This blog is written by Denise Wolff, volunteer researcher
Saint Bruno of Cologne – by Jan de Hoey, early 17th century, via Wikimedia Commons [1]
He is usually represented with a death’s head in his hands, a book and a cross, or crowned with seven stars; or with a roll bearing the device O Bonitas[1]
St Bruno was the founder of the Carthusian order, the founders of Charterhouse.
Key Dates and Events
- 1030 (approx): born in Cologne, Germany as a member of prominent Hartenfaust family
- Studied at the Cathedral school of St. Cunibert, Cologne.
- Completed his education in Reims, France
- 1055: Returned to Cologne where he was ordained as canon, then priest at St. Cunibert’s
- 1056: Bishop Gervais recalled him to Reims
- 1057: Became rector of the episcopal school which included supervision of all the educational establishments of the diocese
- 1075: Appointed chancellor of the Cathedral of Reims by Bishop Manasses de Gournay.
- 1077: Forced to leave Reims after the Council of Autun, when he and several other priests denounced Manasses as unfit to serve due to corruption as he sold Church offices and goods (practice of simony).
- 1080: Returned to Reims when Manasses was deposed, and though the people of Reims wanted to make Bruno archbishop, he decided to abandon the world and instead embrace the religious life as a hermit.
- 1084: Hugh of Châteauneuf, Bishop of Grenoble escorted Bruno and his companions: Master Landuino from Lucca in Tuscany, a renowned theologian (who became prior when Bruno left for Rome); Stephen of Bourg and Stephen of Dié, both canons of Saint-Ruf; Hugh, and Andrew and Guérin, who were lay brothers and installed them in a remote mountainous place in the Alps of Dauphiné named Chartreuse, (40 km from Grenoble). He had been inspired by a dream to select the location, despite its inaccessibility and harsh climate. Here they built an oratory and individual cells. These cells were connected by a covered cloister that allowed access to the church, the chapterhouse and the refectory. This early Carthusian structure was the model for all the others founded worldwide. They embraced a life of poverty, manual work, prayer, and transcribing manuscripts.
- 1090: Called to Italy by a former pupil who had become Pope Urban II to assist in his aim of reforming the Church
- 1091: Bruno wanted to return to Chartreuse. The Pope offered him the archdiocese of Reggio. Bruno declined, but the Pope insisted he would have to stay in Italy so he would be nearby to advise him. Bruno chose to live in another remote place: Squillace (in the Province of Catanzaro, part of Calabria, Southern Italy). With a few companions, he built a chapel and a few cabins: The hermitage (now a sanctuary) of Santa Maria del Bosco. Bruno wanted to show that his experience at Chartreuse, with its particular circumstances, was not restricted to that one location and could be repeated elsewhere with even a small number of men who, encouraged by his spirit, followed the same Carthusian life.
- 1101 6th October: death of Bruno and now the date of his feast day
Saint Bruno was never formally canonized because of the Carthusians’ aversion to public honours, but Pope Leo X granted the Carthusians permission to celebrate his feast in 1514, and his name was placed on the Roman Catholic calendar in 1623.
Character
After Bruno’s death, the Carthusians of Calabria, following a custom of the Middle Ages sent a rolliger, a servant of the monastery, with a long roll of parchment hung round his neck, who passed through Italy, France, Germany, and England. He stopped at the principal churches and communities to announce the death, and people who had known him wrote on his roll describing the character of Bruno. They praised his great knowledge, talent for teaching and communication, courage, integrity, deep spirituality, disdain of riches, charity and goodness.
Writings
Bruno wrote Commentaries on the Psalms and on the Epistles of St. Paul. In addition two letters of his still remain, also his profession of faith, and a short elegy on contempt for the world. He wrote about his belief in the solitary life:
“In any case, what benefits and divine exaltation the silence and solitude of the desert hold in store for those who love it, only those who have experienced it can know. […] Here they can acquire the eye that wounds the Bridegroom with love, by the limpidity of its gaze, and whose purity allows them to see God himself.” (Saint Bruno, Letter to Ralph le Verd,)[2]
Saint Bruno: founder of the Carthusian Order
Saint Bruno introduced the mixed form into the religious life: union of the eremitical (hermit type) and cenobite (living within a community) types of monasticism. [3]
The name Carthusian is derived from the Chartreuse Mountains in the French Prealps where in 1084 Bruno built his first hermitage. This name was anglicized as charterhouse, meaning a Carthusian monastery. Today, there are 23 charterhouses, 18 for monks and 5 for nuns. The alcoholic cordial Chartreuse has been produced by the monks of Grande Chartreuse since 1737,
Bruno did not write any rules for Carthusians to live by. However in 1115 several communities who had asked to join the solitary way of life instituted by Bruno urged Guigo, fifth prior of Chartreuse, to write down for them the way of life observed at the Grande Chartreuse. Consequently Guigo drew up the ‘Customs of Chartreuse’ and this monastic rule governed by simplicity and quiet was adopted by all Carthusian communities.
Sources
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume III Nihil Obstat, November 1, 1908, Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor Imprimatur. http://traditionalcatholic.net/Tradition/Calendar/10-06.html
https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=575
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruno_of_Cologne
https://chartreux.org/moines/en/saint-bruno-en/
https://catholicmagazine.news/st-bruno-father-and-founder-of-the-carthusians/
Ravier André Saint Bruno The Carthusian, 1981
https://web.archive.org/web/20110712064501/http:/transfiguration.chartreux.org/sermon.htm
La Grande Chartreuse (Motherhouse of the Carthusians)
[1] [1] https://katakombe.org/gallery/image/saint-bruno-cologne-jan-de-hoey-early-17th-century.KwKEA
[2] https://chartreux.org/moines/en/saint-bruno-en/
[3] The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume III Nihil Obstat, November 1, 1908, Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor
Imprimatur. http://traditionalcatholic.net/Tradition/Calendar/10-06.html
The origins of the Order engraving in the first edition of the Statutes by Amorbach, Basel, 1510
