levata la spesa del cavallo et d' un servitore."
Among those dismissed at that time was Camillo Capilupi (see
Arch. stor. Lomb., XX. (1893), 697). The undated *letter of
Fr. Tonina of 1564, refers to the same, in which he says :
" H s.
card^® Borromeo ha retirata la sua famiglia in 80 persone et la
stalla in 20 cavalli, et camina tuttavia restringendosi et due volte
la settimana ordinariamente si reduce alii Giesuiti a conferire con
un eccel*® theologo che vi si trova, nelle cose di theologia et di
conscienza, et sopra questo dicono che S.B"'' un di disse, non
vogliamo attender a viver piu che posiamo et alegramente, se
Mons*" Borromei pur si vorra far frate gli pagaremo 11 vestimenti
del nostro, parlando cosi di burla. S. B^® fa ogni instanza a
quanti pochi vescovi che sono qui che vadino a loro vescovati,
et de qui nasce che quelle che gli hanno miseri ogni di rinonciano
piu presto che andare, come molti hanno fatto '
' (Gonzaga
Archives,
Mantua). In a *letter of Cardinal Mark Sittich to Hannibal von
Hohenems, dated June 15, 1564, there are also comments on the
significant reduction of the court and state of Charles, from
which people might suppose that he was becoming a fool from
mere parsimony ; this is the effect of his dealings with the
" Theatines " (Original in Hohenems Archives).
2 See D'Alessandri, 2, 407 seq. ; Wymann, 95, 108, 118.