medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Phyllis Jestice wrote:
> Bruno of Chartreuse (d. 1101) Bruno was born in Cologne (so he's
> sometimes confused with the saintly archbishop Bruno of Cologne, who
> lived a century earlier). He became a canon at Cologne, went on to
> become a teacher of theology at Rheims, became chancellor of Rheims,
> and then gave it all up to be a hermit. He and companions
> established a hermitage at La Grande Chartreuse, the mother house of
> the Carthusian order. B. himself was ordered to Rome to serve as a
> papal advisor. B's name was placed on the Roman calendar in 1623.
It would be difficult to recognize in the foregoing today's well known
saint from the Regno, Bruno of Calabria. B. was summoned to Rome in
1090, didn't like it, is said to have turned down an offer to become
archbishop of Reggio di Calabria, and in 1091 together with a few
companions (chief among them the Blessed Lanuin) established a new
hermitage deep in the woods of southern Calabria at a place called La
Torre that had been given him by Roger I, count of Sicily. This second
Carthusian foundation, dedicated to the Virgin and located 800 metres
above sea level on the site of the present Santa Maria del Bosco, soon
generated a third, the nearby Santo Stefano (founded sometime during the
period 1097-1099). B. remained at Santa Maria della Torre until his
death in 1101. He was succeeded by Lanuin, who is said to be named
together with B. in all the Norman charters and papal documents
concerning their establishment. All of this early documentation is of
controversial authenticity.
In 1291 Santa Maria della Torre was abandoned in favor of Santo Stefano.
The latter was handed over in the following year to the Cistercians
and remained their property until 1513, when the Carthusians got it
back. It still exists (though its primitive buildings are all gone) and
is located outside today's Serra San Bruno (CZ). A recent view of the
complex is here:
http://www.capovaticanoonline.it/archivi/ft7%20itinerari/701g.jpg
The abandoned building at left center is what remains of the structure
rebuilt by the Carthusians in 1513 and destroyed by an earthquake in
1783 (the building's facade and the wall around the complex date from
the seventeenth century). Bruno and Lanuin are said to have been buried
here; presently they repose in the abbey church. Like the great
Carthusian foundation of San Lorenzo at Padula (SA), Santo Stefano was
suppressed in the early nineteenth century. It was re-opened after
Italian unification and largely rebuilt in the late nineteenth and early
twentieth centuries. So most of what one sees in the photograph is
quite recent.
A virtual exhibit of portraits of B. is here:
http://www.museo.certosini.info/Immagini%20di%20un%20Santo/immagini_di_un_santo1.htm
A useful recent book dealing with these and other related matters is
Pietro de Leo, ed., _San Bruno e la Certosa di Calabria. Atti del
Convegno Internazionale di Studi per il IX Centenario della Certosa di
Serra S. Bruno (Squillace, Serra S. Bruno 15-18 sttembre 1991)_ (Soveria
Mannelli: Rubbettino, 1991; xxvii, 561pp.).
Best,
John Dillon
PS: For an actual Vatican use of the name-form "Bruno of Calabria", see:
http://www.vatican.va/news_services/press/sinodo/documents/bollettino_20_x-ordinaria-2001/02_inglese/b13_02.html
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