Algeria prepares for
beatification of 19 martyrs
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| The 7 Trappist monk who were martyred at Tabhirine monastery in Algeria. |
Seven of the nineteen martyrs rose to international fame
following the film Of Gods and Men. But on December 8th, all of the 19 men and
women martyred by Islamic terrorists in Algeria between 1994 and 1996 will be
beatified in Oran, Algeria.
By Joachim Teigen
The cause for their beatification opened in 2007, thus
titling Pierre Claverie and Companions as Servants of God. Earlier this year
Pope Francis confirmed their beatification.
On December 8th the ceremony of
beatification will take place in the cathedral of the Diocese of Oran, of which
the martyred Pierre Claverie was bishop. Cardinal Angelo Becciu, Prefect of the
Congregation for the Causes of Saints, will preside the beatification Mass as
well as represent the Holy Father on the occasion.
Algeria’s “dark decade”
Between 1991 and 2002, Algeria was thrust into a civil war
between the Algerian government and Islamic rebel groups. During the years in
which the brutality of the rebels reached new heights, 19 men and women had to
pay the ultimate price for their Christian faith and unwillingness to leave
their land.
Among these was bishop Pierre Claverie of Oran, who was the
last of the martyrs to be killed in a bombing outside the bishopric in 1996,
alongside his Muslim friend and driver. The martyrdom of the monks of Tibhirine
in 1996 inspired the award-winning film Of Gods and Men. The French
Trappist monks lived a quiet life of coexistence and friendship with their
Muslim neighbours. Refusing to leave their country and the people of Algeria,
they were kidnapped and subsequently decapitated.
“Their message was love”
In their press release of October 2018, the bishops of
Algeria make it clear that the purpose of the beatification is not to make of
these men and women heroes. Rather it is to show that through these ordinary
men and women we see how even in the darkest of times there are glimpses of
hope. And their unconditional love of God, their country and their people shows
us how “only love can end the alienating spiral of evil”.
The bishops quoted Dr. Issam Toualbi, a Muslim and the
Director of the UNESCO Chair Emir Abdelkader for Human Rights and Culture of
Peace, who said to them: “May this beatification be a precursor to the building
of a better future between the two banks of the Mediterranean; a future built
on respect, understanding and sharing.”
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