St. Bruno of Cologne, Confessor
Bruno of Cologne (c. 1030 – 6 October 1101), the founder of the Carthusian Order, personally founded the order’s first two communities. He was a celebrated teacher at Reims, and a close advisor of his former pupil, Pope Urban II. Bruno was born at Cologne about the year 1030. According to tradition, he belonged to the family of Hartenfaust, or Hardebüst, one of the principal families of the city. While still quite young he went to complete his education at Reims.
He returned to Cologne and was ordained a priest in 1055, but very soon after, in 1057, he was invited back to Rheims to teach. On the retirement of the school’s director, Heriman, to contemplative life, Bruno assumed the position and ran the school for 18 years, until 1075. During that time many illustrious students emerged from under Bruno’s careful intellectual formation, including Blessed Pope Urban II.
In 1075, Bruno was appointed chancellor of the Diocese of Rheims, which involved him in the daily administration of the diocese. Bruno, however, had always been attracted to the contemplative and solitary life. In 1077, along with two companions, he made a vow to follow this lifestyle, but he was unable to fulfill his vow until 1080 due to his responsibilities as chancellor of the Rheims diocese. After attempting different forms of solitary, or eremetical, life, Bruno founded the Carthusian order in 1084 at Chartreuse with six companions. The climate, desert, mountainous terrain and inaccessibility guaranteed strict silence, poverty and small numbers. They devoted their days to study, copying manuscripts, and prayer in their individual cells, and they would gather together only for certain prayers and celebration of the Eucharist. However, in 1090 Pope Urban II, his friend and former student, called Bruno to the papal court in order to be his advisor, where he silently aided in all the councils of the time but remained uncomfortable away from the solitude he still desired.
On a trip to Calabria with the pope, Bruno was elected bishop of Reggio, a post he pleaded to be freed from so that he could return to monastic life. Urban II granted his wish but insisted that he remain in Italy so he could assist the pope when needed. Bruno spent his last 10 years in the wilderness of Calabria, where he founded a hermitage with his companions and where he died in 1101. His holiness and wisdom became widely known, and his death was announced in parishes and monasteries all over Europe.
Bruno was buried in the little cemetery of the hermitage of Santa Maria. In 1513, his bones were discovered with the epitaph “Haec sunt ossa magistri Brunonis” over them. Since the Carthusian Order maintains a strict observance of humility, Saint Bruno was never formally canonized. He was not included in the Tridentine Calendar, but in the year 1623 Pope Gregory XV included him in the General Roman Calendar for celebration on 6 October, as a semi-double feast, and elevated to the class of doubles by Clement X, 14 March 1674.
Feast of St. Bruno – Monday in the seventeenth week after Pentecost
Double / White – Missa “Os justi”
INTROIT: Psalm: 36: 30-31
The mouth of the just shall meditate wisdom, and his tongue shall speak judgment: the law of his God is in his heart. Be not emulous of evildoers; nor envy them that work iniquity. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
The mouth of the just shall meditate wisdom…
Os justi meditábitur sapiéntiam, et lingua ejus loquétur judícium: lex Dei ejus in corde ipsíus. Ps. 36: 1 – Noli æmulári in malignántibus; neque zeláveris faciéntes iniquitatem. Gloria Patri et Filio et Spiritui Sancti sicut erat in principio et nunc, et semper, et saecula saeculorum. Amen.
Os justi meditábitur sapiéntiam…
COLLECT
We beseech Thee, O Lord, that we may be assisted by the prayers of St. Bruno, Thy Confessor, that we, who have grievously offended Thy majesty by sin, may obtain the forgiveness of our offenses through his merits and prayers. Through our Lord.
EPISTLE: Ecclesiasticus 31: 8-11
Blessed is the man that is found without blemish, and that hath not gone after gold, nor put his trust in money nor in treasures. Who is he, and we will praise him? For he hath done wonderful things in his life. Who hath been tried thereby, and made perfect, he shall have glory everlasting: he that could have transgressed, and hath not transgressed: and could do evil things, and hath not done them: therefore are his goods established in the Lord, and all the Church of the Saints shall declare his alms.
GRADUAL Psalm 91: 13, 14, 3
The Just shall flourish like the palm tree: he shall grow up like the cedar of Libanus in the house of the Lord. To show forth Thy mercy in the morning, and Thy truth in the night.
ALLELUIA James 1: 12
Alleluia. Alleluia. Blessed is the man that endureth temptation for when he hath been proved, he shall receive the crown of life. Alleluia.
GOSPEL Luke 12: 35-40
At that time, Jesus said to His disciples: Let your loins be girt and lamps burning in your hands, and you yourselves like to men who wait for their lord, when he shall re- turn from the wedding: that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open to him immediately. Blessed are those servants whom the Lord, when he cometh, shall find watching: amen I say to you that he will girt himself and make them sit down to meat, and passing will minister unto them. And if he shall come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants. But this know ye, that if the house- holder did know at what hour the thief would come, he would surely watch. and would not suffer his house to be broken open. Be you then also ready, for at what hour you think not the Son of man will come.
OFFERTORY Psalm 88: 25
My truth and My mercy shall be with him: and in My name shall his horn be exalted.
SECRET
In memory of Thy Saints, O Lord, we offer Thee the sacrifice of praise, by which we trust to be freed from both present and future evils. Through our Lord.
COMMON PREFACE
It is truly meet and just, right and for our salvation that we should at all times and in all places, give thanks unto Thee, O holy Lord, Father almighty, eternal God: through Christ our Lord. through Whom the Angels praise Thy Majesty, Dominations worship, Powers stand in awe. The Heavens and the Heavenly hosts together with the blessed Seraphim in triumphant chorus unite to celebrate it. Together with them we entreat Thee, that Thou mayest bid our voices also to be admitted, while we say in lowly praise:
Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus Dominus Deus Sabaoth. Pleni sunt coeli et terra gloria Tua. Hosanna in excelsis. Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini. Hosanna in excelsis.
COMMUNION Matthew 24: 46-47
Blessed is that servant, whom when his Lord shall come he shall find watching: amen I say to you, he shall place him over all his goods.
POSTCOMMUNION
We pray Thee, O almighty God, that, having received heavenly nourishment, we may thereby, through the intercession of Saint Bruno, Thy confessor, be fortified against all harm and danger. Through our Lord.
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