Customer Reviews

Saint Bruno: The Carthusian

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If you've ever wondered why someone would shut themselves up in a small cell with only minimal contact with a group of similarly shut-up men, then read this book. It is a biography of St. Bruno, who founded the Carthusian order of monks in 1084. Of all the religious orders of the Catholic Church, none has changed so little as the Carthusians. This is due to the extreme simplicity of the life they have chosen to lead: most of their time is spent in study or prayer ALONE in their cells, they do some manual labor, and eat a very sparse, meatless diet (many also live into their 90's). The Carthusians are the ultimate in monastic withdrawl from the world (at least in the Christian West), and this is undoubtedly why they are fascinating. This book, a biography of their founder, shows how one might come to freely choose this life. Bruno himself lived and taught in the Cathedral School in Reims, France (or was it Chartes? I don't have the book immediately available). Since he was connected to the Cathedral he worked and lived in the busy midst of medieval town life. Along with some of his friends, he wished for a more solitary life of prayer and scriptural study, and eventually he found this in a small valley where he started his monastery. Carthusians are still there today at La Grande Chartreuse, the motherhouse of about 25 monasteries worldwide (one in the U.S.). I enjoyed this book because of the very human portrait it gave of St. Bruno. After reading this I could better understand what might motivate someone to take up such a hard life. In our age we tend to see such a life as negative inasmuch as it involves denying almost everything we have. The considerations that led St. Bruno to it, however, were positive: he did not seek to give up the world so much as he sought to grab hold of the "pearl of great price," and seek out the Infinite and Ever-Loving God. To this end, Bruno was willing to set aside all else. Only when we see what Bruno was after do the austerities of the monks seem reasonable. In this light Bruno is akin to a modern Olympic athlete who puts everything at the service of his training and sets his sights upon one thing: the Gold. Bruno was no escapist, but this book does prompt the modern reader to ask what it would be like to have one, and only one, priority in life, and to give up everything for it. What would it be to give up our rushed lives, to be "far from the madding crowd" and yet be content? Tolle et lege: take up and read.