Saint Hugh of Grenoble

Hugh was born in 1053 at Châteauneuf-sur-Isère in southern France. A gifted and devout canon, he was made bishop of Grenoble in 1080 at only about twenty-seven, and found a diocese weakened by simony, lay control of church property and careless clergy. He worked patiently to restore discipline, recover church lands and care for the poor, though he often longed to leave office for a life of prayer.

In 1084 Bruno of Cologne and six companions came to him seeking solitude. Hugh led them to the wild valley of the Chartreuse in the Alps, where they founded the Grande Chartreuse, mother house of the Carthusian order. Hugh loved to visit and pray with the monks. Despite lifelong ill health he served as bishop for over fifty years and died on April 1, 1132. Pope Innocent II canonized him only two years later, in 1134.

Hugh is especially remembered in Grenoble and by the Carthusian monks, who regard him as a founding friend of their order. His feast is a fitting day to pray for bishops and for those called to a life of silence and contemplation.