Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 3.djvu/40

 BRUNO

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BRUNO

The latest edition of Bruno's works is by Torco, Opere latine di G. B. (Florence. 1889); Opere inedite (Naples, 1891); (Leipzig. 1829. 1S301. See also: McIntyre, Giordano Bruno (London and New York, 1903); Frith, Life of G. B, (London and Boston, 1SS7); Adamson in Development of J7<W< rn Philosophy (London, 1903), II, 23-44; Hoffding, Hist, of Modern Philosophy, far. Meter (London, 1900), I, 110 sqq.; Stockl, Gesch. der Phil, des Mittelaiters (Mainz, 1866), III, 106 sqq.; Turner, Hist, of Phil. (Boston. 1903), 429 sqq.

William Ttjhnek.

Bruno of Querfurt (also called Bbtjn and Boni- face), Saint, second Apostle of the Prussians and martyr, b. about 970; d. 14 February. 1009. He is generally represented with a hand cut off, and is commemorated on 15 October. Bruno was a mem- ber of the noble family of Querfurt and is commonly said to have been a relative of the Emperor Otto III, although Hefele (in Kirchenlex., II. s. v. Bruno) emphatically denies this. When hardly six years old he was sent to Archbishop Adalbert of Magdeburg to be educated and had the learned Geddo as his teacher in the cathedral school. He was a well- behaved, industrious scholar; while still a lad he was made a canon of the cathedral. The fifteen- year-old Otto III became attached to Bruno, made him one of his court, and took him to Rome when the young emperor went there in 996 to be crowned. At Rome Bruno became acquainted with St. Adalbert, Archbishop of Prague, who was murdered a year later by the pagan Prussians to whom lie had gone as a missionary. After Adalbert's death Bruno was filled with an intense desire for martyrdom. He spent much of his time in the monastery on the Aventine where Adalbert had become a monk, and where Abbot Johannes Canaparius wrote a. life of Adalbert. Bruno, however, did not enter the monas- tic life here, but in the monastery of Pereum, an island in the swamps near Ravenna.

Pereum was under the rule of the founder of the Camaldoli reform, St. Romuald, a saint who had great influence over the Emperor Otto III. Under the guidance of St. Romuald Bruno underwent a severe ascetic training; it included manual work, fasting all the week except Sunday ami Thursday, night vigils, and scourging on the bare back; in addition Bruno suffered greatly from fever. He found much pleasure in the friendship of a brother of the same age as himself, Benedict of Benevento, who shared his cell and who was one with him in mind and spirit. The Emperor Otto III desired to convert the lands between the Elbe and tin ( >der, which were occupied by Slavs, to Christianity, and to plant colonies there, lie hoped to attain these ends through the aid of a monastery to be founded in this region by some of the most zealous of Romuald 's pupils. In 1001, therefore. Benedict and another brother of the same monastery, Johannes, went, laden with gifts from the emperor, to Poland, where they were well re- ceived by tin' Christian Duke Boleslas, who taught them the language of his people; During this lime Bruno studied the language in Italy, where he re- mained with Otto and awaited the Apostolic ap- pointmenl by the pope. Sylvester II made him archbishop over the heathen and gave him the pallium, but left the consecration to the Archbishop

of Magdeburg, who had 1 he supervision of the mission to the Slavs. Quitting Pome in 1003, Bruno was consecrated in February, loni, by Archbishop Tagino of Magdeburg and gave his property for the founding

of a monastery. As war had broken out between the Emperor Henry II and the Polish Duke, Bruno

not able to go at once to Poland; so. starting

from Rat i bo t t he I lanube, he went into Hui

where St. Adalbert had also laboured. Here he

finished his life of St. Adalbert, a literary memorial of much worth.

Bruno sought to convert the Hungarian ruler Achtum anil his principality of "Black-Hungary", l.ut he met wnh so much opposition, including that

of the Greek monks, that success was impossible. In December, 1007, he went to Russia. Here the Grand duke Vladimir entertained him for a month and then gave him a territory extending to the possessions of the Petschenegen, who lived on the Black Sea between the Danube and the Don. This was considered the fiercest and most cruel of the heathen tribes. Bruno spent five months among them, baptized some thirty adults, aided in bring- ing about a treaty of peace with Russia, and left in that country one of his companions whom he had consecrated bishop. About the middle of the year 1008 he returned to Poland and there consecrated a bishop for Sweden. While in Poland he heard that his friend Benedict and four companions had been killed by robbers on 11 May, 1003. Making use of the accounts of eyewitnesses, he wrote the touch- ing history of the lives and death of the so-called five Polish brothers. Towards the end of 1008 he wrote a memorable, but ineffectual, letter to the Emperor Henry II, exhorting him to show clemency and to conclude a peace with Boleslas of Poland. Near the close of this same year, accompanied by eighteen companions, he went to found a mission among the Prussians; but the soil was not fruitful, and Bruno and his companions travelled towards the borders of Russia, preaching courageously as they went. On the borders of Russia they were attacked by the heathen, and the whole company were muidered, Bruno with great composure meeting death by decapitation. Duke Boleslas bought the bodies of the slain and had them brought to Poland. It is said that the city of Braunsberg is named after St. Bruno.

Soon after the time of their death St. Bruno and his companions were reverenced as martyrs. Little value is to be attached to a legendary account of the martyrdom by a certain Wipert. Bruno's fellow- pupil, Dithmar, or Thietmar, Bishop of Merseburg, gives a brief account of him in his Chronicle, VI, 58.

The writings, already referred to. of Bruno himself; Acta N.N'., 14 February; Bi Ti.ER. Lives of the Saints. 19 .lime; Uiese- brkciit. Deutsche Kaiserzeit, II; Histor. Jahrbueh <1.NH21. XIII; Kolbehg, Der hi. Bruno rem Querfurt (Braunsberg, 1884); SHmmen aus Maria-Loach (Freiburg im Br.. 18971. LIII.

Gabriel Meier.

Bruno the Saxon (Saxonicus). a < ierman chronicler of the eleventh century and author of the "Historia de Bello Saxonico". Little is known of his life. He was apparently a Saxon monk belong- ing to the household of Archbishop Werner, of Magdeburg, who was a vigorous opponent of Henry IV and one of the leaders of the Saxon uprising against the emperor. After the death of the archbishop in 1078 at the hands of peasants. Bruno attached him- self to Werner. Bishop of Merseburg, to whom, in ION.', he dedicated the work, "De Bello Saxonico", by which he is chiefly known. As its name indicates, it is a record of the struggles of the Saxons with the Emperor Henry IV. The author begins with an ac- count of the youth of Henry and the evil influence exerted over him by Adalbert of Bremen after he had passed from the stern tutelage of Anno. Arch- bishop of Cologne. He then traces the relations of the emperor with the Saxons and narrates at length the causes and events of the rebellion, ending with the election of Hermann of Luxemburg as king in 1081.

There has been a difference of opinion regarding the historical value of Bruno's work. It was written during the contentions between Henry and Greg- ory VII, and the author has been classed with those partisans who. either through ignorance or malice, endeavoured to lower Henry in the esteem of his subjects (Stenzel). Bruno indeed supported the pope's cause, and his Saxon sympathies manifest themselves at times in his writings, hut of his sin- cerity :nid l»is expressed purpose to narrate the truth there can be no doubt. He made the most of hiij