Guigo I.

Vincenzo Carducci , Bernhard von Clairvaux visits his friend Guigues le Chartreux (1626–1632, Museum des Prado )

Guigo I. the Carthusian also Gigo von Kastell or Gigo von Castel (* 1083 in the diocese of Valence , † July 27, 1137 in La Grande Chartreuse ) was a French monk and fifth prior of the Grande Chartreuse and general minister of the Carthusian Order .

Life

Guigo was born in the castle of Saint-Romain-du-Valmordane (now in the Ardèche department ) in an impoverished side line of the Saint Romain de Baix. He studied at the Saint-Barnard College in Romans , which was visited in August 1095 by Pope Urban II , who was an admirer of Saint Bruno of Cologne and was the first to support the Carthusian Order.

After his studies, he was ordained a priest and worked at Grenoble Cathedral. In 1106 he entered the Grande Chartreuse , which was founded by Bruno in 1084 and left by Bruno in the spring of 1090. He was elected prior at the age of 26 and was prior until his death 27 years later.

Guigo played a major role in developing the Carthusian rules. Under his priory a decision was made to allow other communities to adopt the way of life. But he made no efforts to found new monasteries. Within a few years the La Chartreuse de Portes in the Diocese of Belley 1115, the La Chartreuse des Écouges in the Vercors ( Isère ) 1116, the La Chartreuse de Durbon in the Diocese of Gap 1116, La Chartreuse Sylve-Bénite (Isère) in the Diocese of Vienne 1116 and La Chartreuse de Meyriat ( Ain ) founded in 1116. Encouraged by Bishop Hugo von Grenoble , he wrote down the customs of the Carthusians as Consuetudines Cartusiae in the years 1121 to 1125 in order to comply with the requests of the communities that wanted to adopt the way of life. These customs can be considered the founding document of the order.

On January 30, 1132, the Grande Chartause was destroyed by an avalanche after 48 years. Six monks and one novice died. Together with the survivors, he rebuilt the Charterhouse downhill at the current location, which is more protected from avalanches.

He enriched the library considerably. He cultivated friendship with Pierre le Vénérable , the abbot in Cluny , Cardinal Aimericq, the chancellor of the Apostolic See under Pope Innocent II and Saint Bernard of Clairvaux , who visited the Charterhouse in 1123.

He died of illness at the age of 53.

Fonts

Guigo's writings spread quickly in monastic circles, especially among the Cistercians. Because of their wide distribution, the meditations were attributed to Saint Bernard.

• Guigo I .: Les Méditations: recueil de pensées (=  Sources chrétiennes . No. 308 ). Éditions du Cerf, Paris 2001, ISBN 2-204-06834-9 (first edition: 1983, thoughts from the first years of his priory in no particular order).
• Guigo I .: Coutumes de Chartreuse (=  Sources chrétiennes . No. 313 ). Les Éd. du Cerf, Paris 2001, ISBN 2-204-06833-0 (first edition: 1984, The Consuetudines Cartusiae was written between 1121 and 1128 and listed the customs of the first Carthusian monks. It was the only script that was printed before the 20th century should.).
• Lettres , nine letters he wrote to an anonymous friend.
• Vie de l'évêque Saint Hugues , in which he described the life of Hugo , Bishop of Grenoble in 1132 at the request of Pope Innocent II . He was a friend of Saint Bruno and a co-founder, friend and benefactor of the first Carthusian monks.
• Saint Bruno , Guigues I ^er le Chartreux, Anthelme de Chignin : Lettres des premiers Chartreux. (=  Sources chrétiennes . No. 88 , part 1). Les Éd. du Cerf, Paris 2002, ISBN 2-204-02978-5 (first edition: 1988).

literature

• Maurice Laporte: Guigues. ad vocem . In: Dictionnaire de spiritualité ascétique et mystique. Volume VI: Gabriel – Guzman . Beauchesne, Paris 1967, OCLC 468680514 , Sp. 1169-1175 .
• Guigo, or Guigues, or Guigo I, Cartusianus . In: General Scholar Lexicon: Therein the scholars of all classes both male and female, who lived from the beginning of the world up to the present time, and made themselves known to the learned world, after their birth, life, remarkable stories, deaths and writings can be described in alphabetical order from the most credible scribes. tape 2 : D-L. . Gleditsch, 1750, Sp. 1265 ( books.google.de ).

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Guigo I - fifth prior of the Grande Chartreuse . In: BRUNONIS . January 3, 2018 ( brunonis.net [accessed January 5, 2018]).