Saint Bruno

Founder of the Order of the Chartreuse, Also known as the Carthusian Order (1030-1101)

Feast – October 6

Powerful people often attempt to influence the guardian of morality, the Catholic Church. Today the US government uses the nonprofit tax exemption status while in Germany and France the government is in charge of maintaining churches and paying priests’ salaries.

In 1069 a simple cleric Manasses I, known as Manasses de Gournay, the son of Hugh II of Gournay-en-Bray succeeded Gervase of Chateau-du-Loir as Archbishop of Reims and Primate of France. He was known to be enterprising and liberal and was addressed in a letter by Lanfranc, Archbishop of Canterbury, as “one of the columns of the church” so Pope Gregory VII entrusted Manasses with several delicate missions. He presided over one of the most intellectually and artistically vibrant episcopal courts of northern Europe. At the same time, he was tyrannical, violent, impatient, insolent to his former colleagues and the lower clergy, corrupt and disregarded ecclesiastical regulations.

Born in Cologne to the Hartenfaust, or Hardebüst, one of the principal families of the city, about the year 1030, the confessor, ecclesiastical writer, and founder of the Carthusian Order, St. Bruno was called to take down the tyrant. As a native of Cologne, he studied at the city college, or collegial of St. Cunibert. St. Bruno was endowed with rare natural gifts, which soon shone with outstanding brilliance. While still quite young, he was attracted by the reputation of the episcopal school and of its director, Heriman, which led him to complete his education at Reims. There he finished his classical studies and perfected himself in the sacred sciences which at that time consisted principally of the study of Holy Scripture and of the Fathers. According to the testimony of his contemporaries, there he became learned in both human and Divine science. St. Bruno returned to Cologne, was ordained a priest around 1055, and was provided with a canonry at St. Cunibert’s. He already had a very strong distaste for honors, and a great desire for the life of contemplation. In 1056 Bishop Gervais recalled him to Reims, to aid his former master Heriman in the direction of the school. The following year St. Bruno found himself head of the Episcopal school, which at the time included the direction of the schools and the oversight of all the educational establishments of the diocese. For eighteen years, from 1057 to 1075, he maintained the prestige which the school of Reims had attained under its former master, Remi of Auxerre. Among his students were Eudes of Châtillon, afterwards Pope Urban II, Rangier the future Cardinal and Bishop of Reggio, Robert who became Bishop of Langres, and a large number of prelates and abbots.

In 1069 on the death of the Gervais, Manasses de Gournay was appointed as the new Archbishop and quickly became odious for his impiety and violence. In 1075, St. Bruno became chancellor of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Rheims, which involved him in the daily administration of the diocese. He resisted the religion decay of the region and found himself the object of a persecution. The chancellor and two other canons were commissioned to bear to the papal legate Hugh, Bishop of Die, the complaints of the indignant clergy. At the Council of Autun, 1077, they obtained the suspension of the unworthy prelate, Manasses. The latter’s reply was to raze the houses of his accusers, confiscate their goods, sell their benefices, and appeal to the Pope. St. Bruno discreetly avoided the cathedral city until in 1080 when a definite sentence, confirmed by popular riot, compelled Manasses to withdraw and take refuge with Henry IV, the Holy Roman Emperor and fierce opponent of Pope Gregory VII. After Manasses departure all desired that St. Bruno assume the charge of the see, but he could not bring himself to accept this honor. On the verge of being made bishop with two of his friends, Raoul and Fulcius, who were also canons, he retired from Rheims, and resolved to forsake the world definitively. He place himself and his companions under the direction of an eminent solitary, Robert of Molesme, who in 1075 had settled at Sèche-Fontaine, near Molesme in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Langres, together with a band of other hermits, who in 1098 were recognized as the Cistercians order, but he soon found that this was not his vocation.

After a short stay he went with six of his companions: Landuin, Stephen of Bourg, Stephen of Die, Hugh the Chaplain and two laymen, Andrew and Guerin, to St. Hugh of Châteauneuf, Bishop of Grenoble. The bishop, according to the pious legend, had a vision of these men, under a chaplet of seven stars, and he installed them himself in 1084 in a mountainous and uninhabited spot in the lower Alps of the Dauphiné, in a place named Chartreuse, not far from Grenoble. There they lived in poverty, self-denial, and silence, each apart in his own cell, meeting only for the worship of God, and employing themselves in copying books. Entirely occupied in prayer and study had a reputation for learning and were frequently honored by the visits of St. Hugh who became like one of themselves. Based on their location of solitude, the Order was called the Carthusian Order. In 1088 St. Bruno’s pupil, Eudes of Châtillon, became Pope Urban II. Resolved to continue the work of reform commenced by Pope Gregory VII and being obliged to struggle against Antipope Clement III who was supported by Emperor Henry IV, he was in dire need of competent and devoted allies and called his former master to Rome in 1090. St. Bruno tried to live there as he had lived in the desert; but the echoes of the great city disturbed his solitude, and after refusing high dignities, he finally obtained, by force of persuasion, the permission of the Pope to resume his monastic life. However, the will of Urban II kept him in Italy, near the papal court, to which he could be called at need. With only a few companions he settled in a small forested high valley in the Diocese of Squillace in Calabria where they constructed a little wooden chapel and cabins, establishing a hermitage dedicated to the Virgin Mary. His patron there was Roger I Count of Sicily and Calabria who granted them the lands they occupied. Roger erected a simple house for himself there and would regularly visit the retreat with his friends. Through his generosity, the monastery of St. Stephen was built in 1095, near the original hermitage. There St. Bruno lived, in humility, mortification and great peace until his blessed death in 1101, in the arms of his faithful monks.

St. Bruno was known for his knowledge, while his disciples praised three chief virtues of his fruitful instruction: his great spirit of prayer, extreme mortification, and devotion to the Blessed Virgin.

References and Excerpts:

[1]          “Saint Bruno, Founder of the Order of the Chartreuse or Carthusian Order.” https://sanctoral.com/en/saints/saint_bruno.html (accessed Oct. 06, 2021).

[2]          “Bruno of Cologne,” Wikipedia. Jun. 24, 2021. Accessed: Oct. 06, 2021. [Online]. Available: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bruno_of_Cologne&oldid=1030135983

[3]          “Manasses I (archbishop of Reims),” Wikipedia. Jun. 25, 2021. Accessed: Oct. 06, 2021. [Online]. Available: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Manasses_I_(archbishop_of_Reims)&oldid=1030423027