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Origin and history

Saint-Bruno Church, located in Bordeaux, New Aquitaine, is a Baroque Catholic church built in the early seventeenth century. It is the first church of this style built in the city, before the churches Saint Paul and Notre-Dame. Commanded by Cardinal de Sourdis, Archbishop of Bordeaux, and Brother Blaize de Gasq, it was initially the church of the Chartreux monastery, the Chartreuse Notre-Dame-de-Miséricorde. Its location, formerly a marsh, required extensive dewatering and earthing before its construction. The church was consecrated on 29 March 1620 by Cardinal de Sourdis, nine years after the beginning of the works.

During the French Revolution in 1793, the church was looted by iconoclasts and sold as a national good. The graves of the family of the Cardinal of Sourdis are desecrated, and the bodies exhumed. After the Revolution in 1820, the church was restored to worship and transformed into a parish church by Bishop d'Aviau, Archbishop of Bordeaux. She was then placed under the name of Saint Vincent before returning to her original name, Saint-Bruno. In 1836, the painter Beaugeard restored the frescoes of the building, damaged by the smoke of candles.

The church of Saint-Bruno has been listed as a historic monument since 1862. It is distinguished by its Baroque architecture, with a facade decorated with six Corinthian pilasters and a statue of the Virgin with the Child above the door. Inside, it houses frescoes, woodwork, a marble slab, and a table of 1672 containing a painting by Philippe de Champaigne, L'Assumption de la Vierge. Two statues attributed to Gian Lorenzo Bernini, representing the Blessed Virgin and Angel Gabriel, frame the high altar. Today, worship is carried out by the priests of the parish of Saint-Seurin/Saint-Bruno, and the church uses the Roman Missal of 1962.

The church is 24 meters high outside, and 46 meters long by 10.30 meters wide inside, with a ceiling height of 13.40 meters. It faces the cemetery of the Chartreuse, the oldest and largest cemetery in Bordeaux. Although most of the church's buildings have disappeared, the church remains a major testimony to the religious and architectural history of the city.

In 1742, the vaults and walls above the woodwork were painted by Gonsalis and Berinzago. The church, originally owned by the Chartreux, became property of the commune after the Revolution. Today, it is open to the public and continues to be an active place of worship, served notably by priests of the Saint Peter Fraternity between 2011 and 2014, including Abbé Denis Coiffet, one of the founders of this community.

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