Carthusian Saints (PDF) - Charterhouse of the Transfiguration

he had only one wish: to return to the Charterhouse. He died however
on a diplomatic mission to Siena, where he had to accompany the
Pope in 1443. On May 9, he breathed his last in that city. After his
death, he appeared to his assistant Tommaso da Sarzano and predicted
to him that he would become Pope, which soon happened, for he became
Pope Nicholas V (1447-1455). Three centuries later, Pope
Benedict XIV, who had also formerly been archbishop of Bologna,
confirmed the cult of our holy fellow Carthusian with Mass and Office
in our Order and some Italian dioceses.
The Carthusians celebrate his feast today on October 13, together
with other Saints and Blesseds of the Order.
Prayer
Lord, give us that simplicity of life by which Blessed
Nicholas was able to persevere in the Carthusian ideal
even in the midst of so many external cares.
N
13.
BLESSED ODO
- ITALY -
(JANUARY 14, 1200)
Odo, not to be confused with the better known Benedictine Saint
of that name, had a most unusual life pattern. He was born in Novara
in Northern Italy. We don’t know what made him prefer to enter at
the Carthusians’ Mother house in the French Alps, the Grande Chartreuse.
From there he was sent to Seitz in today’s Slovenia, the Carthusian
Order’s first foundation in a Slavic country. He ended up
Prior of the Charterhouse of Geirach in Austria, a little to the North of
Seitz.
Very serious difficulties awaited him in the Austrian House. The
local Bishop made life almost impossible for the Carthusians, eventually
taking their land by violence and turning their monastery over to
another Order. Odo saw no other solution than to go to Rome and
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