The Carthusian Order

In 1084, Saint Bruno led six followers into the wilderness of the French Alps to embrace the call of Jesus Christ. Today, 21 Carthusian monasteries around the world uphold Bruno’s sacred lineage in a tradition unbroken for over 900 years.

Inspired by the Desert Fathers, the Carthusian monastery (known as a Charterhouse) has always perceived itself as a “desert” where God draws His people to speak to their hearts. The Carthusian enters an authentic silence and solitude stripped of comforts and consolations. There, God leads him on a journey of surrender that eclipses the illusory happiness of worldly success and possessions

Twenty-one Carthusian communities today nurture a sacred lineage founded in the Medieval world of 11th-century France. Saint Bruno, a highly respected and much-loved Dean of the cathedral school at Rheims, grew inflamed by a call to the monastic life. He eventually withdrew from university life and, in 1084, settled along with six companions in the wild, uninhabited mountains outside the city of Grenoble. Under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, they gradually developed a semi-eremitic form of monastic life, which became known as Carthusian. (“Chartreuse”, “Carthusian”, and “Charterhouse” evolve from Cartusia, the Latin name of the mountain range where this small band of monks settled.)

Gradually, similar groups appeared in the same region. Drawn to the spirituality of Saint Bruno and his monks, these early followers repeatedly requested a written account of his manner of life. Eventually, Guigo — the fifth prior of the Grand Chartreuse (as this first community became known) — wrote The Customs, which the other groups adopted as their rule of life. For many years, the leaders of these groups sought to strengthen their relationships with the community of the Grande Chartreuse and, finally, persuaded its Prior to hold a common chapter in his house. At the first General Chapter in 1141, all the Priors united with the Grande Chartreuse in promising the obedience of themselves and their monks. Contemporaneously, a community of nuns in Prebayon spontaneously embraced the Carthusian life.