Life Here Together

Be inspired by the legacy and prophetic witness of the Tibhirine monks.

The story of the seven Tibhirine monks, kidnapped and murdered in 1996 during Algeria’s “black decade,” is compelling. But it is their way of living, peacefully alongside their Muslim neighbors, that challenges all people of faith, calling us to self-giving and a way of life that offers radical hope to a world in peril. Life Here Together speaks to the prophetic witness of the Tibhirine monks and what it meant to be deeply committed—to each other, to their place, to their monastic tradition, and ultimately to the Christ they followed faithfully.

In March 1996, during Algeria’s brutal civil war, seven French Cistercian monks were kidnapped from their monastery in the small village of Tibhirine and subsequently murdered. The monks’ decision to stay in a situation of increasing violence arose from their deep understanding of their monastic vocation and their commitment to their Muslim neighbors—from living the two great commandments, love of God and love of neighbor. Beatified on December 8, 2018, their story of hope and courage is of enduring significance. In an increasingly fragile and dangerous world, the monks’ lives and writings offer a prophetic gift to living the Gospel amid difference, and in situations of violence and fracture.

Jane Foulcher lives in rural New South Wales, in southeast Australia. She is an Anglican priest and an adjunct senior lecturer in the School of Theology, Charles Sturt University. She is the author of Reclaiming Humility: Four Studies in the Monastic Tradition (Cistercian Publications, 2015).