Today, October 6, the Catholic Church celebrates the memory of St. Bruno, Abbot and founder of the Carthusians.
Newsroom (06/10/2021 09:53, Gaudium Press) Saint Bruno was born in 1032 in the German city of Cologne. Feeling called by God to the priesthood, he was ordained a priest. Because of his knowledge, the Archbishop of Reims invited him to teach at the cathedral school, while he continued his studies, earning a doctorate. He was also appointed rector of the University.
At the age of 50, he felt inspired to serve in a religious order. After a short period in a Benedictine monastery, Bruno withdrew to a region called the Carthusian. His decisionhad the approval and blessing of St. Hugo, Bishop of Grenoble. In June 1084, the prelate led the saint and his six companions to the mountainous wilderness of Chartreuse (Cartreuse), where they built a hermitage.
Along with his companions, Bruno observed absolute silence. It was an incentive to deepen their prayer and meditation on things divine. They lived in community reciting the liturgical offices, following obedience to the superiors and the Rule, working in the fields and transcribing manuscripts and holy books. The motto of the Cartusians -as the order came to be known, was simple: “Stat Crux dum volvitur orbis” (The cross stands while the world turns).
St. Bruno died on October 6, 1101. After his death, he became the patron saint of the German city of Cologne. His body was buried in the cemetery of Our Lady of the Tower, and was found incorrupt in 1515. In 1514, Pope Leo X authorized the Carthusians to venerate their founder. In 1623, Pope Gregory XV extended the veneration of St Bruno to the whole Church.
St. Bruno’s Phrases
01 – “By your works, you show what you love and what you know.”
02 – “Solitude and silence of the wilderness bring joy to those who love them; only those who have experienced them know it.”
03 – “He who persists in any mortal sin has a demon within him.”
04 – “I believe in the Holy Sacraments of the Catholic Church. In particular, I believe that the bread and wine consecrated in the Holy Mass, are the true Body and Blood of Jesus Christ.”
St. Bruno’s Profession of Faith
1. I firmly believe in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit: the Father unbegotten, the only begotten Son, the Holy Spirit proceeding from them both; and I believe that these three Persons are but one God.
2. I believe that the same Son of God was conceived by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mary. I believe that the Virgin was chaste before she bore her child, that she remained a virgin while she bore her child, and continued a virgin ever after. I believe that the same Son of God was conceived among men, a true man with no sin. I believe the same Son of God was captured by the hatred of some of the Jews who did not believe, was bound unjustly, covered with spittle, and scourged. I believe that he died, was buried, and descended into hell to free those of his who were held there. He descended for our redemption, he rose again, he ascended into heaven, and from there he will come to judge the living and the dead.
3. I believe also in the sacraments that the Church believes and holds in reverence, and especially that what has been consecrated on the altar is the true Flesh and the true Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, which we receive for the forgiveness of our sins and in the hope of eternal salvation. I believe in the resurrection of the flesh and everlasting life.
4. I acknowledge and believe the holy and ineffable Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, to be but only one God, of only one substance, of only one nature, of only one majesty and power. We profess that the Father was neither begotten nor created but that he has begotten. The Father takes his origin from no one; of him the Son is born and the Holy Spirit proceeds. He is the source and origin of all Divinity. And the Father, ineffable by his very nature, from his own substance has begotten the Son ineffably; but he has begotten nothing except what he is himself: God has begotten God, light has begotten light, and it is from him that all Fatherhood in heaven and on earth proceeds. Amen. (EPC)
Compiled by Gustavo Kralj
