Grande Chartreuse, The

GRANDE CHARTREUSE, LA. -

I. HISTORY

In 1084, St. Bruno, together with six companions, among them Landuino, went, at the suggestion of St. Roberto di Molesme and also, it seems, of Seguino di Escotay, abbot of La Chaise-Dieu, to Bishop Ugo of Grenoble, who led them to one of his deserted lands on the Chartreuse massif, transferring its ownership to Bruno and his companions; at first they built simple huts arranged around an oratory; later, with the help of the bishop of Grenoble, the first monastery was built, which subsequently served as a model. Adjoining the church was a small cloister leading to the refectory, the chapter room, and the guesthouse; then there was a larger cloister giving access to the monks’ cells, separated from one another and consisting of three small rooms for the eremitical life.

This life was devoted to contemplation, study, and the transcription of manuscripts, according to the testimony of the Benedictine abbots Guiberto di Nogent and Pietro il Venerabile, who went as far as the G. C. to visit the anchorites.

In 1090 St. Bruno was summoned to Rome by Urban II, and Landuino remained at the G. C. with those monks who had not followed Bruno. In 1099 Landuino visited St. Bruno, who had withdrawn to Calabria, to the « Torre », and obtained from him a letter for the hermits remaining at the G. C.; under the designation of St. Bruno’s testament, this letter constitutes the first nucleus of Carthusian legislation.

Later, in 1127, the « consuetudines » were drawn up and approved by Innocent II in 1133. In 1142 the first General Chapter was held at the G. C., and it was established that the prior of the G. C. should be the General of the entire Order; the first was St. Anselmo, seventh prior of the G. C. In 1259 the Chapter approved the « Statuta antiqua » drawn up by Fr. Riffier; in 1368 there appeared the « Nova statuta » of de Raynald; in 1508, the « third compilation » prepared by du Puy. A new collection of the statutes, prepared by Fr. Carasse, was approved by the Chapter in 1581; it was reprinted in 1679 by Fr. Le Masson. Yet none of these modifications ever affected the essence of the rules established by St. Bruno, whence the maxim: Cartusia numquam reformata quia numquam deformata. The monastery was suppressed during the French Revolution in 1790, and the monks returned there in 1816. Expelled again in 1904, they moved to Farneta near Lucca; recently they returned to the G. C.

Two kilometers from the monastery, amid a wood, stands the chapel of Notre-Dame de Casalibus (1440) and, a little farther on, beneath a rock, the chapel of St. Bruno, rebuilt in 1640 and restored in 1820; it is believed to occupy the site of the original hermitage.

Today, the library of Grenoble contains 36 volumes from the dispersed library of the G. C.; they comprise four complete Bibles, one of which dates from the time of St. Bruno. One of these Bibles contains copies of the first donations received for the enlargement of the G. C.

The Convent essentially consists of two buildings arranged on either side of the church and is dominated by ten bell towers of various heights. To the left of the entrance is a building used to house poor visitors; women are not admitted within the precincts of the Convent and are received in a separate building called the infirmary. A quadrangular courtyard opens before the entrance; in it are two basins fed by the spring that bears the name of s. Bruno. Beyond the courtyard one reaches a corridor 130 m. long, to which all the galleries connecting the various parts of the Convent lead. To the right and left of the corridor there are also large rooms for receiving foreign visitors. Farther on are the domestic chapel, the church, the refectory, the kitchen, the pantry, some cells, as well as the residence of the p. General and the library, containing more than 6000 volumes. The church, rebuilt after the fire of 1474, has simple and elegant lines and a very high, slender vaulted roof. Beneath the library is a chapel with an altar decorated with a curious mosaic composed of fragments of the roots of different trees. In the chapter house are portraits of the first fifty Superiors General of the Order and 22 paintings depicting the life of s. Bruno, the originals of which, painted by Le Soeur, are in the Louvre.

The large rectangular cloister is supported by 130 arches, whose arrangement follows the irregularities of the ground and which date from various periods. The oldest are pointed arches; the more recent, round-headed, date from the 17th century. In the middle of the cloister is the cemetery, and nearby the Chapel of the Dead, founded in 1382; opposite it is another chapel dedicated to s. Luigi, built by King Luigi XIII. The Convent houses 40 fathers and 20 brothers, who live in 60 cells opening onto two corridors, each a full 220 m. long. – Vedi tav. LXXVI.