GRANDMOTHERS

The two options taken by that old woman have marked my whole life. My grandmother took risks for those who were being badly treated at that time. And … within herself she reconciled the current of faith of her Protestant background with the faith of the Catholic Church.

Brother Roger

The founder of the Taizé community, recalling how he was greatly influenced by his grandmother who, as a widow in France during the First World War, courageously welcomed refugees into her home. At the end of the war she was determined to do all she could to stop such horror re-occurring. Believing that reconciliation between Christians would help to create peace, she began by creating reconciliation within herself, and, though she came from old Protestant stock, she started going to the Catholic church.