The legendary founder of a monastic community that united Christians from Anglican, Lutheran, Catholic and evangelical traditions was stabbed to death during a prayer service Aug. 16.
Brother Roger, leader of the Taizé Community in the French region of Burgundy, was 90. According to a statement on the group's website, he was attacked by a woman who was “probably mentally disturbed.” She was in a crowd of about 2,500 attending evening prayers in the monastery's Church of Reconciliation.
The monks, including Brother Roger, regularly worship in a central rectangular area of the sanctuary separated from other worshipers only by a low hedge, which the knife-wielding woman reportedly crossed before she slit Brother Roger's throat.
News reports said he died a few moments later and that the suspect was identified as a 36-year-old Romanian woman who had been trying to get in contact with the monk. She is in custody, and French officials have charged her and ordered that she receive a psychiatric evaluation.
Brother Roger was born Roger Schutz in 1915, in the small town of Provence, Switzerland. His father was a Swiss Reformed pastor and his mother was a French Protestant.
His father encouraged the mystical side of his son's faith. As World War II was getting underway in 1940, the younger Schutz rode across the French border on a bicycle and chose the town of Taizé to establish a community designed to foster peace and reconciliation.
Brother Roger said he chose the location of the monastery to express solidarity with the French, who at the time were subject to Nazi rule. Due to his activities during that time-which included sheltering Jews in Taizé-German officials expelled him from France for a time. He sought refuge in his home country.
After the war, he returned to Taizé, and the monastic community gained in notoriety. Its message of peace and reconciliation especially became popular with young people beginning in the 1960s. While it only has about 100 monks from 25 different nations, the community regularly attracts 100,000 pilgrims a year who come to Taizé to meditate, pray and learn. During the summer, the weekly retreat crowds can number 6,000, mostly young adults who camp out in the tiny town.
The Taizé monks' distinctive worship style-mostly original, meditative songs sung in repetitive fashion in many languages and reflecting many Christian traditions-has spread around the world. An open-air service in Paris in 2003 drew 80,000 people. Many American churches, including some Baptists, use Taizé style for contemplative worship services.
Shortly after Brother Roger's death, the monastery announced that 51-year-old Brother Alois had assumed duties as the leader of the community.
Associated Baptist Press