May 31, 2016 marks a grim anniversary in the history of the Cistercian Order. It’s been twenty years since the assassination of seven Trappist monks of Notre Dame de Atlas Abbey in Tibhirine, Algeria. The monks, who had been kidnapped by insurgents two months earlier, were probably killed on May 21; their remains were recovered ten days later — on May 31. The circumstances surrounding their death — and who was responsible — remains clouded in mystery.
The Martyrs of Atlas, as they have come to be known, were the subjects of a critically acclaimed 2010 French movie, Des Hommes et Des Dieux (Of Gods and Men). The movie looks at the lives of the monks over about a thirty month period leading up to their kidnapping on March 26-27, 1996. During the tumult of the Algerian civil war, foreigners increasingly became targets of the various insurgent groups. The monks of Tibhirine, all French nationals. recognized their vulnerability not only as Europeans but also as Catholics. Military and government officials began to pressure the monks to leave the country, for their own safety.
But the monks felt matters were not so simple. They provided free medical care to the villagers of Tibhirine, and participated in the local economy; for them to leave, abandoning the village which was itself vulnerable to the violence of the war, struck the monks as a poor witness to their vocation not only as monks but as Christians. Choosing the demand of faith over the impulse to self-protect, the brothers unanimously chose to remain in Algeria, even though this led, ultimate, to six of the eight monks (along with a seventh brother visiting from a Moroccan monastery) being kidnapped and then killed.
James Martin, SJ, lavished praise on Of Gods and Men. “I’ve never seen a film on an overtly religious topic that has affected me so much. I don’t think I’ve ever seen one that was so honest about the life of faith… for a movie to convince people of the value and beauty, in a sense, of martyrdom in a contemporary world is close to miraculous.” But what makes the story so compelling is how the monks understood martyrdom — they were martyrs not in how they died (which was motivated by politics, not religion) but in how they lived.
I encourage you to learn more about the Tibhirine monks, their story of compassion and fidelity, and their witness that in a world torn by political and sectarian violence, love is always filled with hope.
- Of Gods and Men is available on blu-ray and DVD. It’s a movie that I get something out of everytime I watch it, so it is certainly worth owning.
- John Kiser’s The Monks of Tibhirine is the book on which Of Gods and Men is based. Basically a journalist’s account of what happened, it’s a good overview of both the political background and the circumstances leading up the monks’ deaths.
- How Far to Follow: The Martyrs of Atlas by Bernardo Olivera, functions as a kind of companion volume to Kiser’s book, recounting the story of the kidnapping and its aftermath, relying heavily on the testimony of the surviving monks as well as Dom Bernardo’s own experience (Bernardo was one of two Trappists who were called on to identify the remains of the monks). This book includes a complete English translation of Dom Christian’s “Testament” written in 1993/4, in which Christian expresses his spirituality of love and compassion.
- Christian de Chergé: A Theology of Hope by Christian Salenson, provides an in-depth look at the life and thought of the prior of Atlas Monastery, focussing on his commitment to postive dialogue between Christians and Muslims.
- Born from the Gaze of God: The Tibhirine Journal of a Martyr Monk by Christophe Lebreton, offers an intimate look at the life of a Tibhirine monk though his journals. Covering the last three years of Br. Christophe’s life, his journal is marked by sincerity and whimsy as he struggled to give himself fully to God in the midst of extremely difficult circumstances.