St. Bruno the Carthusian

St. Bruno the Carthusian (born c. 1030, Cologne, Germany—died October 6, 1101, La Torre monastery, Calabria, Italy; canonized 1514; feast day October 6) was a German-born priest who was the founder of the Carthusian order and noted for his learning and for his sanctity. In the Roman Catholic Church he is venerated as the patron saint of exorcists and people suffering from demonic possession.

Ordained at Cologne, in 1057 Bruno was called to Reims, France, by Archbishop Gervase to become head of the cathedral school and overseer of the schools of the diocese. Among his pupils was Eudes de Châtillon, later Pope Urban II. Bruno was made chancellor of the church of Reims in 1075. Having protested against the misdoings of the new archbishop, Manasses de Gournai, he was deprived of all his offices and fled to safety (1076). On the deposition of the archbishop (1080), Bruno was presented to the pope by the ecclesiastical authorities for the see, but he refused, for he had already become determined to forsake the world.

With six companions, he was led to a place called Chartreuse in the mountains near Grenoble, France, by St. Hugh of Châteauneuf, bishop of Grenoble. There the seven retired, building a monastery and founding the Carthusian order (1084). Bruno did not write a rule for the order, but the customs he established, modifying the Benedictine Rule, became the basis for the new foundations. After six years Pope Urban II called Bruno to Rome and offered him the archbishopric of Reggio, Italy, which he refused. He then retired to Calabria, where he established his second colony of hermits at La Torre.

In 2025 there were 21 Carthusian monasteries still in existence around the world, with some 350 monks and nuns who continue to follow the strict rule established by St. Bruno more than 900 years ago.