Dom Christophe Lebreton OCSO., forty-five years old, was one of the Seven Trappist Monks who died by assassination at the hands of terrorists on May 21, 1996. Subprior and Novice Master, he entered the Abbey of Tamié in 1974, and left for Algeria in 1987.
The forced entry into the Monastery by the armed guerrilla band at Christmas 1993, was a turning point in his spiritual journey. Fr. Christophe wrote: "This Christmas was not like others. It was charged with significance. Like Mary we keep all these things that have happened. We continue to ask ourselves what has been initiated in our hearts. Like a sword the significance has pierced us."
Christophe is too easily and not very profoundly identified as a "student of '68." As a schoolboy of eighteen, he had his transistor going all day in May 1968, to reports of the student agitators demonstrating in Paris. His regret at not being able to join them was only one link in a restless quest. At the age of twelve, news of the pending death of his grandmother from cancer made him feel rebellious and wish to take her place. He was an ardent person, enthusiastic in whatever he took up. He was the seventh child in a family of twelve children. A precocious religious vocation ended with departure from the junior seminary and, as he was always ardent in his views, total separation from religion. Marxism had its dramatic attraction until, in the middle of a demonstration, he realized in one stroke the futility of his course and how he was being politically manipulated. He was left with nothing to believe in until a chance encounter with the Emmaus movement and Abbé Pierre. Recovering religious commitment he also discovered love through relationship with a woman.
This new awareness could have led him to marriage, the value of which he never denied, but the challenge of love led him to understand that the love deep in his heart was from God and led him to the Church as the place where this love, his vocation, could express itself totally.
Christophe discovered Algeria and the Monastery of Our Lady of Atlas at the beginning of 1970, during his national service. For his National Service he had taken the option for serving the assistance scheme for Algeria, teaching students and helping with handicapped children. A priest friend brought him to Tibhirine on several occasions. The extreme poverty of the neighboring people made an indelible impression. He was sure he would return. In 1974, at the age of twenty-four, after tentative studies for a degree in law, his decision was made. He entered the Monastery of Tamié, Savoy. During his Novitiate, aspirations to radical poverty revived the attraction of Tibhirine, and it was there that he made his First Vows. But for a young Monk the facilities for formation were sparse indeed. The Community was small and elderly. Resources in personnel for teaching were better at Tamié, and the presence of contemporary young Monks provided a better challenge for formation. Christophe spent the next six years at Tamié studying and using his woodworking skills at manual labor. During this time his monastic experience was affirmed and deepened. Later, when he was called to assist the sister Abbey of Dombes in the capacity of Guestmaster, Br. Christophe was described as "a monk of thirty-eight years, happy in this altruistic life, collected, convivial, entirely turned to God."
In 1987, an encounter with Fr. Christian led him to return to Algeria. He brought with him a talent for animating people and bringing them together. In 1990, he introduced his Algerian friends to twenty-eight members of his family who attended his ordination to the Priesthood, and lasting friendships were made. His last visit home to Toussaure, Drôme, was in 1995, for the funeral of his father. To the suggestion of leaving Algeria, he replied: "Why should I have the choice to flee, while the Algerians do not? They are the victims, not us."
The Islamic - Christian interreligious dialogue entered more and more into his prayer, his writing, and his poetry. He felt that he was only beginning to understand:
Not having the linguistic and religious knowledge necessary to enter into dialogue with Islam, I feel called simply to listen. And it is God who is heard in his Word who is sent, who tells me to listen, to welcome all this strange, different reality. To the point of feeling myself responsible: may the Spirit lead it towards the full truth. And if we can make this journey together, so much the better! And making this journey we can speak and be silent.
The seven monks of the Our Lady of the Atlas were beatified with twelve other martyrs of Algeria on December 8, 2018.
The forced entry into the Monastery by the armed guerrilla band at Christmas 1993, was a turning point in his spiritual journey. Fr. Christophe wrote: "This Christmas was not like others. It was charged with significance. Like Mary we keep all these things that have happened. We continue to ask ourselves what has been initiated in our hearts. Like a sword the significance has pierced us."
Christophe is too easily and not very profoundly identified as a "student of '68." As a schoolboy of eighteen, he had his transistor going all day in May 1968, to reports of the student agitators demonstrating in Paris. His regret at not being able to join them was only one link in a restless quest. At the age of twelve, news of the pending death of his grandmother from cancer made him feel rebellious and wish to take her place. He was an ardent person, enthusiastic in whatever he took up. He was the seventh child in a family of twelve children. A precocious religious vocation ended with departure from the junior seminary and, as he was always ardent in his views, total separation from religion. Marxism had its dramatic attraction until, in the middle of a demonstration, he realized in one stroke the futility of his course and how he was being politically manipulated. He was left with nothing to believe in until a chance encounter with the Emmaus movement and Abbé Pierre. Recovering religious commitment he also discovered love through relationship with a woman.
This new awareness could have led him to marriage, the value of which he never denied, but the challenge of love led him to understand that the love deep in his heart was from God and led him to the Church as the place where this love, his vocation, could express itself totally.
Christophe discovered Algeria and the Monastery of Our Lady of Atlas at the beginning of 1970, during his national service. For his National Service he had taken the option for serving the assistance scheme for Algeria, teaching students and helping with handicapped children. A priest friend brought him to Tibhirine on several occasions. The extreme poverty of the neighboring people made an indelible impression. He was sure he would return. In 1974, at the age of twenty-four, after tentative studies for a degree in law, his decision was made. He entered the Monastery of Tamié, Savoy. During his Novitiate, aspirations to radical poverty revived the attraction of Tibhirine, and it was there that he made his First Vows. But for a young Monk the facilities for formation were sparse indeed. The Community was small and elderly. Resources in personnel for teaching were better at Tamié, and the presence of contemporary young Monks provided a better challenge for formation. Christophe spent the next six years at Tamié studying and using his woodworking skills at manual labor. During this time his monastic experience was affirmed and deepened. Later, when he was called to assist the sister Abbey of Dombes in the capacity of Guestmaster, Br. Christophe was described as "a monk of thirty-eight years, happy in this altruistic life, collected, convivial, entirely turned to God."
In 1987, an encounter with Fr. Christian led him to return to Algeria. He brought with him a talent for animating people and bringing them together. In 1990, he introduced his Algerian friends to twenty-eight members of his family who attended his ordination to the Priesthood, and lasting friendships were made. His last visit home to Toussaure, Drôme, was in 1995, for the funeral of his father. To the suggestion of leaving Algeria, he replied: "Why should I have the choice to flee, while the Algerians do not? They are the victims, not us."
The Islamic - Christian interreligious dialogue entered more and more into his prayer, his writing, and his poetry. He felt that he was only beginning to understand:
Not having the linguistic and religious knowledge necessary to enter into dialogue with Islam, I feel called simply to listen. And it is God who is heard in his Word who is sent, who tells me to listen, to welcome all this strange, different reality. To the point of feeling myself responsible: may the Spirit lead it towards the full truth. And if we can make this journey together, so much the better! And making this journey we can speak and be silent.
The seven monks of the Our Lady of the Atlas were beatified with twelve other martyrs of Algeria on December 8, 2018.
Dom Christophe Lebreton OCSO., forty-five years old, was one of the Seven Trappist Monks who died by assassination at the hands of terrorists on May 21, 1996. Subprior and Novice Master, he entered the Abbey of Tamié in 1974, and left for Algeria in 1987.
The forced entry into the Monastery by the armed guerrilla band at Christmas 1993, was a turning point in his spiritual journey. Fr. Christophe wrote: "This Christmas was not like others. It was charged with significance. Like Mary we keep all these things that have happened. We continue to ask ourselves what has been initiated in our hearts. Like a sword the significance has pierced us."
Christophe is too easily and not very profoundly identified as a "student of '68." As a schoolboy of eighteen, he had his transistor going all day in May 1968, to reports of the student agitators demonstrating in Paris. His regret at not being able to join them was only one link in a restless quest. At the age of twelve, news of the pending death of his grandmother from cancer made him feel rebellious and wish to take her place. He was an ardent person, enthusiastic in whatever he took up. He was the seventh child in a family of twelve children. A precocious religious vocation ended with departure from the junior seminary and, as he was always ardent in his views, total separation from religion. Marxism had its dramatic attraction until, in the middle of a demonstration, he realized in one stroke the futility of his course and how he was being politically manipulated. He was left with nothing to believe in until a chance encounter with the Emmaus movement and Abbé Pierre. Recovering religious commitment he also discovered love through relationship with a woman.
This new awareness could have led him to marriage, the value of which he never denied, but the challenge of love led him to understand that the love deep in his heart was from God and led him to the Church as the place where this love, his vocation, could express itself totally.
Christophe discovered Algeria and the Monastery of Our Lady of Atlas at the beginning of 1970, during his national service. For his National Service he had taken the option for serving the assistance scheme for Algeria, teaching students and helping with handicapped children. A priest friend brought him to Tibhirine on several occasions. The extreme poverty of the neighboring people made an indelible impression. He was sure he would return. In 1974, at the age of twenty-four, after tentative studies for a degree in law, his decision was made. He entered the Monastery of Tamié, Savoy. During his Novitiate, aspirations to radical poverty revived the attraction of Tibhirine, and it was there that he made his First Vows. But for a young Monk the facilities for formation were sparse indeed. The Community was small and elderly. Resources in personnel for teaching were better at Tamié, and the presence of contemporary young Monks provided a better challenge for formation. Christophe spent the next six years at Tamié studying and using his woodworking skills at manual labor. During this time his monastic experience was affirmed and deepened. Later, when he was called to assist the sister Abbey of Dombes in the capacity of Guestmaster, Br. Christophe was described as "a monk of thirty-eight years, happy in this altruistic life, collected, convivial, entirely turned to God."
In 1987, an encounter with Fr. Christian led him to return to Algeria. He brought with him a talent for animating people and bringing them together. In 1990, he introduced his Algerian friends to twenty-eight members of his family who attended his ordination to the Priesthood, and lasting friendships were made. His last visit home to Toussaure, Drôme, was in 1995, for the funeral of his father. To the suggestion of leaving Algeria, he replied: "Why should I have the choice to flee, while the Algerians do not? They are the victims, not us."
The Islamic - Christian interreligious dialogue entered more and more into his prayer, his writing, and his poetry. He felt that he was only beginning to understand:
Not having the linguistic and religious knowledge necessary to enter into dialogue with Islam, I feel called simply to listen. And it is God who is heard in his Word who is sent, who tells me to listen, to welcome all this strange, different reality. To the point of feeling myself responsible: may the Spirit lead it towards the full truth. And if we can make this journey together, so much the better! And making this journey we can speak and be silent.
The seven monks of the Our Lady of the Atlas were beatified with twelve other martyrs of Algeria on December 8, 2018.
The forced entry into the Monastery by the armed guerrilla band at Christmas 1993, was a turning point in his spiritual journey. Fr. Christophe wrote: "This Christmas was not like others. It was charged with significance. Like Mary we keep all these things that have happened. We continue to ask ourselves what has been initiated in our hearts. Like a sword the significance has pierced us."
Christophe is too easily and not very profoundly identified as a "student of '68." As a schoolboy of eighteen, he had his transistor going all day in May 1968, to reports of the student agitators demonstrating in Paris. His regret at not being able to join them was only one link in a restless quest. At the age of twelve, news of the pending death of his grandmother from cancer made him feel rebellious and wish to take her place. He was an ardent person, enthusiastic in whatever he took up. He was the seventh child in a family of twelve children. A precocious religious vocation ended with departure from the junior seminary and, as he was always ardent in his views, total separation from religion. Marxism had its dramatic attraction until, in the middle of a demonstration, he realized in one stroke the futility of his course and how he was being politically manipulated. He was left with nothing to believe in until a chance encounter with the Emmaus movement and Abbé Pierre. Recovering religious commitment he also discovered love through relationship with a woman.
This new awareness could have led him to marriage, the value of which he never denied, but the challenge of love led him to understand that the love deep in his heart was from God and led him to the Church as the place where this love, his vocation, could express itself totally.
Christophe discovered Algeria and the Monastery of Our Lady of Atlas at the beginning of 1970, during his national service. For his National Service he had taken the option for serving the assistance scheme for Algeria, teaching students and helping with handicapped children. A priest friend brought him to Tibhirine on several occasions. The extreme poverty of the neighboring people made an indelible impression. He was sure he would return. In 1974, at the age of twenty-four, after tentative studies for a degree in law, his decision was made. He entered the Monastery of Tamié, Savoy. During his Novitiate, aspirations to radical poverty revived the attraction of Tibhirine, and it was there that he made his First Vows. But for a young Monk the facilities for formation were sparse indeed. The Community was small and elderly. Resources in personnel for teaching were better at Tamié, and the presence of contemporary young Monks provided a better challenge for formation. Christophe spent the next six years at Tamié studying and using his woodworking skills at manual labor. During this time his monastic experience was affirmed and deepened. Later, when he was called to assist the sister Abbey of Dombes in the capacity of Guestmaster, Br. Christophe was described as "a monk of thirty-eight years, happy in this altruistic life, collected, convivial, entirely turned to God."
In 1987, an encounter with Fr. Christian led him to return to Algeria. He brought with him a talent for animating people and bringing them together. In 1990, he introduced his Algerian friends to twenty-eight members of his family who attended his ordination to the Priesthood, and lasting friendships were made. His last visit home to Toussaure, Drôme, was in 1995, for the funeral of his father. To the suggestion of leaving Algeria, he replied: "Why should I have the choice to flee, while the Algerians do not? They are the victims, not us."
The Islamic - Christian interreligious dialogue entered more and more into his prayer, his writing, and his poetry. He felt that he was only beginning to understand:
Not having the linguistic and religious knowledge necessary to enter into dialogue with Islam, I feel called simply to listen. And it is God who is heard in his Word who is sent, who tells me to listen, to welcome all this strange, different reality. To the point of feeling myself responsible: may the Spirit lead it towards the full truth. And if we can make this journey together, so much the better! And making this journey we can speak and be silent.
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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