History
of Taizé1940
At
the outbreak of the Second World War, Roger Schutz-Marsauche, the
25-year-old son of a Reformed pastor, leaves Switzerland to help
people in difficult situations in France. In Taizé, near the
demarcation line that cut the country in two, he welcomes refugees,
particularly Jews, fleeing the war. At the same time, he develops the
project of creating a community, conceived by him during a long
period of pulmonary tuberculosis.
1942-1944
Denounced
for his activities, when France is totally occupied in autumn 1942
Roger has to stay in Switzerland. In Geneva, he meets his first
brothers and they begin a life together, supported by daily prayer in
the cathedral.
1944
The
brothers are able to return to Taizé at the end of 1944. They pray
three times a day in their house, then in the village church. With
the help of Roger's sister, they take in children deprived of their
families by the war, and on Sundays they welcome German
prisoners-of-war, interned in a nearby camp. They run a farm and
start a pottery workshop. They make ecumenical contacts, organize
meetings and retreats, and engage in theological reflection.
1949
A
few other young men gradually join the first brothers. At Easter,
seven of them make a lifelong commitment to celibacy, life together
and great simplicity of life—the
first time since the Reformation that men of Protestant background
make such a commitment. Brother Roger is prior. He and Brother Max
make their first visit to Rome, where they are received by Pope Pius
XII.
1951-1952
Brother
Roger writes the Rule of Taizé, expressing the essential elements
for living together. When there are twelve brothers, the first small
group of brothers who go to live outside Taizé, known as a
fraternity, is created: two brothers settle near Montceau-les-Mines,
working in construction. In 1954, they move to a North African
neighborhood in Marseilles (1954-1961), while two other brothers live
in fraternity in Algeria (1953-1963).
1953-1955
Visits
by Brother Roger and ecumenical meetings in the Holy Land, Rome, the
Netherlands, Tunisia, Algeria, and the United States.
1958
Talks
in Geneva at the World Council of Churches. John XXIII is elected
Pope and receives the Taizé brothers. In Rome, first contacts with
Latin American bishops.
1959
Fraternities
in Abidjan, Ivory Coast (1959-1968), and Boston, USA (1959-1960).
Brother Roger publishes Living Today for God.
1960
Mission
to England with the Anglican Church. Opening of a meeting-place in
Cormatin, 4 km from the community. First “Taizé colloquium”
held, involving nine Catholic bishops and 65 Protestant pastors.
1962-1965
1962:
first visit to Patriarch Athenagoras of Constantinople. First trip by
a brother to East Germany. Inauguration of the Church of
Reconciliation. 1962-1965: Brothers Roger and Max are observers at
the Second Vatican Council. Launching of Operation Hope in Latin
America to support agricultural cooperatives set up by bishops, then
to finance the publication of a million New Testaments in Spanish and
500,000 in Portuguese. 1963: participation in the millennium of Mount
Athos. 1964: first visit by a brother to Hungary. 1964: construction
of the El Abiodh welcome center. A Franciscan fraternity (1964-1972)
and a small Orthodox center (1965-1969) in Taizé. Fraternity in the
United States (Madison 1965-1966; Boston 1965-1966; Chicago
1966-1971)
1966-1967
From
this time on, Brother Roger is received once a year by Pope Paul VI. 1966:
Arrival in Taizé of the Sisters of Saint Andrew. End of August 1966
and 1967: the first two international youth meetings in Taizé. First
visits by a brother to Czechoslovakia and Romania. Fraternities of
brothers in Brazil (Olinda-Recife 1966-1972; Vitoria 1972-1978,
Alagoinhas from 1978), Niger (1966-1998), and Rwanda (1966-1972).
1969
The
first Catholic brother enters the community. Young adult meetings
held every week in the summer and then, gradually, throughout the
year.
1970
Easter:
announcement and beginning of the preparation of a Council of Youth.
1973
Brother
Roger in Poland. Visit to Taizé by Michael Ramsey, the archbishop of
Canterbury.
1974
Templeton
Prize in London. Opening of the Council of Youth in Taizé, then in
subsequent years in Eastern Europe and on other continents. German
Booksellers' Peace Prize in Frankfurt. Fraternity in Bangladesh
(Chittagong 1974-1987; Mymensingh 1987-2023; Tharnarbaid from 2021).
1976-1979
Brother
Roger travels with brothers and an intercontinental team of young
adults to Calcutta (1976), Hong Kong (1977), Kenya and South Africa
(1978), and Chile (1979), from where they write a message to the
young. Fraternities of brothers in the Philippines (1977-1979), New
York (1978-2003), Hong Kong (1977-1980), Japan (1978-1987), Kenya
(1978-1989), and South Korea (from 1979).
1978
Brother
Roger in the USSR. Audience with Pope John Paul II, continued each
year. First young adult European meeting in Paris, then each year in
a large western European city.
1980-1983
The
Council of Youth is temporarily suspended. It is replaced by a
pilgrimage. The first major stages held in Spain, Belgium, East
Germany, Canada (1980), Czechoslovakia, Poland, Yugoslavia (1981),
Lebanon (1982), and Hungary (1983). First young adult European
meetings in Rome (1980) and London (1981).
1983-1985
Peace
initiatives: visits to the Soviet and American ambassadors in Madrid
(1983), to the Secretary General of the United Nations (1985). 1983:
participation in the World Council of Churches assembly in Vancouver.
Mother Teresa at Taizé. Brother Roger goes with brothers to Haiti
and the Dominican Republic (1983) and Mauritania (1984). First
intercontinental youth meeting in Madras (1985).
1986-1988
Pope
John Paul II at Taizé (1986). First East-West young adult meeting in
Ljubljana (1987). The meetings at Taizé become intercontinental
every week.
1988-1989
1988:
Brother Roger's second visit to the Soviet Union. UNESCO Prize for
Peace Education. 1989: one million New Testaments in Russian sent by
Operation Hope to the USSR. Charlemagne Prize in Aachen. First young
adult European meeting in Eastern Europe, in Wroclaw, Poland.
1990
Brother
Roger in Romania. Fifty years at Taizé. With the fall of the Berlin
wall, the number of young pilgrims in Taizé doubles in a year. Young
adult European meeting in Prague.
1991-1999
Young
adult meetings in Asia, in Manila, Philippines (1991), in North
America (Dayton, Ohio, USA), and in Africa, (Johannesburg, South
Africa) (1995). Continuation of European meetings in Eastern Europe
(1991: Budapest; 1999: Warsaw).
1992-1994
Special
visits to Taizé: Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey with a
thousand young Anglicans (1992), fourteen Swedish Lutheran bishops
(1994). 1992: Robert Schuman Prize in Strasbourg. From 1993 on:
fraternity of brothers in Senegal.
1998-1999
First
humanitarian shipment from Operation Hope to North Korea: 1,000
tonnes of corn to alleviate famine. First visit by a brother to North
Korea. Brother Roger invited to Rome as a special guest at the
Bishops' Synod on Europe.
2000
Holy
Year. In Rome brothers lead prayers throughout the year.
2005
Violent
death of Brother Roger. Brother Alois, designated by him as his
successor, becomes prior.
2006
Brother
Alois meets Pope Benedict XVI, Patriarchs Bartholomew of
Constantinople and Alexis II of Moscow, and Archbishop Rowan Williams
of Canterbury, and takes part in the general assembly of the World
Council of Churches in Porto Alegre (Brazil). 2006: Four Freedoms
Prize in the Netherlands. Young adult meeting in Kolkata (India),
followed in subsequent years by other young adult meetings in Africa
(Nairobi, Kenya, 2008; Kigali, Rwanda, 2012; Cotonou, Benin, 2016;
Cape Town, South Africa, 2018), Asia (Yogyakarta, Indonesia, 2007 ;
Manila, Philippines, 2010), the Americas (Cochabamba, Bolivia, 2007;
Santiago, Chile, 2010; Chicago, USA, 2012; South Dakota, USA, 2013;
Mexico City and Dominican Republic, 2014), Australia and New Zealand
(2015).
2008-2009
Brother
Alois is a special guest in Rome at the bishops' synods on the Word
of God (2008) and, in following years, on the new evangelization
(2012), on youth (2018), and on synodality (2023 and 2024). One
million Bibles printed and distributed in China by Operation Hope.
Brother Alois goes to China.
2011-2012
Visit
to Taizé by ten Korean Buddhist monks. Several pilgrimages by
brothers with groups of young people to places in the Orthodox
tradition: Moscow (2011), Constantinople (2012), Moscow, Minsk and
Kiev (2015), Bucharest (2016). With brothers and young volunteers
from Taizé, visit to the World Council of Churches in Geneva (2012
and 2023).
2013
Brother
Alois in North Korea.
2015-2017
2015:
100 years since Brother Roger's birth, ten years since his death, 75
years since the community began. Beginning in 2015, a fraternity of
brothers in Cuba. 2016: European meeting in Riga, Latvia. 2017:
Patriarch Bartholomew at Taizé. First Islamo-Christian friendship
meeting in Taizé. First young adult meeting in the Middle East, in
Egypt, in Beirut (2019), then in the Holy Land (2022).
2019-2021
Beginning
of work to uncover the truth about sexual abuse. Beginning in 2020: a
fraternity of brothers in Pantin, on the outskirts of Paris. 2021:
after the interruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, weekly youth
meetings resume at Taizé as before.
2023
Preparation
and animation of the “Together” meeting in Rome and around the
world. Brother Alois hands over his duties as prior to Brother
Matthew.
2024
A
fraternity of brothers for six weeks in Ukraine. Young adult European
meeting in Tallinn, Estonia.