At its founding and during its first three decades, the Carthusian order
developed a distinctive and forceful concept of communication among
the members and between the members and the extramural world.2 Saint
Bruno’s life, contemporary twelfth-century exegesis, and the physical
situation of La Grande Chartreuse established the necessary context in
which this concept evolved. A review of historical background, the relevant
documentary texts, and early development demonstrate the shaping
of two steps in this concept. Close reading of the principal testimonies of
Carthusians Bruno, Guigo I, Guigo II, and some other witnesses, as well
as of some passages in Saint Augustine, argues that Carthusian scribal
work was more preliminary practice for spiritual development than it
was the sacralization of codices and texts. The two-step structure, composed of contrary movements of presentation and effacement, guarded
what the Carthusians regarded as spiritual activity within a changing historical environment and became a fundamental part of Latin Christian
mysticism in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries
