Carthusian Order Our Lady of the Carthusian Monastery

History & origins

The origins of the Carthusian Order go back to 1084. According to the Order’s official history, Bruno and six companions entered the wilderness of Chartreuse near Grenoble, France, and formed an eremitical community. From this beginning developed the Carthusian tradition, combining solitude and silence with common prayer. The way of life later spread to many countries, while the Order continued to preserve its original character as a contemplative monastic tradition. The order has preserved a form of life in which each charterhouse remains somewhat removed from the world and its monks stay in one place, combining prayer, work, and common liturgy; this contemplative framework continued to shape the community after the order came to Korea.

The Order reached Korea in the early 2000s. The Catholic Church directory in Korea records January 31, 2000 as the date of the Carthusians’ arrival in Korea, while the historical archive of the Diocese of Andong records that the Order entered the diocese on December 27 of the same year. The two dates can be understood as different stages in the process of arriving in Korea and settling within the Diocese of Andong. The Carthusian Order’s official website states that its Korean monks’ charterhouse, “Notre-Dame de Corée,” was founded in 2002. The order’s official history also records the foundation of both male and female Carthusian communities in Korea in 2002 as a stage in its modern development. The monastery in Sangju became the Korean house of the male community.

The diocesan chronology records that the blessing of the Carthusian monastery and the dedication of its church took place on January 31, 2005. The sources therefore show a sequence from arrival in Korea, to entry into the Diocese of Andong, to the foundation of the monastic community, and finally to the blessing of the monastery and dedication of its church. The history of this house can be understood as the establishment in the Korean Church of a contemplative tradition more than nine centuries old, continuing at the Sangju monastery through the same discipline of silence, solitude, and prayer. The 2005 blessing and dedication can therefore be understood as the point at which the monks gained a stable physical setting in which to continue the Carthusian way of silence and prayer over the long term.