CARTHUSIANS, an order of monks in the Roman Catholic Church founded in 1084 by Saint Bruno (q.v.), a priest of the diocese of Rheims and principal of the theological school there. Displeased with the impiety of his bishop, Bruno and several friends sought soli tude in the diocese of Grenoble, and settled in a bleak and rocky wilderness near that city, called Cartusium (La Grand Chartreuse). The rule was at first not written, the followers imitating Bruno. The order was very rigid, prescribing perpetual silence, abstinence from flesh, habitual wearing of the cilicum or horse hair shirt, the eating of meals only once a day, excepting festival days. A Carthusian mon astery covered a great deal of ground. It con sisted usually of the great cloister around which were separate houses or °cells" of the monks; the lesser cloister with cells of various officials; worships of lay brothers, chapter house, refectory, etc. The time of the monks was spent in oral and silent prayer, in manual labor and in study and a little recreation. The organization was democratic. The prior, who was elected by the professed monks of the community, was the general of the order. The visitors and priors formed the governing body, and all of these might be removed or reinstated at will. The officials assisting the prior were the vicar, or vice-prior, the procurator, the temporal administrator, the coadjutor, or host, the antiquior, who takes the vicar's place, the sacristan and the novice master.
A written rule wasgiven to the Carthusians in 1129, by Guigo, the fifth prior. It comprised
the hitherto unwritten laws of Saint Bruno, and additional rules for the government of the then much larger establishment. The order grew slowly. In 1300 there were but 39 monasteries. The order extended to Spain, England and even to Mexico. The original house, La Grande Chartreuse, existed, the troublous times of the Revolution excepted, down to 1903, when it was suppressed. In 1907, there were seven monasteries in Italy; four in Spain; the largest of all at Parkminster, Sus sex, England; one in Germany, Switzerland and Austria. Some of the distinguished Carthusians were Saint Hugh, Saint Stephen, Saint Arthold and the famous copyists and authors, Ludolf of Saxony, Tromby, Sirius, Denis the Carthusian and Henry of Kalkar.
An order of Carthusian nuns was formed in the priorship of Saint Anthelm, about 1245. The arrangement of their day, with a few ex ceptions, is the same as that of the monks. Among the famous nuns have been Roseline of Villeneuve and Blessed Beatrix of Ornacieux. (See CHARTREUSE). Consult Heimbucher, and Kongregationen der katholischen Kirche> (Paderborn 1907) ; 'La Grande Char treuse par un Chartreux) (Lyons 1898) ; Le Couteulx, 'Annales Ordinis Cartusiensis> (8 vols. Montreuil 1901). The best description of Carthusian life is Thorold, 'Six Months at the Grande Chartreuse) (in the Dublin Review, April 1892).