19 martyrs of Algeria explained

Blessed
19 martyrs of Algeria
Birth Date:Various
Birth Place:Various places
Death Date:1994 to 1996
Death Place:Various places (all in Algeria)
Titles:Priests; Bishop; Religious; Martyrs
Venerated In:Catholic Church
Feast Day:8 May
Beatified Date:8 December 2018
Beatified Place:Notre-Dame de Santa Cruz, Oran, Algeria
Beatified By:Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu

The 19 martyrs of Algeria were a group of nineteen individuals slain in Algeria between 1994 and 1996 during the Algerian Civil War. They all were priests or professed religious belonging to religious congregations, including seven Trappist Cistercian monks; one was a bishop. Their nations of origin were France (15), French protectorate of Tunisia (1), Spain (2), and Belgium (1).[1]

Their collective cause for beatification opened on 31 March 2007 titling them all as Servants of God. Pope Francis confirmed their beatification in 2018 and the group was beatified in Oran on 8 December 2018.

Tibhirine monks and Claverie

See main article: Murder of the monks of Tibhirine and Pierre Claverie. The Martyrs of Algeria refers to nineteen individuals slain during the course of the Algerian Civil War from 1994 until the death of the Bishop of Oran, Pierre Claverie in 1996. The death of the Trappist monks from the Atlas monastery remain controversial since there are reports that the regular armed forces or the Armed Islamic Group carried out the killings with the latter having owned up to the executions themselves.[2]

The seven Trappist monks from their Atlas monastery were kidnapped at around 1:15am on 27 March 1996 after 20 armed men stormed the place and took the monks prisoner leaving two other, overlooked monks in separate rooms. The telephone lines had been cut meaning a call to police was impossible for the two hidden monks while an enforced curfew meant the two could not drive to the nearest police station.[3] The seven monks were all beheaded two months later and were discovered though the bodies were not. The funeral for the monks was celebrated at Notre-Dame d'Afrique in Algiers on 2 June and their remains were interred at the Tibhirine convent on 4 June.

Beatified

The nineteen individuals beatified were:

Commemorations

On 30 May 2016, the Mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, unveiled a plaque to commemorate the seven Tibhirine monks at a ceremony naming a garden in the square Saint Ambrose in the 6th arrondissement in their honor as Square des Moines Tibhirine.[11] [12] [13]

Beatification

The first step towards the beatification came on 5 July 2006 when it was decided that the diocesan process of investigation would take place not in Oran but in the capital Algiers. The official beginning of the cause came following this under Pope Benedict XVI on 31 March 2007 after the Congregation for the Causes of Saints titled them all as Servants of God and issued the "nihil obstat" to initiate the proceedings. The diocesan process was opened on 5 October 2007 under Henri Teissier and was closed on 9 July 2012 under Ghaleb Moussa Abdalla Bader. The C.C.S. validated this process on 15 February 2013 and received the Positio dossier for assessment in 2016.[14]

On 1 September 2017 the Archbishop of Algiers Paul Jacques Marie Desfarges and the Bishop of Oran Jean-Paul Vesco met with Pope Francis in a private audience to discuss the cause since theologians had approved the cause at that stage. This meant the C.C.S. needed to approve it before it would be taken to Francis for papal approval. The pope encouraged the bishops and encouraged the cause to proceed.[15] Francis approved the cause on 26 January 2018.[16] The Algerian government granted permission in April 2018 for the beatification to be celebrated on national soil after consultation with ecclesial authorities.[17] The beatification was celebrated in Oran on 8 December 2018 with Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu presiding on the pope's behalf.

The postulator for this cause since 11 October 2013 was the Trappist priest Thomas Georgeon.[9]

In popular culture

The 2010 French film drama Of Gods and Men depicts the lives of the seven Trappist monks until their kidnapping.

For further reading

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: The Blood of Love, the Martyrs of Algeria 1994-1996. Africa Mission. 9 November 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20171116152840/http://www.africamission-mafr.org/sang_martyrgb.htm. 16 November 2017. dead.
  2. Web site: TIME magazine. 16 July 2009. 9 November 2017. Could Seven Dead Monks Upset President Nicolas Sarkozy's Bold Plans to Remake France's Legal System?. Bruce Crumley.
  3. Web site: The Trappist Martyrs of Algiers. October 2011. Jeanne Kun. 9 November 2017. Living Bulwark.
  4. https://www.augustinian.org/news/augustinian-sisters-proclaimed-blessed "Augustinian Sisters Proclaimed 'Blessed'", The Augustinians, St. Thomas of Villanova Province
  5. https://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saint/13257/Bienheureuse-Odette-Pr%C3%A9vost.html "Bienheureuse Odette Prévost", Nominis
  6. Web site: The Seven Brothers of Tibhirine. Trappists. Jean-Pierre Schumacher. 9 November 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20171109024132/http://www.trappists.org/becoming-trappist/modern-saints/seven-brothers-tibhirine. 9 November 2017. dead.
  7. http://www.santiebeati.it/dettaglio/95846 Flocchini, Emilia. "7 Trappist Martyrs of Tibhirine", Santi e Beati, December 15, 2018
  8. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/62787945/christophe-lebreton "Blessed Christophe Lebreton", Find a Grave
  9. https://communio.stblogs.org/index.php/2013/12/sainthood-cause-of-the-martyrs-of-algeria-opened/ "Sainthood Cause of the Martyrs of Algeria, opened", Communio, 3 December 2013
  10. https://dacb.org/stories/algeria/claverie-pierre/ Shorter, Aylward. "Claverie, Pierre", Dictionary of African Christian Biography, 2003
  11. News: Un square en souvenir des moines de Tibhirine . fr . Le Parisien . 16 April 2018 . 29 May 2016 .
  12. News: Giorgio . Bernadelli. 15 May 2016. Vatican Insider. 9 November 2017. Square near Bataclan to be named after Tibhirine monks.
  13. News: 16 April 2018 . À Paris, un jardin porte le nom des moines de Tibhirine . La Croix . fr . 30 May 2016. Isabelle . Demangeat.
  14. Web site: One step closer to beatification for the martyrs of Algeria. 30 March 2016. La Croix. 9 November 2017. Claire Lesegretain.
  15. Web site: La Croix. 4 September 2017. Nicholas Senèze. Will bishop 'martyr' from Algeria be beatified?. 9 November 2017.
  16. 16 April 2018 . Holy See Press Office . 27 January 2018 . Promulgation of Decrees of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, 27.01.2018.
  17. News: Algerian martyrs to be beatified in Oran this year . Catholic News Agency . 16 April 2018 . 11 April 2018 .