BRUNO (BRUNONE), Saint. — Founder of the Carthusians, born in Cologne from the noble family Hartefaust (Latinized as *de duro pugno*) around 1030, died at Serra S. Bruno (Catanzaro) on 6 October 1101, is one of the great figures of the 11th century. As a young man, he was sent to the famous school of Reims, where he devoted himself eagerly to his studies. Upon returning to Cologne, he was ordained a priest and obtained a canonry in the church of St Cunibert. In 1057, Gervase, archbishop of Reims, called him to direct that school, an office he held brilliantly for about twenty years, contributing greatly to the renewal of ecclesiastical spirit. Among his pupils were St Hugh, later bishop of Grenoble, and the future Pope Urban II.
The uncanonical and simoniacal conduct of the notorious Manasses of Gournay, Gervase’s successor—who had initially favored Bruno by appointing him chancellor of the archbishop—drove him into opposition and forced him to leave the school and even the city of Reims. Only after Manasses’ deposition (1080) could Bruno return to Reims, where he also held a canonry. But the affair of Manasses had shown him the full wretchedness of the world, and the disgust he felt led him to vow to withdraw to live solely for God. This was the true motive of his resolution, not the alleged macabre miracle said to have occurred in Paris, where a canon at the moment of his own funeral office would have proclaimed his condemnation to hell—a tale that only formed in the 13th century.
At first, Bruno, with some companions, withdrew to Sèche-Fontaine (diocese of Langres) under the guidance of Robert of Molesme, future founder of the Cistercians. But finding that dwelling not solitary enough, the saint, with six companions—among them Landuin of Lucca—went to Grenoble, where he asked St Hugh to assign him a suitable place for his purpose. The bishop granted him the alpine valley called *Cartusia*, in the mountains of the Dauphiné northeast of Grenoble. There, in 1084, arose the first Carthusian monastery, later called the *Grande Chartreuse*. In 1091, Urban II wished to have his former teacher from Reims near him as an advisor and ordered him to come to Rome. Bruno had to obey, and leaving Landuin as superior at the Charterhouse, he set out with some companions for Rome. But in the Curia, the hermits felt out of place, and, except for Bruno, obtained permission to return to their Charterhouse.
While with the Pope in southern Italy, and feeling irresistibly drawn to solitude, Bruno obtained permission to retire to the Sila, in a place called La Torre, in the diocese of Squillace (province of Catanzaro). Count Roger of Calabria granted the land and endowed the hermitage that was being built, which was blessed by the archbishop of Palermo (1094). The influx of disciples was such that soon a second hermitage had to be built nearby, dedicated to St Stephen, inaugurated in 1099 by the bishop of Squillace and governed by the prior of La Torre. The two sites are now included within the commune of Serra S. Bruno. The saint died at La Torre and was buried in St Stephen’s, which later became a Cistercian monastery until Leo X in 1513 restored it to the Carthusians. The same Pope, in 1514, granted them orally the divine office in honor of St Bruno, later extended to the whole Church by Gregory XV (1623) and raised to the rank of a double rite by Clement X. His feast is celebrated on 6 October.
Two works by the saint survive from his teaching period at Reims, and two letters written at La Torre: *Expositio in Psalmos* (PL 152, 637–1420); *Expositio in epistolas Pauli* (PL 133, 11–566); a letter to Rudolph, provost of Reims, written after 1094 (PL 152, 420–23; *Acta SS. Octobris*, III, Paris 1868, pp. 675–77); a letter to the hermits of the Grande Chartreuse (c. 1091: PL 152, 418 sg.; *Acta SS. Octobris*, III, Paris 1868, p. 674 sg.). To these may be added a Latin poem from his youth (PL 152, 38; *Acta SS. Octobris*, III, Paris 1868, p. 503 sg.). Other works attributed to the saint in editions of his writings—Cologne 1509 and 1510, Paris 1524—belong SENLIS (v.) or to St Bruno of Carinthia (v.), two contemporary writers.