St. Bruno was born in Solero in Piedmont around the year 1048 and died in 1123.
Newsroom (13/08/2025, Gaudium Press) We celebrate, among other Saints, St. Bruno of Segni, who, in addition to several other notable biographical events, fought against the heresy that denied the Real Presence of Jesus in the consecrated Host.
Advisor to Popes
Bruno received a basic education in a Benedictine monastery in his native land, but then went to study in Bologna, where he was ordained a priest. He was then assigned as a canon in Siena, Italy. His knowledge and fame grew, and he was sent to Rome, where he served as advisor to four successive popes.
At a Roman synod, he fought against Berengar of Tours and defeated him, causing him to recant his statements denying that the Holy Host contained the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Christ. Berengar recanted his statements, which were materially heretical, although not formally, since the dogma of transubstantiation was only declared as such at the Fourth Lateran Council.
He was a personal friend of Pope Gregory VII, who made him Bishop of Segni, and before whom he declined the cardinalate. He fought for ecclesiastical reform and against secular investiture, that is, he affirmed that no lay person, no matter how important, had the power to grant ecclesiastical offices.
He was with Urban II at the great council of Clermont where the first crusade was called in 1095.
Monk, abbot and then expelled monk
A saintly man, he sought the monastic life and became a monk at Montecassino, a monastery where he was made abbot without renouncing his jurisdiction over Segni. However, when he respectfully and frankly censured the Pope for granting the German emperor the right to invest the ring and the crucifix, and demanded that the treaty known as the ‘Privilegium’ between Henry V of Germany and Pope Paschal II be annulled, Paschal, annoyed, ordered him to renounce Montecassino and return to Segni. There he continued to fight for the salvation of souls until the day of his death.
He was canonized on 5 September 1183 by Lucius III.
He is the author of several works, especially on the Holy Scriptures.
With Files From Catholic.net
Compiled by Sandra Chisholm
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