Praise be Jesus and Mary, now and forever.
St. Bruno founder of the Carthusians was one of the most learned men of his time.
He was born in Cologne around the year 1030 into a noble family.
He received an excellent education at the Cathedral School of Reims, which was led by a man named Herman.
And he went on to study philosophy at Tours under Berengaris.
At the end of his studies, he had the reputation of having mastered all the branches of human knowledge.
He returned to Cologne in 1048, still not 20 years old, and began studying theology.
He became a canon of the College of St. Cuthbert, and later, probably in 1055, was ordained a priest.
The following year, the Archbishop of Reims, Gervasius, called him to teach in the Cathedral School, where he had been such a brilliant student.
The year after that, Herman retired to religious life, leaving the position of the head of the school vacant, and St. Bruno took that position.
He taught philosophy and theology for almost 20 years, maintaining the high reputation of the school.
His students were illustrious. They went on to become abbots, bishops, a cardinal, and even a pope.
Pope Bl. Urban II and St. Hugh, Bishop of Grenoble, had studied under him.
In 1069, the bishop died and was succeeded by an unworthy man who bought the office in a deal with King Philip I of France, an unworthy king.
This was simony and made his appointment invalid, but he would remain in office until that came to light and was proven.
The new bishop's actions aroused the indignation of many in his diocese.
Simony was not his only sin, especially the indignation of St. Bruno, who made his disapproval known to the bishop.
At first, the new bishop tried to win over Bruno with flattery.
He even appointed him the chancellor of the diocese in 1075, but the saint was too honest to be won over in this way.
When he openly rebuked the bishop for his scandals and violence, he was stripped of his office and had to leave the city.
In 1077, a council was assembled in which St. Bruno led the clergy of the diocese in making their case against the bishop.
The unworthy bishop was deposed, but he appealed to the pope, and in the meantime, took revenge by destroying the houses and goods of his accusers.
Only in 1080 was he definitively removed from office, and St. Bruno finally could return to teaching at the cathedral school.
A new bishop was needed, and many thought that St. Bruno would be an excellent one.
But he was a changed man. Five years of exile from his teaching post had shown him how worthless the glory of the world is.
He had seen how corruption, violence, and manipulation could prevail for years, and he had spent time preaching to simple folk in those years of exile.
He came to the decision that what he really needed was to be alone with God.
He resigned his offices, gave up his wealth, and went with some companions to put himself under the direction of St. Robert, who was in the process of founding the Cistercians.
However, he and his companions soon realized that life in a monastery wasn't the solitude they were looking for. Their vocation was to an even greater solitude.
In 1084, St. Bruno asked a former pupil, St. Hugh, who was now bishop of Grenoble, to come and settle in his diocese.
St. Hugh gave them a remote valley called La Chartreuse, where they settled in temporary huts while waiting for the stone oratory and a small monastery to be built.
This would become La Grande Chartreuse. They spent their day in prayer, manual work, and copying manuscripts, practicing perpetual abstinence and frequent fasting and other penances as well.
They lived almost as hermits, as they do as his order does today as well.
They came together only for matins, vespers, and on great feasts also for one meal.
After seven years in this blessed solitude, St. Bruno was called to Rome by another former pupil, Blessed Urban II.
The Pope was eager to surround himself with wise counselors to carry out the reform of the Church, and he wished to have an old master with him as well.
St. Bruno was allowed to bring his monastic community and settle it in a church in the ruins of the Baths of Diocletian, but it soon became clear that they would not there have the solitude they were used to.
So his companions left, but the Pope would not let St. Bruno leave.  The others returned to what would become La Grande Chartreuse.
St. Bruno's help was often needed. There were reform synods to prepare and an Antipope to oppose.
The Antipope was supported by the Holy Roman Emperor, and it was not long before Rome was invaded by the Antipope and the Emperor.
The Pope and St. Bruno had to flee together to Calabria in the far south of the Italian peninsula.
There St. Bruno was almost made the Bishop of Reggio, but he managed to escape the honor, suggesting another of his pupils as more suited to the position.
He asked the Pope to return to La Grande Chartreuse, but France was too far away. The Pope wanted him somewhere where he would be close enough to call on him in case of need.
As a compromise in 1094, the Pope let him build a new Carthusian monastery in Calabria, in an isolated spot called La Torre.
There he spent the last several years of his life, until his death in 1101, esteemed by all for his science and holiness.
The order he founded has a reputation for a great commitment to holiness. It never needed a reform, because it never really had a great decline.
There's the story that during the renovation of an abandoned Carthusian monastery, the workers came upon the tomb of a monk.
Opening the coffin, they found him incorrupt. So, what do we do? We found a saint, but there are no Carthusians around.
So they called the nearest Carthusian monastery, which was in another country.
They said, what should we do with the body? They explained the situation, what should we do with the body?
And the reply was, bury him again.
Well, but he's incorrupt, he must be a saint. All Carthusians must be saints.
Bury him again.
Praise be Jesus and Mary, now and forever.