Twenty-five years ago, Islamic terrorists kidnapped seven Cistercian monks in Tibhirine, Algeria. All seven of them were later executed. Two of the brothers living in the monastery escaped the terrorists because they slept in another wing that night. The younger of them, Jean-Pierre Schumacher, died this Sunday.
In the 1990s, a civil war raged in Algeria. During this time, the monks living at the monastery of Notre Dame de l'Atlas in Tibhirine were attacked several times by Islamic extremists and called to go back to France. The monks refused to leave the local community alone, they continued to teach and help.
One of them, Luc Dochier , was a doctor who also served as a doctor in World War II. On December 24, 1993, the soldiers of the Islamist army called AIS asked the monks to release Brother Luc so that he could work for them. Christian de Chergé , the local superior at the time, rejected this. At that time, the armed men left without harming anyone.
However, two and a half years later, on the night of March 26-27, 1996, they returned. The inhabitants of the monastery would have elected the new leader of the community on March 31, so in addition to the seven monks living there, two guests were also there on the night of the break-in. To accommodate the guests comfortably, Jean-Pierre Schumacher and Amédée Noto gave up their cell, and they themselves slept in another wing of the building. It is because of this that the terrorists who came at night did not find them both. Jean-Pierre Schumacher later stated that he and brother Amédée did not even wake up that fateful night.
After the seven monks were kidnapped, there was no news of them for days. Finally, a month later, on April 30, a man named Abdullah appeared at the French consulate in Algeria with a voice message on which the seven monks could be heard. One of them, Christian de Chergé, says:
"On the night between Thursday and Friday, the mujahideen read to us a statement from the GIA (Islamist armed group), in which they ask the French government to release several hostages belonging to their group. This is a clear condition for our release.”
After that, the kidnapped monks were not heard of again for a long time. Finally, on May 21, the GIA announced:
“We cut the throats of seven monks as promised earlier.”
A few days later, the Algiers authorities found the severed heads of the brutally murdered monks, but their bodies were never found. The identity of the kidnappers has been shrouded in mystery ever since. The martyrs were beatified by Pope Francis in 2018.
Rabat, March 31, 2019. Pope Francis greets Father Jean-Pierre Schumacher, a survivor of the 1996 Tibhirine massacre, at St. Peter's Cathedral in Rabat on March 31, 2019. MTI/EPA/ANSA/Ciro Fusco
The Cross of Survivors
The day after the kidnapping, Jean-Pierre Schumacher and Amédée Noto were immediately taken to a safe place and were not allowed to return to the monastery. Jean-Pierre later spoke many times about the love and courage of his fellow religious. For a long time, he did not let the question rest , what could be God's purpose in keeping him alive thanks to a miracle.
A few months after the death of his companions, Jean-Pierre received a letter from the superior of the convent of the Daughters of God in Switzerland, who wrote:
"There are those whom God calls to give witness through their lives, and there are those who give their lives to witness."
"These few words freed me from the doubts that had plagued me all this time"
the priest admitted.
The sad event is commemorated by a French film entitled Men and Gods. The film shows the events and the self-sacrifice of the monks in a touching way.
