Saint Bruno

Bruno, who was born in Cologne around 1032, attended the famous schools in Reims at an early age and then moved on to Paris. The archbishop of Rheims, informed of his brilliant success, appointed him "ecolâtre" - i.e. director of advanced studies - of his cathedral. As a lecturer in theology, Bruno gathered around his chair a number of elite young men, including Eudes de Châtillon (the future Pope Urban II) and Hugues de Châteauneuf (the future bishop of Grenoble). They were thinking of appointing him archbishop of Reims when they learned that Bruno had left the world and all his offices for the cloister. He had retired to Molesmes, near Saint Robert. But the solitude did not seem deep enough for him. At the beginning of 1084, he headed for Grenoble with six companions. As they approached the town, Bishop Hugues, a former pupil of Bruno's, saw in a dream seven stars fall at his feet, rise again, cross deserted mountains and come to rest in a wild place called the Chartreuse. This was a sign from Providence, which Hugues soon understood when the seven travellers appeared before him: he accompanied them to the desert, where the plan for the monastery was quickly decided. The Carthusian Order had just been born. The hermits were enjoying untold joy in the midst of their privations when, in 1090, a message from Rome sent the holy founder to Pope Urban II, his former pupil. Considering this call to be a command from God, Bruno bid his brothers a fond farewell and set off for Rome. After some time, he obtained permission from Urban II to withdraw to Calabria, where he founded a new Carthusian monastery. He died there on 6 October 1101.