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| Ugly chartreuse plateware, for example |
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| Yo yo yo checkit..it's Saint Bruno |
This man was Saint Bruno. He spent much of his life doing church-y kinda stuff-> educated from a young age in a French cathedral, became a professor and rector, then went off to be a reclusive monk with six of his homies later in his life. They traveled to Grenoble in France, where the presiding bishop welcomed them. The bishop said he had a dream where God called him to build a place of worship up in the Chartreuse Mountains, which were pretty rugged and wild. Seven stars hung over the spot where the place was to be built. Waking from the dream and later meeting St. Bruno and his posse, the bishop recognized the 7 men to be symbolically the 'stars' that would bring the show to life.
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| The dream coulda been as trippy looking as this... |
So they went up in the mountains and saw the spot from the dream in real life, and started building. There were some community type buildings including a chapel, and then each monk had his own individual hut for solitude. They would congregate here and there, and the rest of the time be alone in silence and prayer.
Saint Bruno was called upon to Rome by the Pope, who used to be one of his students! He sorta got stuck in Italy and built a monastery in Calabria, where he spent the rest of his living days more or less. Anyhow, the remaining posse eventually became known as the order of the Carthusian Monks, and their brotherhood, set of rules and monasteries slowly spread through Europe over the years. The original monks in the Chartreuse mountains learned to become quite self sufficient. They cleared trees and sold the wood and charcoal, made a bit of land for farming, became masters of metallurgy, and eventually the distillery.
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| La Grande Chartreuse Monastery closer to present day...the home of the monks |
A marshal of the French king's artillery, a certain Francois Hannibal d'Estrees, gave the monks a mysterious ancient manuscript in 1605 containing an 'Elixir of Long Life.' It took like more than 100 years for the monks to make head or tail of the damn thing, but they finally got it down. 1737 is when the monks began distilling. The year 1764 was when Green Chartreuse was created, a milder form of the original Elixir (55% alcohol) and chances are very close to the main kind of Chartreuse you would find in your local liquor store. There are other variations of the stuff, but this is the base...and the closest you'll get to the original Elixir. The monks passed down the recipe through generations. It contains over 130 herbs and spices, more than any contained in other liqueurs worldwide, as far as I know! The monks weathered much turmoil, including being scattered during the French Revolution, and hiding out in Spain when the French government greedily took over their little stint in the mountains. People were pissed and refused to buy the government wannabe version Chartreuse. The monks came back and were able to sell their 'medicine' as before. Leading up to today, the monks have sold millions of bottles all over, the drink being in much demand. The monks will usually meditate in silence and solitude, and occasionally a brother will come and stir the pot or whatnot and keep the process running. Cool stuff.
