Freddy Derwahl is a German journalist and author. He studied at Louvain, Aachen, and Paris and is the author of many books. This is his first to be translated into English.
In 2011, Belgian journalist Freddy Derwahl visited the Monastery of
Our Lady of Atlas, located in Midelt, Morocco. His purpose was to
get a firsthand account from Brother Jean-Pierre Schumacher of a
night fifteen years earlier at the Monastery of Tibhirine in
Algeria. During Algeria's civil war, danger from terrorists
escalated daily. Although the monastery had already been attacked
once, the monks remained; they did not want to sever their good
relationship with the Muslim people of the community.On the evening
of March 26, 1996, terrorists entered the monastery. Having been
instructed to capture "the seven," the intruders were unaware that
there were actually nine brothers in the monastery. That is how
Brother Jean-Pierre and another man escaped capture. After being
help for nearly two months, the seven monks were murdered.As a
young man, Derwahl had been a postulant at Tibhirine and had known
the victims. When he visited the monastery in Morocco in 2011 and
renewed his friendship with Schumacher, the latter was eighty-seven
years old and the only living survivor of the 1996 attack.Derwahl's
account combines past and present events and can seem disjointed at
times, but this is an inspiring story. The Last Monk of
Tibhirine includes beautiful photographs by Bruno
Zanzoterra.Beverly M. Bixler, Congregational Libraries Today
2014
What strikes one first and foremost when beginning this book is the
photographs by Bruno Zanzoterra. Those of Fr. Jean-Pierre, the last
survivor of the monastic community of Tibhirine, are endearing and
poignant; those of the monasteries, both in Morocco and Algeria,
are stunning, especially the Atlas mountains surrounding Tibhirine.
One keeps returning to these photographs to check out things in the
written text.The latter is presented in a very interesting way.
First is the narrative of Jean-Pierre's life from childhood and his
experience of the monastic life, lived especially at Tibhirine and,
most important, the time of crisis in Algeria as told by
Jean-Pierre to the author. After each chapter of narrative there is
what the author calls the "Book of Hours- Our Lady of Atlas." Here
Freddy Derwahl relates what is happening during the days of his
visit to the monastery in Midelt where Jean-Pierre now resides.
According to the text, the author was there from July 19, 2011 to
August 2, 2011, and it was during this time that he grew to know
Jean-Pierre in a deeper way. Some of the salient points of the
narrative are the description of Jean-Pierre's friendship with Br.
Luc, whom everyone at Tibhirine sought out for medical assistance.
Some of the letters of Br. Luc are quoted and are very touching. Of
course Jean-Pierre's experience of the abduction and the fact that
he and Br. Amadeé were forgotten is described. And also the
reaction of Jean-Pierre to the movie "Of Gods and Men" is extremely
interesting. ...this reviewer would recommend reading the text
if only for the touching and endearing details that have not yet to
her knowledge appeared in print.Cistercian Studies Quarterly,
Volume 49.2, 2014
 |
Ask a Question About this Product More... |
|
