To express himself, St. Bruno of Cologne, founder of the Carthusian monastic order, used dazzling words useful to illuminate every path of contemplation but, at the same time, disenchanted, since they only open up the horizon on an unfathomable mystery that cannot be adequately expressed in the ways normally used by ordinary mortals.

Phrases of San Bruno

How much divine utility and joy the solitude and silence of the hermitage bring to those who love them, only those who have experienced it know.

Here, in fact, strong men are allowed to gather what they wish and stay with themselves, assiduously cultivate the buds of virtues and happily feed on the fruits of paradise.

Here you win that eye whose serene gaze hurts the Bridegroom with love, and through whose transparency and purity God is seen. Here, a laborious idleness is practiced and one rests in a quiet action.

Here, through the effort of the fight, God gives his athletes the desired reward, that is, the peace that the world ignores, and the joy in the Holy Spirit.

What is as right and so useful, and what is as inherent and convenient to human nature as loving good? And what else is as good as God?

Indeed, what else is good if not only God? Therefore the holy soul, which, of this good, partially perceives the incomparable dignity, splendor and beauty, ignited by the flame of love says: my soul is thirsty for the strong and alive God, when I will come and present myself before to the face of God?

Implanted in the land of the Charterhouse, man, humble seed, heaviness more than grace, shadow more than light, when it is not hard stone, dried-up bones, whitewashed tomb, is gradually recreated, restored in the image and likeness of his Creator and Savior.

Not only healed internally and purified, to reach in truth the state of perfect man, in the fullness of Christ's stature; not only rooted in an experience of death and resurrection, of offering in prayer, of Eucharistic existence, for the world to have life; but even more spiritualized and divinized in the depths of the soul and body, to be pure offering totally free of charge to the immensity of love.

Does not the secret of contemplation lie in recognizing our poverty first, and then abandoning ourselves in the hands of our Father?

Since everything comes from him and through him, our only work will be to believe, to trust in his boundless tenderness, to make ourselves available so that he can realize his love plan in the innermost part of our being.

Recommended readings

• Phrases of St. Dominic of Guzman: biography
• Phrases of Santa Gemma Galgani: quotes and aphorisms
• Phrases of Saint Anthony of Padua: quotes, aphorisms
• Phrases of San Filippo Neri: famous aphorisms from the writings
• Phrases of San Camillo de Lellis: quotes and thoughts

He only waits for us to free our hearts from all that is not Him, to pour out the torrents of his divine life.

Nobody goes to the Father without going through Him, since there is no other name given to men under heaven in which it is established that we can be saved.

You kept these things hidden from the wise and intelligent and revealed them to the little ones. Yes, Father, because you liked it that way.

God leads his servant in solitude to speak to his heart, but only he who listens in silence perceives the murmur of the light wind that manifests the Lord.

So have a familiar listening to the heart that lets God enter from all doors and from all ways.

Thus, purified by patience, consoled and nourished by assiduous meditation on the Scriptures, and introduced by the grace of the Spirit into the depths of his heart, the monk will become capable not only of serving God, but of adhering to him.

Mystery of listening, mystery of faith, mystery of the Spirit. He who led Jesus into the desert and made him exult with joy, He for whom the love of God was poured into our hearts, and comes to the aid of our weakness because we do not know how to pray, and teaches us to say: "Abba ! Father!"

Purified, vivified, fortified through the love of Christ, revived, driven by the breath of the Spirit, embraced in desire by the Father ... the solitary monk enters into communion with the God three times holy, participates in the ineffable exchange of knowledge and love that it is the life of the divine people in the Trinity.

His whole existence becomes nothing but wonder before the infinite, unchanging and transcendent beauty of God in the immensity of his love.

Desiring, contemplating, approaching the God who is three times holy, eternal and unfathomable, requires perseverance to the fullest extent, which absolutely does not exempt from invoking the Lord of tenderness and mercy.

In fact, in order to live an existence based on contemplation over the years, this life must be marked by great simplicity.

Far from any kind of complexity, multiplicity and dispersion, the solitary adheres forcefully to the "only necessary".

He orders with balance and harmony all things in union with God, applying himself serenely to the task of every moment.

The alternation of solitary life in the cell and community life, personal and liturgical prayer, study and manual work, as well as the difference between daily sobriety and joyfulness on holidays, far from being a source of dispersion, they make the Carthusian life a wisely constructed whole, where each element receives full strength and value only if seen in its totality.

With a simple heart and a purified spirit, the monk strives to fix his thoughts and emotions in God, in order to become a peaceful home of the Spirit, a temple inhabited by divine Majesty, to whom everything is consecrated with love.

Consecrating one's whole life to God in contemplation is the source of ever new peace and joy.

I truly rejoice and I feel led to praise the Lord ... Rejoice therefore, my dear brothers, for the happiness you have had in fate and for the abundance of God's grace for you. Rejoice, for you have escaped the multiple dangers and shipwrecks of this world tossed by the waves. Rejoice, for you have gained the peaceful and safe haven of a well-sheltered harbor.

By embracing the hidden life, we do not desert the human family ... by truly adhering to God, we do not entrench ourselves, but on the contrary our mind opens and the heart expands so much that it can embrace the whole universe and the saving mystery of Christ. Separated from all, we are united to all, to stand in the name of all in the presence of the living God.

By dedicating ourselves to God alone, we exercise a function in the Church ... By consecrating ourselves with our profession only to the One who is, we bear witness before the world, too enmeshed in earthly realities, that there is no other God outside of him.

The Carthusian family

Upon his arrival in the desert of Chartreuse, Saint Bruno had six companions who, like him, sought solitude to apply themselves to intimacy with God in contemplative life.

All were equally determined to remain gathered around Bruno, outlining from the outset the typical formula of the Carthusian life described as a union of loners in a small community.

This specific characteristic of the Charterhouse has remained unchanged over the centuries and the Carthusian Order has always had the conviction that this heritage comes from God.

The Carthusians are solitary gathered as brothers, the community they form is relatively small because of their hermit vocation.

Unity among the monks is of a spiritual nature, as it is given by the love of the Lord, by prayer and by the ardent desire for solitude, a work of the Holy Spirit to gather those who love solitude to achieve a communion of love in Christ.

This fraternal communion finds expression also in a visible and concrete way in particular moments, above all in the liturgy celebrated in common, but also on the occasion of meetings such as spaces and recreations, which allow everyone to experience joy in finding themselves together.

These regular meetings allow the brothers to get to know each other better and to love each other better, in order to have all one heart and one soul.