More on Chartreuse

Bruno, whose small community of devout Catholic hermits in the 11th century grew to become today's Carthusian Order, was born in Cologne, Germany, circa 1032. Young Bruno was educated at the Cathedral in Rheims, France, where he later was appointed a professor. In 1056 he was appointed rector of the University of Rheims. He had a profound influence on his students and his fellow faculty members. During thirty years there at Rheims, he received ever-increasing responsibilities in the diocese and was the holder of many church and secular honors.

In 1084, God called Bruno to the monastic life. He resigned his post and, with six companions of like mind, traveled across France to Grenoble. Hughes, the Bishop of Grenoble, welcomed them and related a recent personal dream in which God appeared, building a place of worship in the Chartreuse Mountain, an inhospitable and secluded wilderness in the nearby Alps. In this dream, seven stars hung over the exact spot God had chosen for a structure to His glory. Surely, the Bishop said, Bruno and his six companions were the tools God had chosen to bring that dream to life. Hughes led the seven to the Mountain and Bruno immediately recognized the isolated and secluded area as ideal for the monastic life of contemplative prayer and meditation he desired.

The seven monks quickly built individual wooden huts with a gallery linking them to a chapel and a few other buildings intended for community life: Bruno felt it necessary to temper the isolation of the monastic life with short periods of brotherly companionship and communal activities. The monks then retired to their individual huts, each consecrating his life to meditation and prayer in solitude.

Saint Bruno was allowed to stay in Chartreuse only six years: a former pupil from Rheims had become Pope Urban II and requested that Bruno come to Rome. Bruno left his beloved mountain retreat and went to the Papal Court. Urban II later allowed Bruno to set up a new monastery in Calabria where he could enjoy some of the precious isolation he needed for prayers and meditation. Bruno died in Calabria in 1101.

At the time of Bruno's death, no rules of conduct for the monks had been committed to writing. The "Customs of the Carthusian Order" were framed between 1121 and 1128 by Guigues, the fifth Prior of the Order. The growth of the number of Carthusian monasteries throughout Europe had made it necessary to set down in writing the customs of life and conduct which had been observed at La Grande Chartreuse, the Order's mother house since Bruno and his six companions settled there in 1084.

The reclusion of the Carthusian monks throughout the world is neither a retreat nor a resignation. Quite the contrary. Their prayers, in the seclusion of their cells where they live uncontaminated by the secular world, are a gift of the monks' lives, an act of charity towards all mankind. In this constantly changing modern world in which we live, the Carthusian Order bears witness to the universal quest for an ideal of truth and for mystical fulfillment.

When Bruno and his six companions arrived in the Chartreuse Mountain in 1084, the area, while ideal for monastic solitude, was a wilderness not easily accessible and not favorable to habitation. In order to live there, these first Carthusian monks had to make the land more hospitable. They cleared the area of its trees to be able to grow crops and put their few head of livestock to graze. The tall, straight and sturdy pine trees of incredible girth they harvested from the forests around their settlement proved to be an economic Godsend. The monks sold these trees as boat masts to the expanding sailing fleets.

During their recreational walks, the monks had discovered that the mountains were rich in iron ore. Another Godsend!

They processed wood from the local forest into charcoal. Water in the nearby raging mountain streams provided energy. And they extracted ore from the mines. They became 'iron masters' and are recognized even today as being the initiators of modern metallurgy. At one time they had as many as eleven blast furnaces at work which employed numerous local laborers whom they trained and subsequently helped set up their own workshops.

The quality of Carthusian iron and steel and the success of their enterprise provoked a certain amount of jealousy. The King of France ordered a reduction of the forests that could be harvested and used for fuel. As a result, the iron and steel production of the Carthusians began a steep decline. In 1735, the replacement of charcoal with coal in the production of cast iron dealt a severe blow to the monastery's metallurgical industry. The restrictions placed upon the monks made fuel supplies impossible. One by one the blast furnaces were shut down. The last one died out in 1792, during the French Revolution. But throughout the towns and villages in and around the Chartreuse mountains can be found wrought iron grills, gates, hinges, and door knobs struck with the Globe and Cross, the Carthusian hallmark.

The demise of iron and steel making forced the monks to look elsewhere for income to support the order. They found it in the archives of La Grande Chartreuse, their motherhouse. In 1605, Francois Hannibal d'Estrees, marshal of the king's artillery, had given the Carthusians an already ancient manuscript titled "Elixir of Long Life." Following the initial use of portions of the recipe at Vauvert, the manuscript was sent to La Grande Chartreuse. As in all monasteries, at La Grande Chartreuse there was an apothecary, Brother Jerome Maubec, who served the medical needs of the monastery and the residents of the local area with remedies made from local herbs, plants, spices and other ingredients. Early in the 18th century, Brother Maubec undertook the task of unraveling the manuscript's complex directions for compounding the "Elixir of Long Life." Brother Maubec died before completing this challenge but, on his deathbed, he passed what he had learned on to his successor, Brother Antoine. Brother Antoine completed the translation of the recipe in 1737 and, although it apparently did not prolong life, with 130 herbs and spices infused into a base of 71 percent wine alcohol, it did have many curative powers. The monks became distillers of this medicinal elixir. In 1764 they began distilling what is today's Green Chartreuse---a milder and smoother form of the elixir. Then in 1838 they created Yellow Chartreuse, an even milder, smoother and sweeter liqueur.

When the French Revolution erupted in 1789, the Carthusian monks (like all religious orders in France had to scatter away from their monastery. In the turbulence of the times, the manuscript faced the danger of being taken from the Carthusians; and this calamity did, indeed, happen. One of the Carthusian fathers concealed the manuscript on his person to protect it. But, alas, the authorities arrested him. He was sent to jail in Bordeaux. Fortunately, his jailers did not search him and he managed to slip the precious document to a priest on the verge of being released. The need to survive forced the new savior to sell it so he could buy bread and soup in order to live. The new owner surrendered it, as required by Emperor Napoleon, to the "Secret Remedies Commission".

Again, fortune intervened: the commission, finding the recipe too complex, endorsed it "Refused". Some years after Napoleon left power, the Carthusians were welcomed back to France, regained possession of the manuscript and resumed distilling the elixir and liqueurs.

In 1848, thirty officers from the Army of the Alps, stationed nearby the monastery, were invited to a tasting of Yellow Chartreuse. "Reverend Father," said the group's senior officer, "This Yellow Chartreuse is indeed a nectar. The world must learn of its exquisite taste and its benefits to one's health. There are 30 officers here and our duties shall carry us to many other places, many other countries. Wherever we go, we shall demand Chartreuse. Prepare yourself to fill many bottles." The success of these "military salesmen" was astounding and the fame of Chartreuse liqueurs spread throughout Europe.

By the beginning of the 20th century, millions of bottles of Chartreuse liqueurs were being sold all over the world. Even the Russian Tsar Nicolas II insisted that a bottle of Chartreuse always be on his table. The world-wide reputation of the Chartreuse liqueurs gave the Carthusians a high profile in France and the government coveted the profits the monks realized. In 1904, the French government nationalized both the monastery and the distillery. The monks, unwilling to give up the secret of making Chartreuse, fled to a Carthusian monastery in Tarragona, where they built a new distillery.

The French government brought chemists, botanists and other experts to the distillery and to the monastery where, in an attempt to recreate Chartreuse, they searched the bins where the plants, herbs and spices had been stored. Despite this massive effort, they failed. The public wanted the genuine liqueur and ignored the counterfeit beverage made by the government's company. With a lack of sales, the French company counterfeiting Chartreuse could not survive. Local citizens in the area of the monastery bought the failed company and returned it, as a gift, to the ownership of the Carthusians.

Today, although the monastery has been designated a national monument by the French government, the monks are allowed to live there. Three of the monks, who have been trained by their predecessors in the art of distilling Chartreuse, occasionally leave their cells for a short period of time and make the liqueurs. They then return to the solitude of their cells.

It is the labors of these three monks that provide the Carthusians the sustenance to pursue their quiet lives of meditation and prayer.