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Carthusians
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Carthusian Order
O.Cart., Carthusians
Motto
Formation
15 August 1084
1 Character
Type
2 Carthusians in Britain
3 Modern Carthusians
Key people
4 Liturgy
Website
www.chartreux.org
Contents
(http://www.chartreux.org/)
6 Locations of monasteries
www.vocatiochartreux.org
7 See also
(http://www.vocatiochartreux.org)
8 References
9 External links
Character
There are no Carthusian abbeys as they have no abbots, and each charterhouse is headed by a prior and is
populated by choir monks, referred to as hermits, and lay brothers.
Each hermit that is, a monk who is or who will be a priest has his own living space, called a cell,
usually consisting of a small dwelling. Traditionally there is a one-room lower floor for the storage of wood
for a stove, a workshop as all monks engage in some manual labour. A second floor consists of a small
entryway with an image of the Virgin Mary as a place of prayer, and a larger room containing a bed, a table
for eating meals, a desk for study, a choir stall and kneeler for prayer. Each cell has a high walled garden,
wherein the monk may meditate as well as grow flowers for himself and/or vegetables for the common good
of the community, as a form of physical exercise.
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The individual cells are organised so that the door of each cell comes off
a large corridor. Next to the door is a small revolving compartment
called a "turn" so that meals and other items may be passed in and
out of the cell without the hermit having to meet the bearer. Most meals
are provided in this manner, which the hermit then eats in the solitude of
his cell. There are two meals provided for much of the year: lunch and
supper. During seasons or days of fasting, just one meal is provided. The
hermit makes his needs known to the lay brother by means of a note,
requesting items such as a fresh loaf of bread, which will be kept in the
cell for eating with several meals.
The hermit spends most of his day in the cell: he meditates, prays the
minor hours of the Liturgy of the Hours on his own, eats, studies and
writes (Carthusian monks have published scholarly and spiritual works),
and works in his garden or at some manual trade. Unless required by
other duties, the Carthusian hermit leaves his cell daily only for three
prayer services in the monastery chapel, including the community Mass,
and occasionally for conferences with his superior. Additionally, once a
week, the community members take a long walk in the countryside
during which they may speak; on Sundays and feastdays a community
meal is taken in silence. Twice a year there is a day-long community
recreation, and the monk may receive an annual visit from immediate
family members.
The Carthusians do not engage in work of a pastoral or missionary
nature. Unlike most monasteries, they do not have retreatants and those
who visit for a prolonged period are people who are contemplating
entering the monastery. As far as possible, the monks have no contact
with the outside world. Their contribution to the world is their life of
prayer, which they undertake on behalf of the whole Church and the
human race.
In addition to the choir monks there are lay brothers, monks under slightly different types of vows who
spend less time in prayer and more time in manual labour; they live a slightly more communal life, sharing a
common area of the charterhouse. The lay brothers provide material assistance to the choir monks: cooking
meals, doing laundry, undertaking physical repairs, providing the choir monks with books from the library
and managing supplies. All of the monks live lives of silence.
Carthusian nuns live a life similar to the monks, but with some differences. Choir nuns tend to lead
somewhat less eremitical lives, while still maintaining a strong commitment to solitude and silence.
Today, Carthusians live very much as they originally did, without any relaxing of their rules.
Carthusians in Britain
The first Carthusian monastery or 'Charterhouse' in England was founded by Henry II in Witham Friary,
Somerset as penance for the murder of St Thomas Becket.
The best preserved remains of a medieval Charterhouse in the UK are at Mount Grace Priory near
Osmotherley, North Yorkshire. One of the cells has been reconstructed to illustrate how different the lay-out
is to monasteries of most other Christian orders, which are normally designed with communal living in mind.
The third Charterhouse built in Britain was Beauvale Charterhouse remains of which can still be seen in
Beauvale, Greasley parish, Nottinghamshire.
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St. Hugh's Charterhouse, Parkminster, West Sussex has cells running around a square cloister approximately
400 m (one quarter-mile) on a side, making it the largest cloister in Europe.[2]
Modern Carthusians
The Carthusians were greatly affected during the Protestant
Reformation and during the French Revolution and after in France.[3]
Many of their monasteries were closed during these periods.
Today, the monastery of the Grande Chartreuse is still the
Motherhouse of the Order. There is a museum illustrating the history
of Carthusian order next to Grande Chartreuse; the monks of that
monastery are also involved in producing Chartreuse liqueur. Visits
are not possible into the Grande Chartreuse itself, but the 2005
documentary Into Great Silence gave unprecedented views of life
The Grande Chartreuse is the head
within the hermitage. In the 21st century, the Slignac Charterhouse
monastery of the Carthusian order.
was converted into a house in which lay people could come and
experience Carthusian retreats, living the Carthusian life for shorter
periods (an eight-day retreat being fixed as the absolute minimum, in order to enter at least somewhat into
the silent rhythm of the charterhouse).
The only Carthusian monastery in the United States is the Charterhouse of the Transfiguration, on Mount
Equinox near Arlington, Vermont. It was founded in the 1950s.
Liturgy
Before the Council of Trent in the 16th century, the Catholic Church in Western Europe had a wide variety
of rituals for the celebration of Mass. Although the essentials were the same, there were variations in prayers
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Locations of monasteries
There are 25 active Charterhouses around the world, five of which are for nuns; altogether, there are around
370 monks and 75 nuns. They can be found in Argentina (1), Brazil (1), France (6), Germany (1), Italy (4),
Portugal (1), Slovenia (1), South Korea (2), Spain (5), Switzerland (1), the United Kingdom (1) and the USA
(1). The two in South Korea, one of monks and one of nuns, are of recent construction.[9]
See also
"Into Great Silence"an award winning documentary on the Carthusian monks
List of Carthusian monasteries
Monastic Family of Bethlehem, of the Assumption of the Virgin and of Saint Bruno
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References
Notes
1. ^ In other languages: Dutch: Kartuize; French: Chartreuse; German: Kartause; Italian: Certosa; Polish:
Kartuzja; Spanish: Cartuja
2. ^ The Monastery, BBC, broadcast May 2005, about 20 minutes into third episode.
3. ^ "CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: The Carthusian Order" (http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03388a.htm).
newadvent.org.
4. ^ The text of the Carthusian Missal and the Order's other liturgical books is available at Carthusian Monks and
Carthusian nuns (http://www.chartreux.org/en/texts/liturgy.php)
5. ^
Further reading
Lockhart, Robin Bruce. Halfway to Heaven. London:Cistercian Publications, 1999 (Paperback,ISBN
0-87907-786-7)
The Wound of Love, A Carthusian miscellany by priors and novice masters on various topics relating
to the monastic ideal as lived in a charterhouse in our day. Gracewing Publishing, 2006, 256 p.
(paperback, ISBN 0-85244-670-5)
Andr Ravier, Saint Bruno the Carthusian. Online on the website of the Charterhouse of the
Transfiguration (http://transfiguration.chartreux.org/SaintBruno.htm)
Klein Maguire, Nancy. An Infinity of Little Hours: Five Young Men and Their Trial of Faith in the
Western World's Most Austere Monastic Order. New York: PublicAffairs, 2006. (Hardcover,ISBN
1-58648-327-7). A paperback edition (ISBN 978-1-58648-432-3) later appeared containing a section
"Reading Group Guide Interview with Nancy Klein Maguire" on pages 259-264, which isn't found im
the original hardback edition.
External links
Official website of the Carthusian Order
(http://www.chartreux.org)
Official website of Carthusian vocations
(http://www.vocatiochartreux.org)
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