Founder, Taizé (1915-2005)
After World War II, Roger Schutz, a Swiss-born Protestant pastor, dreamed of founding an ecumenical monastic community that would help to heal the rifts among Christians. On the site of an abandoned abbey in Taizé, France, he formed a community that would include both Catholic and Protestant brothers. Though he would never seek formal conversion, Brother Roger was warmly embraced by Catholic Church leaders, and he enjoyed the unusual privilege of receiving communion from more than one pope. As he noted, “I have found my own identity as a Christian by reconciling within myself the faith of my origins with the mystery of the Catholic faith, without breaking fellowship with anyone.”
Over the years, Taizé became a spiritual refuge for the world’s youth. Tens of thousands of young people flocked to Taizé each year to imbibe the spirit of prayer and spiritual renewal. As they returned to their homes, they carried the spirit of Taizé across the globe.
On August 16, 2005, during evening prayers at Taizé, Brother Roger was stabbed to death by a deranged woman. Rowan Williams, archbishop of Canterbury, credited him with changing the religious climate of his time: “He changed the image of Christianity itself for countless young people; he changed the church’s perception of the absolute priority of reconciliation. . . . And he did this without any position of hierarchical authority.”
“Sometimes you say to yourself: the fire in me is going out. But you were not the one who lit that fire. Your faith does not create God, and your doubts cannot banish Him to nothingness.”
—Brother Roger of Taizé
