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opric of Rheims would be a fine thing if one were not obliged to sing Mass to enjoy its revenues," and, frightened by some singular occurrences attending the death of one of the canons,1 he, in company with a few others who shared his sentiments, retired into the diocese of Grenoble, where they were warmly received by Hugh, the bishop. In a wild and desolate valley, called La Chartreuse (Carthusium), situated within a few miles of the city of Grenoble, he and his dozen companions settled down and laid the foundation of an order more severe in discipline than any then existing. They built a monastery in which to meet for religious and devotional exercises, and lived in small cells scattered about it. Their rule prescribed perpetual silence, total abstinence from flesh-meat, and the wearing of hair-cloth garments. But, while devising bodily austerities, Bruno did not neglect to inspire his brethren with his own love of knowledge. Their time was divided between religious exercises, manual labor, and the transcription of the Bible, ancient authors, and other important works, thus securing for themselves the best title to the grateful remembrance of posterity. They rigidly excluded all appearance of pomp and magnificence, and, even in the service of the altar, permitted the use of only a silver chalice. The order flourished in spite of the severity of the rule, and even a band of devoted women took up the idea and founded a corresponding community for females, who were called Carthusian nuns.3

1 This shocking legend is probably allegorical, and contains some pointed reference to the disorders laid to the charge of Manasseh. It states that one of the canons, having died, was lying coffined in church during the recitation of the office of the dead. When the canons had come to the words of the fourth lesson-"Responde mihi"-the dead man thrice raised his head, repeating, each time: "By the just judgment of God am I accused, found guilty, and condemned." The authenticity of the legend has been vehemently denied by Launoy, Archbishop Antoninus, Gerson, and especially by Mabillon, Museum Ital., T. I., Pt. II., p. 117 sq. On the other hand, it is defended by Don Ducreux, last prior of the Carthusian monastery of Bourbon-le-Gaillon, in Normandy, in his biography of St. Bruno. See Henrion-Fehr, Vol. I., p. 79, in the note. Tappert, St. Bruno, Luxemburg, 1872.

2Cf. Alb. Miraeus, Bibliotheca Carthusiana, sive illustrium S. Carthus. ordin. scriptorum, auctore Theodor. Petrejo (acced. origines omn. per orbem Carthusianorum), Coloniae, 1609.

3 They were first established at Salette, on the Rhone, in France, about the year 1229. (TR.)

The deep spiritual life which distinguished the monks of Chartreuse gave their influence much weight in the great controversy on investitures. The austere Bruno was invited (A. D. 1090) by Urban II., his former pupil, to come to Rome; but the holy man soon grew weary of the active life of a court, and, after refusing the bishopric of Reggio, retired to Torre, in Calabria, where he founded a new Carthusian monastery and ended his days in 1101.

The Carthusian monks preserved unimpaired, perhaps longer than those of any other order, the spirit of their founder, the primitive severity of their rule, and their characteristic love of contemplative life. Even amid the splendor with which the order was afterward surrounded, these remained free from all external contact, and the traditional austerity of the monks lost nothing of its severity.'

Guigo, the fifth prior of the mother-house of Chartreuse (†A. D. 1137), composed a valuable work for his order, entitled the "Monk's Ladder," in which he gives a striking picture of an ascetical life. "There are," says he, "four stages of growth in holiness, nearly, if not quite, inseparable from each other-viz., reading, meditation, prayer, and contemplation. By reading, one is drawn to meditation, and this, accompanied by prayer, leads to the domain of pure contemplation. Reading conveys the food to the mouth, meditation breaks and grinds it; prayer creates and tastes, but contemplation is enjoyment itself. As in certain pleasures of sense the spiritual element in man becomes so intimately interwoven with the corporal that matter for the time wholly predominates, so also in contemplation every movement and impulse of the flesh are so completely under control of the soul, and so responsive to its workings, that matter and spirit are entirely one, move on in the fullest harmony, and the spiritual element rules supreme. Some hasten to Jerusalem, but do ye push on still further, nor cease until ye have acquired patience and humility. Ye may find the Holy City in this world, but the home of these virtues is beyond."

1Cf. Henrion-Fehr, Vol. I., p. 90–94. Description of the Carthusian stablishments.

In 1141 it was first proposed to convoke a general chapter of the order at the Chartreuse of Grenoble, over which the prior of this house presided, and at which the priors of all the other monasteries were present. It was here agreed that the general chapter had the right and the duty to legislate for the whole order, and to look after the general good of its various establishments.

§ 243. The Premonstratensians or Norbertines.

Norberti Vita by the Jesuit Papebroch (Bolland. Acta SS. m. Jun., T. I., p 804). Hermanni monachi, De miraculis S. Mariae laudes III. 2 sq. (Guibertı Opp. ed. ď Achéry, p. 544.) Hugo, Vie S. Norbert., Luxemb. 1704, 4to. Bibl. Ord. Praem. per J. le Paige, Par. 1633; primaria instituta canonic. Praemonstr. in Martène. de antiq. eccles. ritib., T. III. Cf. Helyot, Vol. II., p. 206 sq. Hurter, Vol. IV., p. 200 sq. Henrion-Fehr, Vol. I., p. 148 sq. Görlich, the Premonstr. and their abbey of St. Vincent, at Breslau, 2 pts., Bresl. 1836– 1841. Winter, the Premonst. of the twelfth century, being supplements toward a history of the introduction of Christianity into the country of the Wends, Berlin, 1865. The same, the Premonstratensians in North-eastern Germany, Gotha, 1868.

The founder of this order, Norbert, a descendant of the noble house of Gennep, was born at Xanten, on the Lower Rhine, in the duchy of Cleves, between the years 1080 and 1085. Being a man of good parts, and having a large fortune in his own right, the highest ecclesiastical offices were open to him, and during the early years of his priesthood he was chaplain to the emperor Henry V., and, still later, canon at Cologne. While indulging hopes of worldly ambition and of a brilliant future, an event occurred which changed the whole course of his life. In 1114, while out taking a ride for pleasure, he was overtaken by a storm and dashed to the ground by a stroke of lightning which fell near him. On recovering himself, he began to think seriously of the sudden death he had just escaped, and, interpreting the circumstance as a warning, he at once entered upon a more serious course of life. After having distributed his goods to the poor, he attempted to reform the canons of several cathedrals; but failing here, he went up and down France and Germany preaching penance. He was everywhere received with marked demonstrations of respect. Shepherds would leave their

flocks to make known his coming to hamlet and town, and as he drew near, the church-bells would ring out to announce his presence to the inhabitants. Hastening to the church, he would celebrate Mass, after which he would preach to the people. His grave and manly eloquence always produced a lively and lasting impression. Young and old yielded to its persuasive influence, and knights prepared for deadly combat, when accosted by Norbert, would lay aside their arms, become reconciled, and embrace as friends. All were emulous. of the honor of entertaining this man of peace as their guest. In the year 1119, Norbert visited Pope Calixtus II., who was then holding a council at Rheims, and was by him authorized to found a new order. In the following year he withdrew, for this purpose, to an unhealthy and desert valley in the forest of Coucy, near Laon, which he named Prémontré (Pratum Monstratum), or "the indicated meadow," from the fact that it had been pointed out to him in a vision. Acting under the instructions of Bartholomew, Bishop of Laon, Norbert put off the garb of a penitent and assumed the white habit. The constitutions of St. Augustine' formed the basis of the Rule adopted by this new order of reformed canons, who, while living strictly the lives of monks, united to the habit of contemplation and study, preaching and the care of souls.2 The order was confirmed by Pope Honorius II. in 1126.

Norbert, although reasonably zealous in advancing the prosperity of his new foundation, never boasted of any special excellence possessed by it or endeavored to lay its obligations on others. To the pious and aged Theobald, Count of Champagne, who wished to enter the order and make over to it all his possessions, he replied: "Far be it from me to interrupt the work God is accomplishing through you. Bear in mind

1 The Rule in its present form did not originate with St. Augustine. It is a compilation from his two sermons On the Morals of the Clergy and from his one hundred and ninth letter to the Nuns of Hippo. Particular statutes were added to this compilation later on.

2 There arose a discussion between monks and canons as to which of the conditions of life was the more honorable and meritorious. For arguments in favor of the latter, see Lamb., Abb. S. Rufi ep. ad Ogerium (Martène, Thesaur., T. I., p. 329 sq.) For the former, Abaelard. ep. III., Ruperti Tuit. sup. quaed. capitula reg. Ben. (Opp., T. II., p. 965.)

that by taking this step the good you are now doing as a prince would have to be left undone."

When, in 1126, Norbert went to preach at the diet of Spire, he was, as if by a divine inspiration, elected to the vacant archbishopric of Magdeburg. He at first stoutly refused to accept the proffered honor; but, finally yielding, made his entrance into his metropolitan city in the garb of a beggar, the poverty of his garments contrasting strangely with the rich apparel of those composing his retinue. As time went on, his austerity became equally hateful to clergy and people, and he was obliged to fly the city. He died in 1134, while returning from Italy, where he held the office of chancellor, and his death, while calling forth the most lively demonstrations of regret, hushed every expression of ill-will against him. He was called by St. Bernard and Peter the Venerable the holiest and most eloquent man of his age.

§ 244. The Carmelites and the Order of Fontevrault.

Joan. Phocas (1185), Compendiaria descriptio castror. et urbium ab urbe Antiochia usque ad Hierosolym. (Leon. Allatii Symmicta., Venet. 1733 f. f.) Jacob. de Vitriaco, Hist. Hierosolym., c. 52 (Bongars., P. I., p. 1075). Alberti regula in Holstenius., T. III., p. 18 sq. Dan. a Virg. Maria, Speculum Carmelitar., Antverp, 1680, IV. T. f. Helyot, Vol. I., p. 347 sq. Hurter, Vol. IV., p. 211 sq. Freiburg Cyclop., Vol II., p. 362 sq.

The founder of the Carmelites was one Berthold, a monk and priest of Calabria, who with a few companions erected, in 1156, a few huts on the heights of Mount Carmel, not far from the cave which the prophet Elias had blessed by his presence. The huts were soon demolished to give place to a monastery. Mount Carmel, from its connection with the names of Elias and Eliseus,' had been for centuries inhabited by anchorets desirous to perpetuate the memory of these prophets, and hence the Carmelites claimed Elias himself as their founder.2

Albert, Patriarch of Jerusalem, at the request of Brocard, the second abbot, gave a Rule to the order (A. D. 1209). It was

1 III. Kings xviii. 19 sq.; IV. Kings ii. 25., iv. 25.

2 Papebroch has got at the truth of this affair in some of his treatises (Bolland mens. Apr., T. I., p. 774 sq.)

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