Christian de Chergé
|
The Right Reverend Christian de Chergé, O.C.S.O |
|
|---|---|
| Prior of Abbey of Our Lady of Atlas | |
| Elected | 1984 |
| Orders | |
| Ordination | 1964 |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
17 January 1937 Colmar, France |
| Died | 21 May 1996 (aged 59) Algeria |
| Buried | Abbey of Our Lady of Atlas |
| Nationality | French |
| Denomination | Roman Catholic |
Charles-Marie Christian de Chergé, O.C.S.O (Colmar, 18 January 1937 - 21 May 1996), was a French Roman Catholic Cistercian monk. He was one of the seven monks from the Abbey of Our Lady of Atlas in Tibhirine, Algeria, kidnapped and believed to have been later killed by Islamists.
He was born in Colmar, Haut-Rhin, in an military family (whose moto is Recte Semper), and he spent part of his childhood in Algiers, French Algeria, where his father was commander of the 67th Artillery Regiment of Africa. De Chergé family returned afterwards to France, settling in Paris, where he studied at the Sainte-Marie de Manceau School, from 1947 to 1954, directed by the Society of Mary, and was a Boy Scout. He was a brilliant student at Sainte-Marie, winning at the year of his graduation the first Prize of Excellency. He felt the calling to the religious life since he was 8 years old.
He entered Carmes Seminary, in Paris, in 1956. He returned to Algeria in 1959, during the Algerian War, as a young officer. He would always remember that he had his life saved by an Algerian Muslim named Mohamed, a father of ten children, during an ambush. De Chergé told him that he would pray for him but Mohamed answered him back: "I know that you will pray for me. But look, Christians don't know how to pray!" The next morning, he was found murdered. He never forget this event, and later said: "In the blood of this friend, I knew that my calling to follow Christ meant to live, sooner or later, in the country where it was given to me the greatest gift of love".
He returned to France, where he was ordained a priest at the Church of Saint-Sulpice, in Paris, in 1964. He was chaplain at the Basilica of Montmartre, from 1964 to 1969. He decided to enter the Atlas Abbey, in Tibhirine, Algeria, where he arrived, after a novitiate at Aiguebelle Abbey, in 1971. He studied Arab language and culture with the White Fathers at the Pontifical Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies in Rome from 1972 to 1974. In 1984, Atlas Abbey became a simple priory. He was elected the same year the prior.
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