Carthusian Monks: Their Life, Silence and the White Habit
Who the Carthusians are, how they live as hermits in community, and what they wear: the white habit, the banded cowl of the professed monk and the black mantle of the novice.
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The Carthusians are the most solitary order in the Western Church: monks who live as hermits in individual cells, meet only for the night office, Mass and Vespers, and keep a silence few other communities attempt. Founded by St Bruno in 1084 in the Chartreuse mountains above Grenoble, the order has never been reformed, a fact it is quietly proud of. Its monks wear white, and the professed monk’s cowl with its two lateral bands is one of the most distinctive habits in the Church. This guide covers who the Carthusians are, how they live, and what they wear at each stage of their life in the order.
Who are the Carthusians?
The Order of Carthusians (Ordo Cartusiensis, O.Cart.) began when Bruno of Cologne, former master of the cathedral school at Reims, withdrew with six companions to a remote valley offered to them by St Hugh, Bishop of Grenoble, on 15 August 1084. The mother house, the Grande Chartreuse, still stands in that valley, and gives every Carthusian monastery its name: a charterhouse in English, chartreuse in French, certosa in Italian, cartuja in Spanish.
The order’s motto is Stat crux dum volvitur orbis: “The cross stands firm while the world turns.” It is small. There are about twenty charterhouses today, sixteen for monks and five for nuns, with a few hundred members in all. In England the community lives at St Hugh’s Charterhouse, Parkminster, in West Sussex; in the United States at the Charterhouse of the Transfiguration in Vermont.
St Bruno’s feast is kept on 6 October.
How Carthusians live
A charterhouse is laid out as a row of small houses, called cells, around a large cloister. Each cell has a workroom, a garden and an upper room for prayer, study and sleep. The monk prays most of the daily office alone in his cell, and his meals are passed in through a hatch, so that on most days he leaves the cell only three times: for the night office, which begins around midnight and lasts two to three hours; for the conventual Mass in the morning; and for Vespers in the afternoon.
Solitude is balanced by a small amount of common life. On Sundays and solemnities the monks eat together in silence and meet for a short recreation, and once a week they go out together on a long walk, the spaciement, when they may talk. Carthusians do not eat meat. The order runs no schools or parishes and accepts very few visitors; its work is prayer.
The life became widely known through the 2005 documentary Into Great Silence, filmed inside the Grande Chartreuse with almost no speech, which is still the most common reason people search for the Carthusians today.
Fathers and brothers
A Carthusian community has two kinds of monk. The cloister monks, or fathers, are or will be priests and live the full hermit life of the cell. The lay brothers also live in cells, smaller ones, but spend more of the day working for the community: cooking, laundry, tailoring, the garden and maintenance, much of it alone and in silence. Some brothers take vows; others, the donates, make a commitment to the order without vows. Brothers and fathers keep the same night office and the same silence; the difference is the balance between cell and work.
The Carthusian habit
The Carthusian habit is white, traditionally of undyed wool. Its pieces are:
- The tunic, a long white robe.
- The cowl, a long white over-garment with a hood. In the professed monk’s cowl the front and back panels are joined at the sides by two lateral bands of the same white cloth, which is the mark you can see in photographs of Carthusians at a distance.
- A belt at the waist under the cowl.
The lateral bands matter because they show the stage a monk has reached. The order’s own account of its formation describes the step clearly: on making his first profession the young monk lays aside the black mantle of the novice and puts on the long cowl with lateral bands.
What novices wear
| Stage | Cloister monk (father) | Lay brother |
|---|---|---|
| Postulancy (3 to 12 months) | A black mantle over ordinary clothes | A black mantle over ordinary clothes |
| Novitiate (about 2 years) | The white novice habit with a black mantle over it | A white robe, a short cowl without bands, and a black mantle |
| Temporary profession (about 5 years) | The long cowl with lateral bands; black mantle laid aside | A cowl with lateral bands; black mantle laid aside |
| Solemn profession | The same habit, now for life | The same habit, now for life |
| Donate brothers | Not applicable | A long cowl without bands |
So in a Carthusian choir you can read the community at a glance: white with black over it is a novice, white with bands is professed, and a long cowl without bands is a donate. Solemn profession usually comes about seven years after entry.
Why white?
The usual explanation is the same as for the other early habits: the first monks wore the cheapest local cloth, which in the Chartreuse mountains was undyed sheep’s wool. White has stayed as a sign of the order’s simplicity. It is not a mark of rank, and the prior wears the same habit as the youngest professed monk.
Carthusian, Cistercian or Camaldolese?
Three other communities are often confused with the Carthusians in photographs.
| Order | Habit | Life |
|---|---|---|
| Carthusians | White throughout; professed cowl with lateral bands | Hermits in cells within a community |
| Cistercians and Trappists | White tunic with a black scapular and leather belt; white cowl in choir | Common life: work, meals and office together |
| Camaldolese | White, of Benedictine form | Benedictine hermits; some houses live in cells like Carthusians |
| Norbertines (Premonstratensians) | White | Canons regular, often running parishes |
The black scapular is the quickest way to tell a Cistercian from a Carthusian. Our guide to religious habits by order has the full table of colours.
Chartreuse, and how the order lives
The green and yellow liqueurs called Chartreuse have been made by the monks since 1737, from a recipe of herbs that only two monks at a time are said to know, and the colour chartreuse is named after them. The sale of the liqueur supports the order, which takes no fees and runs no schools. Production is in the hands of a company owned by the order, but the recipe remains with the monks.
For those drawn to the white habit
The Carthusian habit belongs to the order and is given only to its members; it is not sold, and we do not make a copy of it. People who are drawn to the Carthusian ideal of solitude and want a plain garment for their own prayer usually look for the opposite of a decorative robe: a single colour, no contrasting scapular, a simple hood and a cord. In our range that is the ivory hooded monk robe or the oatmeal monk robe with leather belt, both in cotton or wool. Neither is a Carthusian habit, and neither has the banded cowl. The full collection of monk robes and religious habits lists which tradition each cut resembles.
Common questions
What do Carthusian monks wear?
A white habit, traditionally of undyed wool: a tunic, a belt and a long hooded cowl. Professed monks’ cowls have two lateral bands joining front and back; novices wear a black mantle over the white habit.
Do Carthusian monks ever speak?
Rarely. They sing the office together and may talk on the weekly walk and at the short Sunday recreation, but most of the day is spent alone and in silence in the cell.
Where are there Carthusian monasteries?
There are about twenty charterhouses worldwide, mainly in Europe. The mother house is the Grande Chartreuse near Grenoble in France; others include St Hugh’s Charterhouse at Parkminster in England and the Charterhouse of the Transfiguration in Vermont.
What is Into Great Silence?
A 2005 documentary by Philip Gröning filmed inside the Grande Chartreuse over several months, with almost no dialogue, showing the Carthusian day from the night office to the weekly walk.
Are there Carthusian nuns?
Yes. There are five charterhouses of nuns, who follow the same rule with a somewhat less strict solitude, and who also wear white.
