Christian de Chergé

Charles-Marie Christian de Chergé, O.C.S.O (Colmar, 18 January 1937 – 21 May 1996), was a French Cistercian, one of the seven monks kidnapped from the Abbey of Our Lady of Atlas in Tibhirine, Algeria, and believed to have been later killed by Islamists in 1996. He was beatified with eighteen others, the Martyrs of Algeria, on December 9, 2018.

Biography Early life He was born in Colmar, Haut-Rhin, in an aristocratic 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.

Religious life 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 forgot 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".

In the night of 26 to 27 March 1996, a group of 20 armed men from the GIA entered the monastery at 1:45 AM. They took seven monks' captive, including one, Brother Bruno, who was a visitor from Fès, Morocco. Two monks escaped the kidnappers. A message signed by the GIA announced that the seven monks had been beheaded on 21 May 1996. It is still uncertain who killed them, because some sources claim that they died during an airstrike from the Algerian Air Force.

Father de Chergé and the other monks were buried in the Abbey of Our Lady of Atlas cemetery.

Beatification process The Diocese of Algiers started the process for the beatification of Christian de Chergé and the monks of Tibhirine in 1996. On 7 October 2013, the Order of the Cistercians of the Strict Observance announced that the Archbishop of Algiers, with the agreement of the Abbot General and his council, had nominated Father Thomas Georgeon, his Secretary General, as the postulator of the process of beatification of Archbishop Pierre Lucien Claverie and 18 companions, including the 7 Tibhirine monks. The Congregation for the Causes of Saints approved the appointment on 11 October 2013. The beatification took place in Oran, Algeria, on 8 December 2018. He was one of the 19 people beatified as the Martyrs of Algeria.

Books Dieu pour Tout Jour: Chapitres de Père Christian de Chergé à la Communauté de Tibhirine (1985-1996) (2006) L'Autre que Nous Attendons: Homélies de Père Christian de Chergé (1970-1996) (2009) L'Invincible Espérance (2010), compilation of texts by Bruno Chenu. Lettres à Un Ami Fraternel (2015), letters to Father Maurice Borrmans (1974-1995).