When Silence Speaks: An introduction to the Carthusian Order by Tim Peeters

Arguably, no religious order in the Catholic Church sparks the imagination as much as the Carthusian order. The Carthusian monks lead a life of solitude, silence, asceticism and prayer, hidden behind the high walls of their monasteries and hermitages. What is the sense of such a separate and pure spiritual life? What are they seeking in the silence of the desert? Can we call the Carthusian way of life a Christian and evangelical lifestyle? Is it not an escape from the world, an escape from responsibility, a form of complacency? These are some of the questions that arise about monastic and contemplative life.

Those who visit the Grande Chartreuse (Grenoble, France) or the tomb of St Bruno in Serra San Bruno (Calabria, Italy) are certainly surprised about the great number of tourists who try to catch a glimpse through the doorways and dusty windows of this mysterious world beyond the locked doors and high walls. Some faces show their scepticism and disapprove of this strange, useless and seemingly anachronistic way of life. Others offer words of admiration, respect and even affection for these silent and solitary seekers of God. The German protestant theologian Rudolf Otto (1869–1937) called this fundamental human experience ‘fascinosum et tremendum’: fascination and fear, the dual perceptions of attraction and aversion that people recognise when they meet a reality that overwhelms their understanding.

June 1084 marks the foundation of the first Carthusian settlement in the high mountains of the Massif Chartreuse near Grenoble. Meanwhile, October 6, 1101 marks the dies natalis of St Bruno (born in Cologne, Germany, c. 1030); St Bruno being the founder of the Carthusian order - an intellectual, professor, canon of Reims who gave up his promising and prosperous career to settle down as a hermit in the desolate and rough surrounds of the Massif. These two historic dates have been gratefully commemorated over time among the Carthusian monks with special festivities, colloquia, papal felicitations and even a pilgrimage by Pope John Paul II to the tomb of St Bruno. Today, more than 900 years later, across 22 monasteries, nearly 400 men and women, with authenticity and earnestness, attempt to live the ideal of St Bruno, a man who was a monk and hermit to the core of his being!

The mass interest in the film Into Great Silence (Philip Gröning, September 2006), which screened across the countries of the Western world, enlightened viewers to the reality of contemplative religious life. The film plunges the audience almost literally into the silent life of the Carthusian monks of the Grande Chartreuse. The widespread popularity of the film suggests that the charisma of St Bruno is still burning brightly and that his ideas about seeking silence and aloneness to facilitate a closer rapport with God live on.

The design of the Carthusian order is, however, the life work of two pioneers: St Bruno, but also Guigo I (1083–1136), the fifth prior of the Grande Chartreuse. Guigo is the author of The Customs of Chartreuse, on which the actual Carthusian statutes are based. Guigo I gave the primitive ideal of Bruno a juridical framework and he developed it for the next generations in his Book of Customs. In our time the aforementioned Customs of Chartreuse are the most important practical and organisational guidelines for the entire Carthusian life.

Silence and solitude are, of course, the fundamental principles central to the spirituality of the Carthusian order. On a little plate near the gate of the Grande Chartreuse is written, ‘The monks, who devote their life to God, thank you for respecting the solitude and silence in which they pray and sacrifice for you.’ The Carthusian spirituality of solitude and silence began among the ancient fathers in the desert. These hermits left the world and entered the loneliness of the desert in order to find a life with God. They were inspired by the experiences of the desert found in Scriptures in the stories of the prophet Elias, St John the Baptist and Jesus himself.

The spirituality of the desert received its own shape in the Carthusian tradition. Three concentric circles are built around the solitary and silent life of the individual monks: the territory of the desert, the walls of the monastery and the walls of the hermitage. Just as a medieval city was protected by ramparts and moats, these three concentric circles protect a sacred centre: the heart of each monk, which only God may enter. The monotonous rhythm of life, the liturgy and lectio divina (spiritual reading) are the pillars which keep the whole spiritual structure upright into the 21st century.

This is part of the introduction to When Silence Speaks: The Spiritual Way ofthe Carthusian Order by Tim Peeters. It is available to purchase now in paperback and eBook.