St. Bruno
Bruno was
born in Cologne, Germany, became a famous teacher at Rheims and was
appointed chancellor of the archdiocese at the age of 45. He supported
Pope Gregory VII (May 25) in his fight against the decadence of the
clergy and took part in the removal of his own scandalous archbishop,
Manasses. Bruno suffered the plundering of his house for his pains.
He
had a dream of living in solitude and prayer, and persuaded a few
friends to join him in a hermitage. After a while he felt the place
unsuitable and, through a friend, was given some land which was to
become famous for his foundation "in the Chartreuse" (from which comes
the word Carthusians). The climate, desert, mountainous terrain and
inaccessibility guaranteed silence, poverty and small numbers.
Bruno
and his friends built an oratory with small individual cells at a
distance from each other. They met for Matins and Vespers each day and
spent the rest of the time in solitude, eating together only on great
feasts. Their chief work was copying manuscripts.
The pope,
hearing of Bruno's holiness, called for his assistance in Rome. When the
pope had to flee Rome, Bruno pulled up stakes again, and spent his last
years (after refusing a bishopric) in the wilderness of Calabria.
He
was never formally canonized, because the Carthusians were averse to
all occasions of publicity. Pope Clement extended his feast to the whole
Church in 1674.
