The motto of the Carthusians is Stat crux dum volvitur orbis, Latin for "The Cross is steady while the world turns.

There Bruno and six companions built a hermitage, consisting of a few wooden cabins opening towards a gallery that allowed them access to the communal areas, the church, the refectory, and the chapter room without having to suffer too much from inclement conditions.

The first was founded by Henry II of England in 1181 at Witham Friary, Somerset as penance for the murder of Thomas Becket.

The best preserved remains of a medieval Charterhouse in the UK are at Mount Grace Priory near Osmotherley, North Yorkshire.

One of the cells has been reconstructed to illustrate how different the layout is from monasteries of most other Christian orders, which are normally designed with communal living in mind.

The Priory, said to have been a building of "wondrous cost and greatness", was sacked during the Scottish Reformation in 1559, and swiftly fell into decay.

The Perth names Charterhouse Lane and Pomarium Flats (built on the site of the Priory's orchard) recall its existence.

There is an active Carthusian house in England, St Hugh's Charterhouse, Parkminster, West Sussex.

[12][13] Each hermit, a monk who is or who will be a priest, has his own living space, called a cell, usually consisting of a small dwelling.

Traditionally there is a one-room lower floor for the storage of wood for a stove and a workshop as all monks engage in some manual labour.

Each cell has a high-walled garden wherein the monk may meditate as well as grow flowers for himself and/or vegetables for the common good of the community, as a form of physical exercise.

[11] Next to the door is a small revolving compartment, called a "turn", so that meals and other items may be passed in and out of the cell without the hermit having to meet the bearer.

The hermit makes his needs known to the lay brother by means of a note, requesting items such as a fresh loaf of bread, which will be kept in the cell for eating with several meals.

Unless required by other duties, the Carthusian hermit leaves his cell daily only for three prayer services in the monastery chapel, including the community Mass, and occasionally for conferences with his superior.

[5] Twice a year there is a day-long community recreation, and the monk may receive an annual visit from immediate family members.

[11] During the brothers' seven-year formation period, some time is given each day to the study of the Bible, theology, liturgy, and spirituality.

Choir nuns tend to lead somewhat less eremitical lives, while still maintaining a strong commitment to solitude and silence.

Visits are not possible into the Grande Chartreuse itself, but the 2005 documentary Into Great Silence gave unprecedented views of life within the hermitage.

[16] Before the Council of Trent in the 16th century, the Catholic Church in Western Europe had a wide variety of rituals for the celebration of Mass.

When Pope Pius V made the Roman Missal mandatory for all Catholics of the Latin Church, he permitted the continuance of other forms of celebrating Mass that had an antiquity of at least two centuries.

At Matins, if no priest or deacon is present, a nun assumes the stole and reads the Gospel; and although in the time of the Tridentine Mass the chanting of the Epistle was reserved to an ordained subdeacon, a consecrated virgin sang the Epistle at the conventual Mass, though without wearing the maniple.