Dom Célestin Ringeard OCSO., sixty-two years of age, was one of the Seven Trappist Monks who died by assassination at the hands of terrorists on May 21, 1996. Entering the Abbey of Bellefontaine in 1983, he left for Algeria in 1986.
As Fr. Célestin descended from the plane in Algiers, the past came to meet him. Waiting at the foot of the gangway was an Algerian whose life he had saved during the war in Algeria. In 1957, serving in the medical corps, he had cared for a wounded rebel of the ALN and prevented his execution. That terrible memory marked a lasting attachment to Algeria and now, as he returned as a Trappist Monk, it was a very moving moment for Célestin as he was embraced by this man.
At sixty-two his presence here was astonishing. He was beginning a new vocation after a long priestly apostolate that would have filled and distinguished the lifetime of any priest. For twenty years, Fr. Célestin had carried on an intense city apostolate. He had resigned the comfortable Parish of St. Dominique, Nantes, in order to reach out to unemployed youth, alcoholics, prostitutes, and drug addicts. His little blue 2CV car was a familiar sight in the poor quarters, and the kindness of the man, who opened the doors of his flat to the needy and would invite them to spend Christmas there, en famille, was proverbial. He had seen it all, and yet this man remained the most sensitive of persons.
He seemed destined to experience life in its most agonizing situations. At fifty, this caring priest witnessed the suicide of a young homosexual, who threw himself from a window after calling for help. From that moment his thoughts turned more and more to the monastic life until, to the amazement of acquaintances, he entered the silent contemplative life at Bellefontaine. What astonished his friends was how such a temperament could feel at home in a monastery, "considering his need to talk and his urge for relating to people." He tended to speak vividly of his vocation: "Someone had called him to the Order." In the autumn of 1986, there was an appeal for Priests to go to Algeria. Célestin did not hesitate. It was for him, according to a friend, "an interior thunderbolt." He asked to go to Tibhirine and was surprised to find himself joined in this desire by Michel and Bruno of the same Community.
At Our Lady of Atlas, Célestin was able to enhance the liturgy of the small Community as Organist and Choir Master. The tension from the brothers of the mountain caused him, perhaps, anxiety but, like his brother Monks, he embraced them in prayer and in inner peace. He would turn to others, and in Br. Luc he found a certain complementarity, a contrast of personalities - on the one hand the lifelong contemplative accustomed to tending the bodily ailments of poor people, on the other the apostolic pastor, long experienced in ministering to suffering souls. Br. Luc, the old Monk, an avid reader, would share his latest interests with Célestin, who was not much inclined to reading.
The intrusion of guerrillas into the monastery at Christmas 1993, had traumatic consequences for Célestin. His heart condition became acute, and he had to undergo a multiple coronary artery bypass operation. He had only returned to Tibhirine after a long convalescence at Bellefontaine when he was abducted.
The simplicity and harmony of his life is expressed in a letter he wrote in January 1996: "In carrying out my daily duties (and this helps me each day), this morning I sang two little sentences: 'O God, you are hope on the faces of all living,' and 'Wonder of your grace! You entrust to men the secrets of the Father.'"
The seven monks of the Our Lady of the Atlas were beatified with twelve other martyrs of Algeria on December 8, 2018.
As Fr. Célestin descended from the plane in Algiers, the past came to meet him. Waiting at the foot of the gangway was an Algerian whose life he had saved during the war in Algeria. In 1957, serving in the medical corps, he had cared for a wounded rebel of the ALN and prevented his execution. That terrible memory marked a lasting attachment to Algeria and now, as he returned as a Trappist Monk, it was a very moving moment for Célestin as he was embraced by this man.
At sixty-two his presence here was astonishing. He was beginning a new vocation after a long priestly apostolate that would have filled and distinguished the lifetime of any priest. For twenty years, Fr. Célestin had carried on an intense city apostolate. He had resigned the comfortable Parish of St. Dominique, Nantes, in order to reach out to unemployed youth, alcoholics, prostitutes, and drug addicts. His little blue 2CV car was a familiar sight in the poor quarters, and the kindness of the man, who opened the doors of his flat to the needy and would invite them to spend Christmas there, en famille, was proverbial. He had seen it all, and yet this man remained the most sensitive of persons.
He seemed destined to experience life in its most agonizing situations. At fifty, this caring priest witnessed the suicide of a young homosexual, who threw himself from a window after calling for help. From that moment his thoughts turned more and more to the monastic life until, to the amazement of acquaintances, he entered the silent contemplative life at Bellefontaine. What astonished his friends was how such a temperament could feel at home in a monastery, "considering his need to talk and his urge for relating to people." He tended to speak vividly of his vocation: "Someone had called him to the Order." In the autumn of 1986, there was an appeal for Priests to go to Algeria. Célestin did not hesitate. It was for him, according to a friend, "an interior thunderbolt." He asked to go to Tibhirine and was surprised to find himself joined in this desire by Michel and Bruno of the same Community.
At Our Lady of Atlas, Célestin was able to enhance the liturgy of the small Community as Organist and Choir Master. The tension from the brothers of the mountain caused him, perhaps, anxiety but, like his brother Monks, he embraced them in prayer and in inner peace. He would turn to others, and in Br. Luc he found a certain complementarity, a contrast of personalities - on the one hand the lifelong contemplative accustomed to tending the bodily ailments of poor people, on the other the apostolic pastor, long experienced in ministering to suffering souls. Br. Luc, the old Monk, an avid reader, would share his latest interests with Célestin, who was not much inclined to reading.
The intrusion of guerrillas into the monastery at Christmas 1993, had traumatic consequences for Célestin. His heart condition became acute, and he had to undergo a multiple coronary artery bypass operation. He had only returned to Tibhirine after a long convalescence at Bellefontaine when he was abducted.
The simplicity and harmony of his life is expressed in a letter he wrote in January 1996: "In carrying out my daily duties (and this helps me each day), this morning I sang two little sentences: 'O God, you are hope on the faces of all living,' and 'Wonder of your grace! You entrust to men the secrets of the Father.'"
The seven monks of the Our Lady of the Atlas were beatified with twelve other martyrs of Algeria on December 8, 2018.
Dom Célestin Ringeard OCSO., sixty-two years of age, was one of the Seven Trappist Monks who died by assassination at the hands of terrorists on May 21, 1996. Entering the Abbey of Bellefontaine in 1983, he left for Algeria in 1986.
As Fr. Célestin descended from the plane in Algiers, the past came to meet him. Waiting at the foot of the gangway was an Algerian whose life he had saved during the war in Algeria. In 1957, serving in the medical corps, he had cared for a wounded rebel of the ALN and prevented his execution. That terrible memory marked a lasting attachment to Algeria and now, as he returned as a Trappist Monk, it was a very moving moment for Célestin as he was embraced by this man.
At sixty-two his presence here was astonishing. He was beginning a new vocation after a long priestly apostolate that would have filled and distinguished the lifetime of any priest. For twenty years, Fr. Célestin had carried on an intense city apostolate. He had resigned the comfortable Parish of St. Dominique, Nantes, in order to reach out to unemployed youth, alcoholics, prostitutes, and drug addicts. His little blue 2CV car was a familiar sight in the poor quarters, and the kindness of the man, who opened the doors of his flat to the needy and would invite them to spend Christmas there, en famille, was proverbial. He had seen it all, and yet this man remained the most sensitive of persons.
He seemed destined to experience life in its most agonizing situations. At fifty, this caring priest witnessed the suicide of a young homosexual, who threw himself from a window after calling for help. From that moment his thoughts turned more and more to the monastic life until, to the amazement of acquaintances, he entered the silent contemplative life at Bellefontaine. What astonished his friends was how such a temperament could feel at home in a monastery, "considering his need to talk and his urge for relating to people." He tended to speak vividly of his vocation: "Someone had called him to the Order." In the autumn of 1986, there was an appeal for Priests to go to Algeria. Célestin did not hesitate. It was for him, according to a friend, "an interior thunderbolt." He asked to go to Tibhirine and was surprised to find himself joined in this desire by Michel and Bruno of the same Community.
At Our Lady of Atlas, Célestin was able to enhance the liturgy of the small Community as Organist and Choir Master. The tension from the brothers of the mountain caused him, perhaps, anxiety but, like his brother Monks, he embraced them in prayer and in inner peace. He would turn to others, and in Br. Luc he found a certain complementarity, a contrast of personalities - on the one hand the lifelong contemplative accustomed to tending the bodily ailments of poor people, on the other the apostolic pastor, long experienced in ministering to suffering souls. Br. Luc, the old Monk, an avid reader, would share his latest interests with Célestin, who was not much inclined to reading.
The intrusion of guerrillas into the monastery at Christmas 1993, had traumatic consequences for Célestin. His heart condition became acute, and he had to undergo a multiple coronary artery bypass operation. He had only returned to Tibhirine after a long convalescence at Bellefontaine when he was abducted.
The simplicity and harmony of his life is expressed in a letter he wrote in January 1996: "In carrying out my daily duties (and this helps me each day), this morning I sang two little sentences: 'O God, you are hope on the faces of all living,' and 'Wonder of your grace! You entrust to men the secrets of the Father.'"
The seven monks of the Our Lady of the Atlas were beatified with twelve other martyrs of Algeria on December 8, 2018.
As Fr. Célestin descended from the plane in Algiers, the past came to meet him. Waiting at the foot of the gangway was an Algerian whose life he had saved during the war in Algeria. In 1957, serving in the medical corps, he had cared for a wounded rebel of the ALN and prevented his execution. That terrible memory marked a lasting attachment to Algeria and now, as he returned as a Trappist Monk, it was a very moving moment for Célestin as he was embraced by this man.
At sixty-two his presence here was astonishing. He was beginning a new vocation after a long priestly apostolate that would have filled and distinguished the lifetime of any priest. For twenty years, Fr. Célestin had carried on an intense city apostolate. He had resigned the comfortable Parish of St. Dominique, Nantes, in order to reach out to unemployed youth, alcoholics, prostitutes, and drug addicts. His little blue 2CV car was a familiar sight in the poor quarters, and the kindness of the man, who opened the doors of his flat to the needy and would invite them to spend Christmas there, en famille, was proverbial. He had seen it all, and yet this man remained the most sensitive of persons.
He seemed destined to experience life in its most agonizing situations. At fifty, this caring priest witnessed the suicide of a young homosexual, who threw himself from a window after calling for help. From that moment his thoughts turned more and more to the monastic life until, to the amazement of acquaintances, he entered the silent contemplative life at Bellefontaine. What astonished his friends was how such a temperament could feel at home in a monastery, "considering his need to talk and his urge for relating to people." He tended to speak vividly of his vocation: "Someone had called him to the Order." In the autumn of 1986, there was an appeal for Priests to go to Algeria. Célestin did not hesitate. It was for him, according to a friend, "an interior thunderbolt." He asked to go to Tibhirine and was surprised to find himself joined in this desire by Michel and Bruno of the same Community.
At Our Lady of Atlas, Célestin was able to enhance the liturgy of the small Community as Organist and Choir Master. The tension from the brothers of the mountain caused him, perhaps, anxiety but, like his brother Monks, he embraced them in prayer and in inner peace. He would turn to others, and in Br. Luc he found a certain complementarity, a contrast of personalities - on the one hand the lifelong contemplative accustomed to tending the bodily ailments of poor people, on the other the apostolic pastor, long experienced in ministering to suffering souls. Br. Luc, the old Monk, an avid reader, would share his latest interests with Célestin, who was not much inclined to reading.
The intrusion of guerrillas into the monastery at Christmas 1993, had traumatic consequences for Célestin. His heart condition became acute, and he had to undergo a multiple coronary artery bypass operation. He had only returned to Tibhirine after a long convalescence at Bellefontaine when he was abducted.
The simplicity and harmony of his life is expressed in a letter he wrote in January 1996: "In carrying out my daily duties (and this helps me each day), this morning I sang two little sentences: 'O God, you are hope on the faces of all living,' and 'Wonder of your grace! You entrust to men the secrets of the Father.'"
The seven monks of the Our Lady of the Atlas were beatified with twelve other martyrs of Algeria on December 8, 2018.
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