Pierre Lucien Claverie
Pierre Claverie (8 May 1938, in Bab El Oued, Algiers, Algeria – 1 August 1996), was an assassinated French Catholic priest of the Dominican Order which was Roman Catholic bishop of Oran.
Biography
Pierre Claverie was born on 8 May 1938 in the popular area of Bab-el- Oued in Algiers, Algeria in a Blackfoot family present in this country for four generations. He grew up in a close family, but not necessarily devout Catholic, and he in his childhood liked Scouting.
After graduating, Claverie went to Grenoble for further studies and discovered that the French presence in Algeria is not unanimous and the world in which he grew up, what he called thereafter "colonial bubble" is not a perfect world.
He chose the religious life, and joined the Dominican Order, entering in the novitiate at the monastery of Lille in 1958 and educated at Saulchoir (Paris region) and this is where he attends the last years of the war in Algeria. Claverie was ordained Catholic priest in 1965.
Choosing Algeria to be a missionary
He chose to return to Algeria in 1967, but not by nostalgia to accompany this newly independent country seeking to build. Fascinated, he learned Arabic and became a connoisseur of Islam. He runs in Algiers in 1973, the Centre for Wisteria, an Arabic and Islamic studies institute originally designed for religious wanting to live in Algeria but attracts many Muslim Algerians eager to learn about their culture and especially of learn Arabic.
Man of dialogue, he participated in numerous meetings between Christians and Muslims, not without critics sometimes about interreligious dialogue that seems too often pay lip. Claverie became bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Oran on 21 May 1981 and was consecrated on 2 October 1981 by Cardinal Léon-Etienne Duval, succeeding Henri Antoine Marie Teissier, named in Algiers.
He had such a perfect knowledge of Islam that people of Oran called " the bishop of Muslims", a title that could only steal one who dreamed of building a real dialogue between people, whether Christian, Muslim or atheists, objectiving a "virtue" dialogue demanding truth.[1]
The Civil War
From 1992, when the Algerian Civil War broke out in Algeria, Algerian Catholic Church, composed largely of cooperators and foreign workers was threatened. In Europe, it is often advised him to leave the premises. Pierre Claverie firmly opposes: he has never been possible to obtain Algerian nationality, he considers himself an Algerian and refuses to abandon a people to whom his destiny is inextricably linked. Throughout the crisis, it also refuses to be silent, and did not hesitate to publicly criticize the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) or the Algerian government when it appeared necessary.
On 26 May 1996 is perpetrated the Assassination of the monks of Tibhirine. Pierre Claverie knew he was also threatened. On 1 August 1996, he was assassinated and his driver Mohamed Bouchikhi, a young Algerian Muslim of 21 years old: a bomb destroyed the entrance to the diocese when they get inside, shortly before midnight. Seven people were sentenced to death on 23 March 1998 for involvement in the attack. The Church of Algeria requested that the sentence be commuted to imprisonment.
In 2008 the paper La Stampa says the death of Bishop Claverie was an extension of the case of the monks of Tibhirine, since it would have been aware of their murder by a helicopter of the Algerian government. According to Priest Armand Veilleux, former Attorney General of the Trappists, he knew too much, or most of the witnesses were French.[2][3]
A case for his beatification was opened in 2007 for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Algiers, because the Roman Catholic Diocese of Oran that not having enough priests to the witnesses and the preparation of the dossier.
Pierre & Mohamed
Pierre & Mohamed is a play written by the Dominican Adrien Candiard from texts by Pierre Claverie, and staged by Francesco Agnello for Festival d'Avignon in 2011. He wanted to pay a tribute to the message of friendship and respect rooted in the will of Interfaith dialogue made by Pierre Claverie. The author has taken the sermons of Bishop for the cross with it ready to Mohamed feelings. In this room is a Mediation more than a show, the actor Jean-Baptiste Germain interprets the two characters: Peter Bishop and Mohammed, his driver. Peter's words and Mohamed are supported by the musician Francesco Agnello with Pierre & Mohamedtour.[4]
The commitment of Pierre Claverie for interreligious dialogue can be illustrated by this short excerpt from that piece: Religion can be the worst place of fanaticism, for men dress their thirst for the divine omnipotence or, more simply, their stupidity. All religions are constantly exposed to become instruments of oppression and alienation. Do not let the spirit stifled by the letter. We can fight against these denaturation of faith, ours like the others, maintaining the dialogue despite the tub surface and apparent cures. The dialogue is a work constantly to resume: alone allows us to disarm fanaticism, in ourselves and in each other.[5]
See also
Assassination of the monks of Tibhirine
Publications
- Letters and messages from Algeria, ed. Karthala, coll. "Christians in freedom," Paris, 1996, 280 p.
- Give her life. Six day retreat on the Eucharist, ed. Éditions du Cerf, Paris, 2003, 120 p.
- It is still possible to be happy. Family Letters 1967-1969, edition presented and annotated by Eric Gustavson, his brother, with the assistance of Sister Anne Catherine Meyer, OP, preface by Jean- Jacques Pérennès, OP, Éditions du Cerf, Paris, 2003, 688 p.
- Petit addressed the meeting and dialogue, Éditions du Cerf, Paris, 2004, 176 p.
- I didn't know my name. Memoirs of an anonymous religious presentation by Sister Anne Catherine Meyer, OP, Éditions du Cerf, Paris, 2006, 192 p.
- This contradiction continually lived. Family Letters 1969-1975, edition presented and annotated by Eric Gustavson, with the assistance of Sister Anne Catherine Meyer, OP, preface by Jean- Jacques Pérennès, OP, Éditions du Cerf, Paris, 2007, 800 p.
- Plural Humanity", presentation by Sister Anne Catherine Meyer, OP, Éditions du Cerf, Paris, 2008, 336 p.
- Mary, alive. Seven days in retirement Marie, presentation by Sister Anne Catherine Meyer, OP, Éditions du Cerf, Paris, 2008, 320 p.
- Small introduction to Islam, Éditions du Cerf, 2010, 112 p.
- What a joy to be a believer! Religious life on Algerian soil, presentation by Sister Anne Catherine Meyer, OP, Éditions du Cerf, Paris, 2012, 304 p.
- Where are asking the right questions. Family Letters 1975-1981, edition presented and annotated by Eric Gustavson with the assistance of Sister Anne Catherine Meyer, OP, preface by Jean- Jacques Pérennès, op, Éditions du Cerf, Paris, 2012, 784 p.
Bibliography
Jean-Jacques Pérennès, OP, Pierre Claverie. Un Algérien par alliance, préface de Timothy Radcliffe, éd. Cerf, coll. « L'Histoire à vif », Paris, 2000, 400 p. Jean Jacques Perennes, 2007. A life poured out: Pierre Claverie of Algeria. Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books.