I October — Feria Secunda infra Hebdomadam XVII post Octavam Pentecostes
Scripture: Sirach 31:8–11; Luke 12:35–40
Liturgical Rank: III Class (Saint Bruno, Confessor)
“Blessed is the rich man that is found without blemish, and hath not gone after gold.”
— Ecclesiasticus (Sirach) 31:8
“Let your loins be girt, and lamps burning in your hands.”
— Luke 12:35
On this day, Holy Mother Church honors Saint Bruno, Confessor, founder of the Carthusian Order, a man who, though not numbered among the canonized in his own lifetime, is venerated with a quiet but profound solemnity. Appropriately, the readings appointed for the day reflect the two-fold dignity that adorned his life: detachment from the world and vigilant readiness for the coming of the Lord.
I. Sirach 31:8–11 — A Paradox of Holy Wealth
“Blessed is the rich man that is found without blemish, and hath not gone after gold.”
This passage from Ecclesiasticus strikes at the heart of the ascetical life, so vividly embodied by Saint Bruno. The inspired author praises not wealth in itself, but the unblemished soul that resists the seduction of riches. Such a man may have possessions but is not possessed by them.
Saint John Chrysostom, commenting on the dangers of wealth, says:
“Riches are not forbidden, but the price of the soul is. Let them be possessed without bondage, used without being enslaved.”
(Hom. on Matthew 19)
Bruno, born into nobility, was not a pauper by necessity, but a voluntary poor man, choosing the stark poverty of the Chartreuse wilderness over the honors of the world. He lived the beatitude of Sirach: a man who could have had much, but counted all things as loss for the sake of Christ (cf. Philippians 3:8).
Saint Gregory the Great, in his Moralia on Job, notes:
“A man is not to be praised for being poor in substance, but for being rich in virtue.”
Thus, Bruno’s greatness lies not in the monastic poverty itself, but in the purity of his intention — that nothing should rival God in his soul.
II. Luke 12:35–40 — Watchfulness in the Cloister and the World
“Let your loins be girt, and lamps burning in your hands.”
In the Gospel, Our Lord exhorts His disciples to perpetual vigilance, calling them to live as servants awaiting their Master. The early monastics — the desert fathers and later the Carthusians — took this admonition literally, shaping their entire lives around readiness for the Bridegroom.
Saint Cyril of Alexandria, writing on this Gospel, explains:
“To be girded signifies readiness and the active life; the burning lamp is the contemplation of God through prayer. In both ways, we must wait for Christ.”
The Carthusian life is precisely this synthesis of the active and contemplative. Though largely hidden from the world, it is ablaze with interior vigilance. Silence, solitude, fasting, and the unceasing Office are the cords by which these souls gird their loins.
Saint Bruno established a form of life wherein the burning lamp never goes out — a life so quiet that the world often forgets it, yet so luminous that the Church has never ceased to draw strength from it.
And indeed, Our Lord’s words follow with a warning:
“If the master of the house had known the hour… he would not have let his house be broken into.”
(Luke 12:39)
What is this house if not the soul? What is this thief if not the seductions of the devil, who breaks in when the lamp of vigilance is extinguished?
Saint Augustine, ever watchful of the interior life, writes:
“Watch with the eyes of your soul; watch in your conduct; watch in your faith; watch in your love.”
(Sermon 93)
Saint Bruno, having renounced the noise of the world, became an unassailable house, guarded night and day by fidelity, silence, and continual prayer. He teaches us the grace of being found ready — even if our lives do not imitate his precisely, our souls must.
III. The Silent Triumph of the Saints
Though never formally canonized, Saint Bruno’s cultus was confirmed by Pope Leo X, a fitting irony for one who desired obscurity. In his own words:
“My brothers live in the desert… content with their humble dwellings and desiring nothing but to possess God.”
Bruno’s path may not be ours — few are called to the Grande Chartreuse — yet his spirit must be ours: poverty of spirit, detachment from the world, and unceasing vigilance.
Let us then, on this feria within the seventeenth week after Pentecost, pray for the grace to embody both the rich man without blemish and the watchful servant. Saint Bruno shows us how both virtues are possible, not in contradiction, but in unity — for the soul that longs for God alone.
Collect of Saint Bruno, Confessor
O God, who didst vouchsafe to bring the blessed confessor Bruno to the desert and there to join him to Thee in solitude: grant unto us, we beseech Thee, that after his example, we may despise the things of the world and ever seek after the things of heaven. Through our Lord…