Roger Schutz | |
|---|---|
| Prior ofTaizé | |
 Brother Roger Schutz in 1991 | |
| Installed | 1940 |
| Term ended | 2005 |
| Successor | Brother Alois |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Roger Louis Schutz-Marsauche (1915-05-12)12 May 1915 |
| Died | 16 August 2005(2005-08-16) (aged 90) |
| Nationality | Swiss |
| Denomination | Reformed Christianity, later reconciliation withCatholicism |
| Education | Reformed theology |
| Alma mater | University of Strasbourg University of Lausanne |
Roger Schutz (12 May 1915 – 16 August 2005), popularly known asBrother Roger (French:Frère Roger), was aSwissChristian leader andmonasticbrother. In 1940 Schutz founded theTaizé Community, anecumenical monastic community inBurgundy,France, serving as its firstprior until his murder in 2005.[1] Towards the end of his life, the Taizé Community was attracting international attention, welcoming thousands of young pilgrims every week, which it has continued to do after his death.[2]
Born on 12 May 1915, inProvence,Vaud, Schutz was the ninth and youngest child of Karl Ulrich Schutz, aProtestant pastor fromBachs in theZürcher Unterland inSwitzerland, and his wife, Amélie Henriette Marsauche, aHuguenot fromBurgundy, France.
From 1937 to 1940, Schutz-Marsauche studiedReformed theology inStrasbourg andLausanne, where he was a leader in the Swiss Student Christian Movement, part of theWorld Student Christian Federation. Falling ill withtuberculosis, during his convalescence he began to feel drawn to amonastic way of life.[3]
In 1940, at the start ofWorld War II, Schutz-Marsauche felt called to serve those suffering from the conflict, as his maternal grandmother had done duringWorld War I. He rode a bicycle fromGeneva toTaizé, a small town nearMâcon, about 390 kilometres (240 mi) southeast of Paris. The town was then located withinunoccupied France, just beyond the line of demarcation from the zone occupied by German troops. He bought an empty house, where for two years he and his sister, Genevieve, hid refugees, both Christian and Jewish, before being forced to leave Taizé, after being tipped off that theGestapo had become aware of their activities. In 1944, he returned to Taizé to found the Community, initially a small quasi-monastic community of men living together in poverty and obedience, open to all Christians.[3]
Since the late 1950s, many thousands of young adults from many countries have found their way to Taizé to take part in weekly meetings of prayer and reflection. In addition, Taizé brothers make visits and lead meetings, large and small, in Africa, North and South America, Asia, and in Europe, as part of a “pilgrimage of trust on earth”.
The spiritual leader always kept a low profile, rarely giving interviews and refusing to permit any "cult" to grow up around himself. Prior to his death, Brother Roger was due to give up his community functions because of his advanced age and ill-health which had seen him suffer from fatigue and often use a wheelchair.[citation needed]
Brother Roger was a prized author and wrote many books on prayer and reflection, asking young people to be confident in God and committed to their local church community and to humanity. He also wrote books about Christian spirituality and prayer, some together withMother Teresa with whom he shared a cordial friendship.[4]
Brother Roger was stabbed to death during theevening prayer service in Taizé on August 16, 2005, by a young Romanian woman named Luminița Ruxandra Solcan who was later deemed mentally ill[5] and was stabbed as well in 2011.[6] He was stabbed several times and, though one of the brothers carried him from the church, he died shortly afterward. The assailant was immediately apprehended by members of the congregation and was placed in police custody.
The funeral took place on 23 August 2005.Horst Köhler, thePresident of Germany, andNicolas Sarkozy, at that timeMinister of the Interior of France, were in attendance. Brother Roger's community and friends attended theliturgy in the vast monastery church at Taizé, while thousands more followed it on a huge screen in fields outside the church. Brother Roger's simple wooden coffin, a woodenicon lying upon it, was carried into the church by members of the community. In a highly unusual move, the funeral was presided over by aCatholiccardinal,Walter Kasper, the president of theVatican'sPontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, who celebrated the Mass with four priest-brothers of Taizé concelebrating. In his homily he said, "Yes, the springtime ofecumenism has flowered on the hill of Taizé."[7] In reference to Brother Roger's concern forsocial justice, Cardinal Kasper said "Every form of injustice or neglect made him very sad."[7] Brother Roger's successor,Brother Alois Löser, prayed for forgiveness: "With Christ on the cross we say to you, Father, forgive her, she does not know what she did."[7]
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All his life, Roger devoted himself to reconciling the differentChristian denominations. He especially addressed Christianyouth. Part of his appeal may have been his dislike of formal preaching, while encouraging a spiritual quest as a common endeavor. During a Taizé gathering inParis in 1995, he spoke to more than 100,000 young people who were sitting on the floor of an exhibition hall. "We have come here to search", he said, "or to go on searching through silence and prayer, to get in touch with our inner life. Christ always said, 'Do not worry, give yourself'."[8]
Although Brother Roger had a Reformed (Protestant) background, he received theCatholic sacrament of the Eucharist at theCatholic Mass celebrated every morning in his monastery. In addition, he received the sacrament from bothPope John Paul II andPope Benedict XVI, seemingly in contravention ofcanonical prohibitions reserving the sacrament exclusively to those infull communion with theCatholic Church.
According to CardinalWalter Kasper, this was accomplished as though there was a tacit understanding between Brother Roger and the Catholic Church "crossing certain confessional" and canonical barriers through what Brother Roger called a gradual enrichment of his faith with the foundations of the Catholic Church including "the ministry of unity exercised by the bishop of Rome."[9] Brother Roger thus appeared to have undertaken a step without precedent since theProtestant Reformation: entering progressively into full communion with the faith of the Catholic Church possibly without a formal "conversion" that would imply a break with his origins.[citation needed]
In 1980, during a meeting inRome, he said inSaint Peter’s Basilica in the presence ofPope John Paul II:
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.[9]
It was reported in the early 2000s that Brother Roger had in fact converted to Catholicism in 1972, when he received hisFirst Communion from the localordinary, thebishop of Autun. The journalist reporting claimed to have confirmed this with the Vatican, explaining his unfettered reception of Communion there from the sitting Pope on two different occasions. He reportedly kept his conversion a secret for the sake of the ecumenical mission of Taizé.[10]
Brother Rogers' successor at Taizé,Brother Alois, confirmed that the sacrament occurred but denied that there was a formal conversion, stating that he merely affirmedthe Creed.[11]
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In 1998, Brother Roger had designated Brother Alois, a German Catholic who had originally come to Taizé as a youth and became one of the brothers, as his successor. This was confirmed by the community and in January 2005, it was announced that Alois would soon be taking Roger's place asPrior of Taizé, but this had not yet occurred at the time of Roger's death, when Alois was attending theWorld Youth Day 2005 celebration inCologne,Germany. He was installed as prior shortly thereafter.
Editions, listed alphabetically, as found in theLibrary of Congress Catalog shortly after his death:
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| Taizé Community | ||
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| Preceded by Founder | Prior 1940–2005 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
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| National | |
| Academics | |
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