Taizé

Every year on Good Friday at St. Thomas Aquinas, parishioners mark the day by participating in the Seven Last Words of Christ, prayed in the style of Taizé. If you have not participated in this prayer, you may be familiar with songs like, “Jesus, Remember Me,” “Eat this Bread,” or “Ubi Caritas,” all of which were composed at Taizé.

Taizé is an ecumenical community that takes its name from the small village where it is based in Taizé, France, in the country’s Burgundy region, minutes from Cluny, the site of Europe’s largest and most famous monastic abbey before its destruction during the French Revolution. The Taizé Community was founded by Roger Schüz, later known as Brother Roger, at the beginning of the Second World War. Brother Roger, the son of a Reformed Protestant Pastor, was studying theology at a college in Switzerland when he felt called to help war refugees as his grandmother had done during the First World War. In 1940, he bought a small house in central France that sheltered refugees, primarily Jews, which would later become the home of the Taizé Community. After the war, Brother Roger, who had long been drawn to a monastic way of life, founded a community of brothers which was open to men of all Christian faiths. Men from his own Reformed tradition began to join him followed by men from the Anglican and Catholic traditions. Brother Roger was passionate about the unity of Christians and had a deep desire as Jesus did, that all would be one. He often said, “Christ did not come to earth to create a new religion, but to offer to every human being a communion in God.” As an observer at the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, with its concern for the restoration of Christian unity, he had hoped he would see the unity of Christians in his lifetime. He believed that life lived out in community could be a symbol of that reconciliation and unity called for by Christ and he never tired of working toward that goal. Today, the Taizé Community includes nearly 100 men of both Catholic and Protestant traditions who come from nearly 30 countries. Most of the brothers live at Taizé, but some live among disadvantaged communities around the world. The community at Taizé lives together, works together and prays together in simplicity, in peace and in poverty. They do not accept donations or gifts of any kind, but rather make their living solely from the work they do: Making pottery, writing books and welcoming tens of thousands of pilgrims to Taizé every year.

Young People at Taizé

Young people in particular are attracted to Taizé and tens of thousands come from all parts of the world each year to spend a week living, working, and praying alongside the brothers in the community. On a visit to Taizé over Palm Sunday, I was able to speak to several of them.

For 22-year-old Milena Vontottleben from Freiburg, Germany, Taizé is a familiar place. She has been here nine times and this time, she brought a large group of friends. Milena is a Christian who grew up in the German Baptist Tradition and she said she wanted to share what she calls “An environment that is as welcoming as she has ever experienced.” She said, “Being at Taizé inspires me to make a difference in the small things, to try to find unity in diversity even in my small group of friends.”

A change in plans due to the pandemic sent 20-year-old Carl Voigt from Germany to Taizé to volunteer for a period of seven months before entering college. He says the trip not only

changed his life, it changed his vocation, “I actually found the faith which was always there since my childhood but I didn’t open up for it. I didn’t want to have anything to do with Christianity to be honest and here I learned that I can have a place and that I can call myself a Christian and this changed my life forever.”

Fernanda Ortiz is a 23-year-old Catholic from Mexico who just graduated from college, packed up her life and came to Taizé to help the community welcome refugees from Ukraine. She said she has found unity in diversity here, “I love that we can pray together, even though we are from different denominations.”

Taizé Prayer

Morning, noon, and evening, the bells on the hill of Taizé ring out, calling everyone to communal prayer, which includes Scripture that is proclaimed in many languages, silence and simple short chants sung over and over again. The songs are not sung in the style with which today’s youth would be familiar meaning you won’t find any Christian Contemporary music at Taizé. The music, simple, meditative and repetitive, is meant to help everyone easily participate, to avoid distraction and to draw one inward. Brother Roger believed that the more accessible the prayer, the closer the encounter with God.

It was during an evening prayer on August 16, 2005, when Brother Roger, at the age of 90, was mortally stabbed by a woman later deemed mentally ill. Despite the grave loss, the community embraced the woman’s family with a spirit of forgiveness and mercy. Before he died, Brother Roger appointed his successor, Brother Alois Löser, a Roman Catholic from Germany, who remains the Prior of Taizé.