“While the world turns, the Cross stands firm.” But speaking to the modern world.

“While the world turns, the Cross stands firm.” It’s a quote we attribute to Saint Bruno, who lived

more than 900 years ago in Europe at the peak of Christendom. It has become a popular

phrase among Catholics, who understandably want to stand proud and defiant against a culture

that has seemingly forgotten our importance in the modern world. And while Saint Bruno likely

would agree, the quote goes back to his desire to create Christian encounters that were lacking

for his day.

Aside from the fact that the people of Bruno’s day understood the world to be flat– the revolving

world does not refer to a globe– the turning refers to the problem of Christendom where

Catholics would fight against one another for their brand of Catholicism, their influence over the

Church, and their national representatives of Catholicism to sit in Peter’s throne. Saint Bruno

was reflecting on a unity and virtue problem, not a tradition problem.