One of the religious Orders in the Church which follows very strict monastic rules are the Carthusians. They are monks and nuns totally withdrawn from the world to serve God by prayer, personal devotion, silence and privation. It was founded in the Chartreuse Mountains, near Grenoble, France in 1084 by St. Bruno of Cologne, our saint for today. The name Carthusian is derived from cartusia,the Latin word for the French chartreuse, meaning “charterhouse.” While other monks live in community, the Carthusians live as hermits in isolated cells, provided with what is necessary to live alone. They have Mass and prayers together, but they rarely meet and talk to one another. The Carthusians continue to enliven the Church and the world with their prayers and sacrifices. As of March 2020, there are 23 monasteries they call charterhouses, on several places: 18 for monks and 5 for nuns: Argentina (1), Brazil (1), France (6), Germany (1), Italy (3), Korea (2), Portugal (1), Slovenia (1), Spain (4), Switzerland (1), the United Kingdom (1) and the United States (1).St. Bruno, their Founder, was born in Cologne, Germany about the year 1030, to one of the leading families of that city. Nothing is said about his early years except that he studied theology at Reims, France and was ordained priest in 1055. The following year, the Bishop of Reims called him to oversee the schools of the diocese. He did this work for 18 years and maintained the prestige of those schools. Among his students was the future Pope Urban II and other future bishops and cardinals and a group of priests and monks. In 1075, Fr. Bruno was appointed Chancellor of the Archdiocese of Reims. When the Bishop was transferred the clergy and people chose Fr. Bruno as his successor, but he refused the appointment and went away with two companions to live as hermits. They built a hermitage with small individual cells and they lived there isolated and poor, entirely occupied with prayer and study. Fortunately, Fr. Bruno’s former student became Pope Urban II and called Fr. Bruno to Rome in 1090. He became the pope’s advisor and performed other duties but was kept in the background due to the rivalries in the Curia. In fact, shortly after Fr. Bruno’s arrival in Rome, Pope Urban and his party was forced to leave the Vatican when Emperor Henry IV arrived with the anti-pope. After six years in Rome as adviser to Pope Urban, Fr. Bruno begged to return to Reims to resume his solitary life. When he was finally allowed to go back in 1091, he and his followers went to their former hermitage where they constructed a wooden chapel and cabins. Generous friends came to help them: one donated the lands they occupied, others provided them with whatever they needed. His special patron was the Count of Sicily, who, generously gave financial help to build the Monastery of St. Stephen in 1095. Other monasteries were founded afterwards following the strict eremitic life. With the Pope’s blessing, Fr. Bruno founded a new hermitage in Calabria, Italy. As a writer, Fr. Bruno wrote commentaries on the Psalms and the Epistles of St. Paul. He died at the age of 71 on October 6, 1101 in Calabria. He was beatified in 1514 by Pope Leo X and canonized on February 17, 1623. He is the patron saint of Calabria and one of the patrons of Germany. He is also patron against diabolic possession. His feast day is October 6.