It’s the Feast of St. Bruno, 3rd Class, with the color of White. In this episode: the meditation: “The Spouse”, today’s news from the Church: “Sister Mary Michael, the First Sister of the SSPX Celebrates 50 Years of Her Profession”, and today’s thought from the Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre.
Have feedback or questions about the DD or our other shows? podcast@sspx.org
Sources Used Today:
- “The Spouse” — From the Assumption to Advent
- “Sister Mary Michael, the First Sister of the SSPX Celebrates 50 Years of Her Profession” (FSSPX.news)
- The Spiritual Life — Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre (Angelus Press)
Saint Bruno founded one of the strictest religious orders in the Catholic Church, and more than nine hundred years later, his monks are still living remarkably close to the way he did.
Bruno was born around 1030 in Cologne, Germany. He was brilliant, studied at some of Europe’s best cathedral schools, and eventually became a respected teacher at Reims. Among his students was a man who would later become Pope Urban II.
Bruno could have had a very successful Church career.
Instead, he wanted silence.
In 1084, Bruno and six companions went looking for somewhere they could disappear. The Bishop of Grenoble, Saint Hugh, gave them an isolated valley high in the French Alps called Chartreuse.
It was perfect.
Cold.
Remote.
Difficult to reach.
Basically everything Bruno was looking for.
There the men built individual cells around a small church and began living an unusual combination of hermit and community life. Each monk spent most of his time alone, praying, studying, working, and eating in his cell. They gathered for certain prayers and on special occasions, but solitude remained at the heart of their vocation.
That little community became the Carthusian Order, taking its name from Chartreuse.
And the Carthusians became famous for something extremely rare in Church history.
They basically never needed a major reform.
Religious orders often go through periods of expansion, decline, reform, and renewal. The Carthusians simply kept doing more or less what they had always done. This gave rise to their famous saying: Stat crux dum volvitur orbis — “The Cross stands while the world turns.”
Bruno himself didn’t get to stay at Chartreuse as long as he wanted.
Remember that former student who became pope?
Urban II called him to Rome.
Bruno obeyed, but court life was almost unbearable for a man who had deliberately moved into the Alps to avoid exactly that sort of thing. Eventually he received permission to return to solitude, this time in Calabria in southern Italy, where he founded another hermitage.
There’s also a funny connection to Bruno’s legacy.
The Carthusian monks eventually became associated with the famous green and yellow Chartreuse liqueur, made from a secret recipe involving more than a hundred herbs and plants. Only a tiny number of monks know the complete recipe at any given time.
So one of the world’s most secretive drinks comes from one of the world’s most secretive religious orders.
Bruno died in Calabria in 1101.
Today, Carthusian monks still live behind monastery walls in profound silence, following a way of life that would be immediately recognizable to him.
In a world that seems increasingly incapable of being quiet for five minutes, Bruno’s legacy feels almost radical.
He believed silence wasn’t empty.
It was where he could finally hear God.
Saint Bruno, father of the Carthusians and lover of sacred silence, pray for us.
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What is the SSPX Podcast?
The SSPX Podcast is produced by Angelus Press, which has as its mission the fortification of traditional Catholics so that they can defend the Faith, and reaching out to those who have not yet found Tradition.
What is the SSPX?
The main goal of the Society of Saint Pius X is to preserve the Catholic Faith in its fullness and purity, to teach its truths, and to diffuse its virtues, especially through the Roman Catholic priesthood.
Authentic spiritual life, the sacraments, and the traditional liturgy are its primary means of bringing this life of grace to souls.
Although the traditional Latin Mass is the most visible and public expression of the work of the Society, we are committed to defending Catholic Tradition in its entirety: all of Catholic doctrine and morals as the Church has always defended them. What people need is the Catholic Faith, without compromise, with all the truth and beauty which accompanies it.