Carthusian Saints (PDF) - Charterhouse of the Transfiguration

tutions of Archbishop Boniface are still part of the canonical structure of the
Anglican Church” (p. 86).
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6.
SAINT BRUNO
FOUNDER OF OUR ORDER
- GERMANY -
(OCTOBER 6, 1101)
Saint Bruno, our holy founder, is definitely the most important of
the Carthusian Saints. He was born in Cologne, Germany, probably in
the late 1020s. As a young man he went to Rheims in France, a town
renowned as center of higher learning. In 1049 Pope Leo IX convoked
at Rheims a Council for Church reform. Bruno must have been
there as a young student at the time. In 1056 the Master of studies at
Rheims retired and Bruno, though not yet thirty, succeeded him. He
was also a canon at the cathedral. Future Abbots and Bishops, and
even a future Pope, Urban II, were among his students.
However, difficulties came when a new Archbishop was installed
in 1067. This man, called Manasses, turned out to be rather corrupt. It
was widely understood that he financially bought the office of
Bishop. This great crime of simony was very widespread at that time.
Bruno and a few other canons opposed themselves against Manasses.
In retaliation Manasses deprived them of all their dignities and Bruno
had to seek refuge with a local count at the end of 1076. Manasses
made several attempts to justify himself: before a papal legate, a local
Council, and the Pope himself. In doing so he always tried to discredit
Bruno by name, whose uprightness and integrity were a thorn in his
flesh. But finally, in 1080, Gregory VII ordered the clergy of Rheims
to send away Manasses and elect a worthy Archbishop. “Master
Bruno” (in Latin Magister Bruno), as he was known, the famous
scholar, now in his fifties, would be the right man for it. However, in
the meantime God had spoken to his heart a totally different vocation:
seeking Him alone, through prayer, in silence and solitude.
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