Hugh of Grenoble

Hugh of Grenoble (1052–1132), bishop. Born at Châteauneuf (Dauphiné) the son of a knight called Odilo, he was educated in the cathedral school of Valence, where he became a canon. Talented and learned, good-looking yet very bashful, he was appointed by Hugh, bishop of Die and papal legate, as his secretary. In 1080 he took him to the synod of Avignon, which reviewed the deplorable state of the diocese of Grenoble, where simony and usury, lay intrusion and clerical unchastity were rampant. Hugh of Grenoble was elected bishop, was consecrated at Rome by Gregory VII, and returned to his diocese.

He began his episcopate as a living embodiment of the principles of the Gregorian Reform. He fought vigorously and with success against the abuses described. He sustained the papacy in its dispute against the emperor Henry V although at the cost of persecution. Grenoble was in the emperor's territory, but his people rallied to the bishop's support. He had built a bridge, a market-place, and three hospitals for his city besides restoring the cathedral and the church of St. Laurence. He founded houses of canons regular, but above all he is known as the virtual co-founder of the Carthusian Order.

His charter which gave to Bruno the mountainous estate of the Grande Chartreuse still exists: his encouragement and support were decisive in the difficult early days. His own father died as a Carthusian monk at the age of a hundred; he himself delighted in the monks' company and stayed in their monastery for retreats. His own close relationship with them ensured that the diocesan bishop was always expected (contrary to other monastic orders) to guide and cherish Charterhouses in their dioceses.

Hugh repeatedly tried unsuccessfully to resign his see, but the papacy regularly refused it. Right at the end of his long life he supported Pope Innocent II with Bernard against the anti-pope Anacletus. During his last few weeks of life, he seemed to forget everything except the Lord's Prayer and the psalms; he died surrounded by Carthusian monks, who treasured his memory and fostered his cult. He was canonized only two years after his death, in 1134. Zurbaran gave him a prominent place in his paintings of the early Carthusians in the museum of Seville. Feast: 1 April.

Bibliography
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• Life by Guigo, prior of the Grande Chartreuse in AA.SS. April. I (1737), 36–46; B. Bligny, Saint Bruno, le premier chartreux (1984); see also B.L.S., iv. 4–6; H.S.S.C., vi. 274–5; Bibl. SS., xii. 759–64