Carthusian Saints (PDF) - Charterhouse of the Transfiguration

The future Saint Hugh, Bishop of Grenoble, played an important
role in the foundation of the Grande Chartreuse and throughout the
whole beginning period of our Order. That is why, although not a
Carthusian, he is sometimes called the ‘co-founder’ of the Carthusian
Order. He became Bishop of Grenoble in 1080, at the age of 27 and
died in 1132. In 1084 he received Bruno and his six companions and
led them to the mountains of Chartreuse. Once the monastery built, he
used to spend much time with the monks, living in a cell and not shying
away from the simplest everyday jobs. Indeed, he developed such
a taste for life in solitude that Saint Bruno often had to send him gently
away, saying: “Pastor, return to your sheep.” When around 1120
several Priors asked Guigo, the fifth prior of the Grande Chartreuse,
to write a Rule, Hugh supported their request with his authority.
Guigo later wrote Hugh’s life, which we still have. The Carthusians
celebrate Hugh’s feast April 22, using the following prayer: “Father,
through Saint Hugh You manifested the Church’s pastoral care for
our first founders. Through his intercession may our Order continue
to flourish.”
Editor’s Note
The life of Hugh by Guigo, in French translation: Guigues le Chartreux, Vie
de Saint Hugues, Évêque de Grenoble, Ami des moines (Analecta Cartusiana,
112:3), translated from the Latin by Marie-Ange Chomel, Salzburg, 1986.
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