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Bruno was born in Cologne in 1030. He studied at the Cathedral school at Rheims, and on his return to Cologne about 1055, was ordained and became a Canon at St. Cunibert’s. Bruno taught theology, criticized the worldliness he saw in his fellow clergy, and eventually became chancellor of his archdiocese.

Following a vision he received of a secluded hermitage where he could spend his life becoming closer to God, he retired to a mountain in Dauphiny and founded what became the first house of the Order of the Carthusians. He and his brothers built an oratory and individual cells, roughly followed the rule of St. Benedict, and thus began the Carthusian Order. Supporting themselves as manuscript copyists, they embraced a life of poverty, manual work and prayer and operated without a written rule. The fame of Bruno and his group spread, and against his wishes, in 1090 Bruno was summoned to Rome by Pope Urban II (whom he had taught at Rheims) to be papal adviser in the reformation of the clergy. He later became assistant to Pope Urban II. He wrote several commentaries on the Psalms and on St. Paul’s epistles. He died on October 6, 1101.

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