Saint Bruno, Confessor, Founder of the Carthusian Monks
by VP
Posted on Monday October 06, 2025 at 12:00AM in Saints
"Still her (the Church) enemies arise anew to taunt her in the modern day. She is called on by modern religion to come down from her supernatural viewpoint and become humanitarian; she is called by modern morality to come down from her high standards of celibacy and virginity, of indissoluble marriage, of marriageʼs sanctity; she is called upon by modern skepticism and unbelief to come down from her belief in such a thing as Truth, the existence of God and the Divinity of Christ. All together call upon the Catholic Church to come down and mingle as one among many and change her standards to suit the modern mind. And they threaten that is as she will not come down, then she must die." Bishop William J. Hafey of Raleigh, N.C. Easter Sermon 1932
"THE SCANDALS OF THE WORLD.- When the Church is about to encounter great dangers on the part of enemies of the Faith, God raises up to her noble champions; and whenever great scandals grow to a head, they are compensated for by lofty examples of virtue. Therefore was it that Bruno felt himself led into solitude. In the eleventh century ignorance had generated laxness and immorality; faith was rife enough, but morality was not in acceptance.
Bruno, canon and chancellor of the cathedral of Rheims, out of love with the world by reason of the scandals he there witnessed, formed the project, together with certain of his friends, of relinquishing it altogether. Hugh, bishop of Grenoble, to whom he unfolded his purpose, pointed out to them, as suitable for the end in view, the "Chartreuse," a rugged solitude not far distant. They there constructed for themselves separate cells, and began to lead a life of poverty and labor, as forbidding even as their chosen desert. Numerous companions soon thronged to join them, and the great ones of the world followed, to draw edification from the sight of their austere virtues. Thus was founded, in 1084, the most edifying and rigorous order that has ever existed. St. Bruno died in 1101.
MORAL REFLECTION.-"It is necessary," for the sanctification of the just, "that scandals should come; and yet woe unto him through whom scandal cometh."-(Matt. xviii. 7.)"
1903 France. Expulsion of The Chartreux Fathers
The Tablet, Volume 101 May 23, 1903:
"If might not be out of place here to give one or two quotations from
letters sent by the "rebellious" bishops to their persecuted flocks.
Cardinal Langenieux, archbishop of Rheims, says: "They are planning the
closing of all churches. At present chapels only, it is true, are
attacked. But, my dear children, these chapels, which are all absolutely
necessary in order that sufficient room may be allowed for the worship
of the faithful, are most of them in reality parish churches in the true
sense of the words, so that by suppressing them religious worship is
also suppressed in the localities where they exist."
The Archbishop of Lyons, says to his diocese:
"Iniquitous measures are succeeding each other without interruptions;
the menaces for tomorrow are worse than the misfortunes which have
actually taken place to day.
Christian people remember that the Divine Providence only permits such
chattering to fall upon His followers in order to awaken their
slumbering consciences and to make them follow with ardor and conviction
the path of duty."
The Bishop of Nancy terminates a pastoral to his diocese in these words:
"Catholics who wish to defend your persecuted and proscribed religion!
Honest men who desire justice and liberty! Fall on your knees and pray
and then rise for action, an action which will make you speak and work
and struggle without repose and without a truce. Be prepared to suffer
if necessary. Rouse yourselves and save Christian France. From one end
to the other of our country; from the frontiers of Lorraine to the
mountains of the Pyrenees, from the valleys of Savoy to the quarries of
Brittany let the cry re-echo: arise and fight for the deliverance and
salvation of France."
These remarks are undoubtedly "rebellious" in the sense that entire
submission to robbery and tyranny is not inculcated upon Catholics by
their chief pastors."
