ST.

BRUNO, FOUNDER OF THE CARTHUSIANS AND PATRON AGAINST DIABOLIC POSSESSION

OCTOBER 6: SAINT BRUNO, PRIEST—OPTIONAL MEMORIAL
1030–1101
EQUIVALENT CANONIZATION BY POPE LEO X IN 1514
LITURGICAL COLOR: WHITE

“Stat Crux Dum Volvitur Orbis!”

“While The World Changes, The Cross Stands Firm!”

For the devil may tempt the good, but he cannot find rest in them; for he is shaken violently,
and upset, and driven out, now by their prayers, now by their tears of repentance, and now by
their almsgiving and similar good works.
— St. Bruno of Cologne

PRAYER FOR ST. BRUNO 1962 Missal and the 1974 Breviary.
May we be helped by the intercession of St. Bruno, Thy Confessor, O Lord, we beseech
Thee, so that we who by our evil deeds have grievously offended Thy Majesty, may by
his merits and prayers obtain forgiveness of our sins. Through our Lord Jesus Christ thy
son who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the holy spirit one god forever. Amen

Lord God, you called Saint Bruno to serve you in a life of solitude. Amidst this world's
changes help us, by his prayers, to set our hearts always on you. Amen.
 Why St. Bruno is the patron saint of exorcists and possessed persons

St. Bruno's depiction in art and his reputation for holiness of life have led to his patronage
against demonic possession.
St. Bruno was the founder of the Carthusian Order and was highly regarded for his holy and
virtuous life. He is widely known as the patron of exorcists and possessed persons and is
invoked against demonic possession.

It is difficult to pinpoint the exact reason why St. Bruno receives this designation, but there is
some evidence that can help us sort it out.

First of all, a famous depiction of St. Bruno recalls a scene from his life where he witnesses the
funeral of Raymond Diocres, a seemingly virtuous teacher of scripture. At the funeral, Bruno
looks upon the resurrected body of Raymond, who comes back to life to say that his soul has
been condemned to Hell for his secret sins. Frequently this painting features a demon ready to
accept the soul of Raymond.

Secondly, there is a medieval painting of St. Bruno casting out a spirit from a possessed woman.
This story behind this painting is difficult to ascertain, but it reveals a legendary tradition of
associating St. Bruno with an exorcism.

Third, St. Bruno was highly regarded for his holiness of life and his spiritual writings contain
much insight into the spiritual life. His holiness and asceticism made him into a strong spiritual
warrior, ready to combat any spiritual attacks.

Whatever the circumstances might have been that earned him the patronage of exorcists and
against demonic possession, St. Bruno continues to be a powerful intercessor in heaven and can
be of assistance in cases where demonic forces are at work.
 LIFE OF SAINT BRUNO
Saint Bruno is believed to have been born into the wealthy and influential Hardebüst family in
the city of Cologne, in modern-day Germany. His family’s status would have ensured him a
good education and a successful career. As a teenager, he was sent to the prestigious Cathedral
School of Rheims, in the Kingdom of France, about 200 miles from his hometown. After
completing his studies, he returned to Cologne where he was made a canon at Saint Cunibert
Church. It is most likely at that time that he was ordained a priest. In 1056, when Canon Bruno
was about twenty-six years old, he was called back to Rheims by the bishop, given a canonry at
the Cathedral, taught at the School of Rheims, and was later made rector of the school. These
distinctions speak to his character, holiness, and intelligence. Canon Bruno spent the next
twenty-plus years in this capacity, after which time he was made chancellor of the Archdiocese
of Rheims.
While he was chancellor, a corrupt and worldly man named Manassès of Gournay was made
Archbishop of Rheims. The honest canons firmly opposed the archbishop’s ways, and Canon
Bruno led the way. The archbishop was deposed by a local council, but he appealed to the pope
and became violent toward his opposition. Around this time, Bruno left Rheims, probably for
Rome, until the matter was resolved. Finally in 1080, the pope deposed the archbishop, and
there was a cry from the clergy and laity to appoint Bruno as the next archbishop. Bruno,
however, had other plans. He resigned from his prestigious positions in Rheims and set out to
answer God’s call to a new life.

Bruno is believed to have first traveled about 100 miles south to Molesme where he met with a
monk and future founder of the Cistercian order, Saint Robert. After a short stay, he decided to
travel farther south with six companions to found a new order under the authority of Bishop
Hugh of Châteauneuf, Bishop of Grenoble. Bishop Hugh welcomed Bruno and his companions
and told them about a dream he had in which he saw God build a house in the desert for His
glory with seven stars showing the way. The bishop believed the seven men were the stars in
his dream, so he enthusiastically supported their new mission. With the bishop’s support,
Bruno and his companions traveled into the mountain country called Chartreuse, where they
built hermitages and embraced a radical life of prayer, study, and manual labor. Peter the
Venerable, an abbot of Cluny, later described their early life this way: “There, they continue to
dwell in silence, reading, praying, and also undertaking manual work, especially in the copying
of books. Within their cells, at the signal given by the church bell, they perform part of the
canonical prayer. For Vespers and Matins, they all gather in church. On certain days of
celebration they depart from this pace of life…They then have two meals, they sing in church all
the regular hours and all, without exception, take their meal in the refectory.”
Bruno enjoyed about six years of solitude in Chartreuse when, in 1090, he was called to Rome
by the pope. Pope Urban II, who was elected pope in 1088, found himself in serious conflict
with the Holy Roman Emperor and Antipope Clement III. Pope Urban was Bruno’s former
student and called on him to become a counselor to assist with the chaos. Bruno obediently
went to the aid of Pope Urban, serving him quietly and personally within the Lateran Palace in
Rome. Shortly after his arrival, however, the Holy Roman Emperor took Rome by force, and
Bruno and Pope Urban had to flee.

Around the year 1091, Pope Urban wanted to make Bruno the Archbishop of Reggio, but Bruno
once again opposed the idea, and the pope chose another. After pleading to return to his
hermitage in Chartreuse, the pope agreed to allow him to found a new hermitage in Italy so he
was closer and could be called upon if needed. He and some companions settled in the
wilderness of Calabria where they built a hermitage named Sainte-Marie-de-la-Tour. Of this
new life, Bruno wrote in a letter, “I am living in the wilderness of Calabria far removed from
habitation. There are some brethren with me, some of whom are very well educated and they
are keeping an assiduous watch for their Lord, so as to open to him at once when he knocks.”
Bruno died in this hermitage a decade later.

Though Bruno never formally wrote a rule for his newly founded order, he did leave them a way
of life. Twenty-six years after his death, statutes were written down that guided their monastic-
hermitical vocation. Bruno was quickly considered a saint, but in keeping with their hidden
vocation, the order never formally petitioned the pope to canonize him. Over the next five
hundred years, the Carthusians grew to 198 monasteries with about 5,600 members. In 1514,
during a general chapter of the order, a request was made to Pope Leo X to confirm Bruno’s
merits and authorize a liturgical feast for the order. The pope approved and granted an
equipollent (equivalent) canonization, which required no lengthy process, but was done solely
on the pope’s authority. In 1623, that Carthusian feast was extended to the entire Church and
placed on the Roman Calendar.

It is often said that the Carthusian Order is the only order that has never needed to be
reformed. The hermit-monks have stayed true to their statutes from the beginning, and remain
so today. They live the most radical form of religious life in the Church. They accept no visitors,
exist in absolute solitude together, live contemplative lives, embrace penances, intercede for
the Church and world, and seek perfect union with God.

“Our principal endeavor and our vocation is to devote ourselves to the silence and solitude of
the cell. It is holy ground, the place where God and his servant frequently converse, as between
friends. There, the faithful soul is often united to the Word of God, the bride with her Spouse,
earth is joined to heaven and the human to the divine” (Statutes 4.1). Furthermore, they live
solitude in community: “The grace of the Holy Spirit gathers solitaries together to form a
communion in love, as an image of the Church, which is one, though spread throughout the
world” (Statutes 21.1). They gather several times a day in their chapel for communal prayer, in
addition to long periods of private prayer in their hermitages. Though the monks refrain from
talking during the week, they go for a two-hour walk on Sunday during which they freely
converse. Though separated from the world, their lives are dedicated to ongoing prayer for the
Church and world, and they give a silent witness to the world of that which is most important:
union with God.

As we honor Saint Bruno today, we also call to mind the radical life of solitude and prayer that
he and so many Carthusians have lived after him. Allow their witness to call you to a life of
deeper prayer and solitude. Ponder the ways that the busyness of life and the anxieties of the
world need to be purged from your life. Consider spending more time alone, in prayer,
detached from all that distracts you. Many hermits have discovered the infinite joy of union
with God in prayer and solitude. Once this union is discovered, it sheds light on the foolishness
of a worldly life and the shallowness it presents. Allow Saint Bruno to speak to you by the
witness of his life so that you will be among those who discover what he discovered.