Brother Roger of Taizé

“Christ is communion…He did not come to earth to start one more religion, but to offer to all a communion in God…’Communion’ is one of the most beautiful names of the Church.”

Roger Schütz, known as Brother Roger (French: Frère Roger), was a Swiss Christian leader and monastic brother. In 1940 Schütz founded Taizé, an ecumenical monastic community in Burgundy, France. During World War ll Roger bought an empty house, where for two years he and his sister, Genevieve, hid refugees, before being forced to leave Taizé, after being tipped off that the Gestapo 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. It is now composed of more than one hundred brothers, from Catholic and Protestant traditions, who originate from about thirty countries across the world. Taizé slowly became one of the world's most important sites of Christian pilgrimage. Some 100,000 young people from around the world make pilgrimages to Taizé each year for prayer, Bible study, sharing, and communal work. Brother Roger was sadly stabbed to death by a mentally ill woman in 2005. Although tragic, the brothers have continued to carry on the work Brother Roger started.