Calvin. History and Reception of a Reformation Week 4. The Spread of Calvinism
Sequence 11. Francophone Calvinism during WWII: Roger Schutz and the Birth of Taizé At the beginning of World War II, a seemingly insignificant event went largely unnoticed, but ended up, in hindsight, being very important for Reformed Protestantism worldwide and for Christianity as a whole. The event in question was the arrival in Taizé, a small village in Burgundy (about 10 km from Cluny), of a 25-year-old theology student from francophone Switzerland named Roger Schutz. This was in August of 1940. Roger Schuz was already a pretty charismatic person, possessing a certain aura. He'd been named President of the Christian Student Association of francophone Switzerland and had already created a circle of friends. But in August 1940, he arrived in Taizé alone, on his bicycle. The young man who would later become known as Brother Roger was the son of a pastor, the youngest of nine children, born in the village of Provence, near Neuchâtel in the Canton of Vaud. The first thing he sought in Taizé was a home, one suitable to hosting what might eventually become a community. So he acquired, in his own words, a "large home," where he lived alone from 1940 to 1942. Taizé was very close to the demarcation line, just to the south of it -- this was in the middle of the war of course, and people would come and seek refuge in Roger Schutz's house -- Jews in particular. In the journal he kept in those years, he wrote: "From this day I will no longer be a passive witness to the tragedy of the present war. I am united in solidarity with the widespread suffering. For two months now, death has seemed the only thing desirable to me. Tonight I am asking for life, so that I may come to the aid of the people who today are hunted down like cattle for slaughter, but who tomorrow, if they are saved, will restore the true face of the West." From the beginning, then, his ideal of community living, of a life of prayer, was in no way detached from a sense of solidarity with those who are suffering. Thus Jews were welcomed into his home. In May of 1941, Roger Schutz wrote: "Welcomed two Jews this morning, they arrived like two hunted animals. I did not ask for their papers." At the heart of Schutz's decision to found a religious community in Burgundy was a very strong desire to work and pray for the reconciliation of divided Christians. In July 1941, he was visited by two eminent Catholics from Lyon: Paul Couturier, one of the founders of the movement known as Spiritual Ecumenism -- centered around prayer for the unity of Christians -- and Maurice Villain, who would succeed Paul Couturier as the Catholic co-president of the Groupe des Dombes, an important ecumenical reflection group. What began in the 1940s in Taizé, then, is a vision of community living, a model articulated around a life of prayer and intellectual reflection, yet by no means detached from the world. This was a highly original undertaking, given that francophone Reformed Protestantism had thoroughly banished monasticism since the 16th century. So this was truly a new path for Protestantism in the French-speaking world, with the exception of communities of deaconesses, founded in the mid-19th century. Here is a prayer written by Roger Schutz sometime in the 1940s: "For years I have felt you calling me to an entirely new path, and have been refusing it. I prefer paths already traced out. As do we all." Roger Schutz preferred paths already traced out, yet he would find the courage to explore, to open up a new path for francophone Protestantism, and beyond. In those years, Br. Roger was not alone in seeking a new way, a monastic kind of life. In the late 1930s, near Neuchâtel, a group of women had organized spiritual retreats that would lead to the creation of the Grandchamp community, very similar to that of Taizé. Other similar communities had burgeoned, shortly before Taizé, in places like Pomeyrol (south of France) and Presinge (near Geneva). In November of 1942, while spending a few weeks in Switzerland, Roger Schutz learned that it was too dangerous for him to return to Taizé. So he stayed in Geneva until 1944 and it was there, in the old city, right by St. Pierre cathedral, that the first brothers joined him. Foremost among them were Max Thurian, a theology student, and Pierre Souvairan. On April 30, 1943, Roger Schutz completed his theological studies by defending his undergraduate thesis in Lausanne, entitled: "The Monastic Ideal until St Benedict, 6th century, and its Conformity with the Gospel." Schutz's thesis was an attempt to legitimize monastic life within Protestantism. It's a little known text, still unpublished -- here are a few quotes to give you an idea: "The question may be asked after four centuries of Reformation: is it not possible to seek in community living a Christian pedagogy leading to Christ and able to support some in their ministry? Is it not today possible to apply an evangelical Reformation to the Catholic community life and thus to reintroduce in our churches a Christian form of life that corresponds to a legitimate and deep need for so many believers?" In the third and last part of his thesis, Roger Schutz spent almost 70 pages on the question: is a monastic evangelical community an achievable goal? The reformers of the 16th century had denounced the abuses of the convents and monasteries of their time, but according to Br. Roger (or Roger Schutz at the time), without rejecting community living as a principle. The following passage is striking in its foreshadowing of a crucial aspect of the future community of Taizé: "Those who, in the Church, stay on the periphery are in need of images, they want to know concretely how Christians can tend toward evangelical perfection: they need examples, signs, visible promises which prefigure the Kingdom." To many young people throughout the world, Taizé was and is an image, a parable, a sign of the Gospel and the call to reconciliation it contains. Here's another quote from Roger Schutz: "The question will be to determine whether the church prefers to remain stagnant in conventional forms, rejecting any new input out of indifference or hostility, or whether it will open itself up to new efforts aiming to find fulfilment, to grow, by nurturing radiant wellsprings of piety and Christian fervor." In October 1944, Roger Schutz returned to Taizé, after a two-year absence, with the first brothers, Max Thurian and Pierre Souvairan. In Paris, the publishing house ‘Je Sers’ was putting together a series of books, including Roger Schutz's "Introduction to Community Living," published in 1944. The book introduces the ‘Reformed evangelical community of Cluny’, as it was then known, whose goal was: "To intensify the sense of community living in a church still dominated by individualism (...) (...) to bring together, for life, men called to walk together toward Christ; men who, in their work, no longer live as disjointed beings, but rather submit wholly to their vocation. No statutes. No regulations." No statutes, no regulations... yet and still, there was a clearly-defined spiritual line, which I'll outline for you. The line is defined as follows: "One Maxim, Three Rules." "Ora et labora, ut regnet -- pray and work, that He may rule." The three rules are: « Allow your work and your rest, each day, to be enlivened by God’s Word; Preserve at all times an inner silence to live in Christ's presence; Penetrate yourself with the spirit of the Beatitudes: joy, simplicity, mercy." Not only a monastic endeavor, Taizé also included a focus on theological reflection in a community setting, which many people found attractive, including a leading Genevan pastors, Jean de Saussure, one of whose sons would become a brother in the community. In his Preface to "Introduction to Community Living," Jean de Saussure wrote: "Our Church is full of pastors overburdened with ministerial duties and incapable, under such conditions, of any intellectual endeavors. What a relief, then, what joy and hope does the appearance of the first community of intellectuals in Reformed territory bring into our hearts!" Another fledgling idea that would become essential to Br. Roger's spirituality can be found as early as 1948 in his journal: "Together we will seek out the sources from which to quench our thirst." Let's quickly retrace the history of the Taizé Community, which is well known -- there is lots of material about it online. The first brothers, seven of them, made their religious vows for life on Easter of 1949. That very year, members of the community traveled to Rome and met with Pope Pius XII. The "Rule of Taizé" appeared in 1952-53 and was adopted by the Grandchamp Community in particular. Br. Roger and Br. Max were invited as observers to the Second Vatican Council during the 1960s. They took part in the entire Council, staying in an apartment in Rome. A strong affinity immediately developed with Pope John XXIII (G. Roncalli). In fact, they were granted an audience with him on the very first day of his papacy, and he would go on to have a profound influence on the Community and Br. Roger. The late 1960s saw the first Catholic brother enter the community -- a crucial moment. The ‘Reformed evangelical community of Cluny’, as it was originally known, had become a truly ecumenical community, its membership no longer comprising only Protestants, but also people coming from Roman Catholicism. Relations with the Protestant Church of France were sometimes strained in those years. Catholic mass began to be celebrated every morning in the "Church of Reconciliation" inaugurated in 1962. 1974 saw the "Council of Youth" in Taizé, an important milestone. Following the Second Vatican Council, Br. Roger and the community wanted to create a similar -- or perhaps quite different -- kind of event for the youth of Europe and the world. In the late 1970s, European meetings were held in various capital cities, every year around Christmas, attracting tens of thousands of young people -- sometimes over 100,000. Br. Roger was a man for whom listening was essential: listening to others, listening to Scripture -- this is perhaps what makes him, more than anything, a heir to Calvin and his thought. Night after night, in the Church of Reconciliation on the Taizé hillside, he listened to thousands of young people. He is truly one of the most outstanding personalities of Christianity in the second half of the 20th century, and his Reformed roots are sometimes overlooked. It is true that as the years went by, he himself alluded less and less to those roots and to his identity as a Reformed pastor. He had become Br. Roger, prior of Taizé. In 1980, during a European youth assembly in Rome, in the presence of Pope John Paul II in St. Peter's Basilica, he publicly described his journey: "I found my own identity as a Christian by reconciling within myself the Protestant faith of my origins with the mystery of the Catholic faith, yet without breaking fellowship with anyone." In 1987, Br. Max, who according to many in the community was virtually a co-founder, converted to Catholicism and even became a Catholic priest. Br. Roger, notwithstanding certain unfounded rumors, never took such a step. He was murdered by a mentally ill woman on August 16, 2005, during the night prayer in Taizé -- a deeply traumatic event. He was succeeded by a German brother of Catholic origin, Brother Alois, whom he had designated as a possible successor many years earlier. Brother Roger, undoubtedly, was a great witness to Christ and the Gospel in our time.
