Description

Oil Dedicated to St Bruno the Great

St Bruno the Great from A Blessed Call To Love, Ireland.

Saint Bruno the Great, also known as Bruno of Cologne, was born in Cologne, Germany in 1030. He was a member of a prominent family and received a quality education at the cathedral school of Rheims. After completing his education, Bruno entered the clergy and became a canon of the cathedral at Rheims.

Despite his success in the Church, Bruno became disillusioned with the worldliness of the Church and decided to withdraw from the world. In 1084, he left his position as a canon and retreated to the mountains of Chartreuse in the French Alps, where he established the first Carthusian monastery.

The Carthusians were a contemplative order, and Bruno’s strict rule emphasized silence, solitude, and manual labor. The monks lived in individual cells and came together only for communal prayer and certain daily activities. Bruno himself lived as a hermit in a cave near the monastery, and even when he became the prior of the monastery, he continued to live as a hermit.

Bruno’s strict rule and emphasis on contemplation attracted many followers, and other Carthusian monasteries were established throughout Europe. Bruno himself called upon to establish and reform monasteries in Italy and Germany.

Bruno died in 1101, and canonized by Pope Clement X in 1674. He considered the founder of the Carthusian order and venerated as a saint by the Catholic Church.

St. Bruno’s legacy continues to inspire contemplative Christians today. The Carthusian order remains one of the most strict and austere of the Catholic religious orders, and the practice of silent meditation and contemplation that Bruno pioneered continues to valued by many Christians seeking a deeper relationship with God.