Christian de Cherge, OCSO

In his Cross-Shattered Christ, Stanley Hauerwas refers in both Chapters 1 and 2 to Christian de Cherge. Very briefly, here's why:

On May 24, 1996, a group of Islamic terrorists announced that they had "slit the throats" of seven French Trappist monks whom they had kidnapped from the monastery of Tibherine in Algeria and held as hostages for two months. Prior to the kidnapping, the superior of the monastery, Father Christian de Cherge, had left with his family this testament "to be opened in the event of my death."

Like Jesus' last words on the cross, Father Christian de Cherge's "last words," tell us how he and his companions went to their crosses; his Last Testament is worth reading slowly, worth serious reflection, especially during Lent.