Affringues, Bruno d'

AFFRINGUES, BRUNO d'. - Carthusian, b. at Saint-Omer in 1546 and d. in the Grande-Chartreuse of Grenoble in 1632. Of noble birth, he combined a choice intellect with great piety and purity of life. He studied in Paris, traveled in Italy, stayed at Turin and Padua, visited Venice and Rome, and, having returned to France, was elected vicar general of the diocese of Carpentras. In the end, although the favor of the bishop and of the Pope held out before his eyes the prospect of a rapid career, he withdrew among the Carthusians of the Grande Chartreuse and there took the habit in 1591 at the age of forty-five. Having distinguished himself as prior of the charterhouse of Villeneuve-lez-Avignon, he was elected general of the Order in 1600. Marvelous was the reawakening of the Carthusians under his government: the Grande Chartreuse was rebuilt, the novitiate flourished again in number and quality of subjects, the liturgy was restored, studies were encouraged, printing was fostered, etc. The kings of France did him honor, the archduke of Austria favored him, the learned men of the time held him in great esteem. St. Robert Bellarmine called him worthy to be pope and St. Francis de Sales praised his simplicity of the dove and his humility of a saint. At his death the Order counted 10 new charterhouses and 3000 religious. He left no printed works and, strange to say, the bibliography on him is extremely scanty.

Luigi Berra