Saint Bruno
Profile
Educated in Paris and the seminary of Rheims, France, Bruno was ordained a priest c.1055, and began to teach theology; one of his students later became Pope Blessed Urban II. Father Bruno presided over the cathedral school at Rheims from 1057 to 1075. He criticized the worldliness he saw in his fellow clergy, and opposed Manasses, Archbishop of Rheims, because of his laxity and mismanagement. He served as chancellor of the archdiocese of Rheims.
Following a vision he received of a secluded hermitage where he could spend his life becoming closer to God, he retired to a mountain near Chartreuse in Dauphiny (in modern France) in 1084, and with the help of Saint Hugh of Grenoble, he founded what became the first house of the Carthusian Order. He and his brother Carthusians supported themselves as manuscript copyists. Bruno became an assistant to Pope Urban II in 1090, and supported the pope‘s efforts at reform.
Retiring from public life, Bruno and his companions built a hermitage at Torre, Italy where, 1095, the monastery of Saint Stephen was built. Bruno combined in the religious life the eremetical and the cenobitic, both hermit and monk. His learning and insight are apparent from his scriptural commentaries.
Born
- branch
- chalice
- cross in hand
- death’s head
- man holding a book and being illuminated by a ray of light
- skull
- star
- crucifix with leaves and flowers
- star on his breast
- globe under his feet
- chalice with the Sacred Host
- man refusing a mitre
Readings
Rejoice, my dearest brothers, because you are blessed and because of the bountiful hand of God’s grace upon you. Rejoice, because you have escaped the various dangers and shipwrecks of the stormy world. Rejoice because you have reached the quiet and safe anchorage of a secret harbor. Many wish to come into this port, and many make great efforts to do so, yet do not achieve it. Indeed many, after reaching it, have been thrust out, since it was not granted them from above. By your work you show what you love and what you know. When you observe true obedience with prudence and enthusiasm, it is clear that you wisely pick the most delightful and nourishing fruit of divine Scripture. – from a letter by Saint Bruno to the Carthusians
MLA Citation
- “Saint Bruno“. CatholicSaints.Info. 21 April 2024. Web. 27 April 2024. <>