Pierre Claverie

Pierre Lucien Claverie, O.P. (Algiers, May 8, 1938 - Oran, August 1, 1996), was a French Catholic priest. A member of the Dominican order, he was the bishop of Oran from 1981 until his murder in 1996.

Biography

Pierre Claverie was born a French citizen in May 8, 1938 in a working class part of Algiers called Bab-el-Oued. His family had been in Algeria for four generations. He grew up in a nurturing family, Catholic but not particularly pious. At the age of 11 he joined a group of boy scouts under the guidance of the Dominicans.

After passing the bachelor degree, Claverie went to Grenoble, France, to pursue his college education. There he was confronted with protests against the French presence in Algeria. He then realized the limitations of the French world in which he grew up, which he later called "the colonial bubble".

He joined the religious order of the Dominicans, and started his noviciate at the monastery of Lille in 1958. He went on to pursue his studies at Le Saulchoir, a Dominican institute near Paris. Meanwhile the war of independence, which started in Algeria in 1954, came to an end in 1962. Claverie was ordained a priest in 1965.

Choosing Algeria

Claverie chose to return to Algeria in 1967, not out of nostalgia, but to participate in the rebuilding of the newly independent country. Galvanized by this idea, he learned Arabic and became an authority on Islam. From 1973 to 1981 in Algiers, he ran the Centre des Glycines, an institute for the study of Arabic and Islam, originally designed for those religious planning to serve in Algeria. However, after Algeria became independent, many Muslims came to the center. They were eager to know their culture better and especially intent on learning Arabic since the language of colonization had been French.

Claverie was a man of dialogue, and he participated in numerous meetings between Christians and Muslims, but he was at times critical of formal inter-religious conferences, which he felt remained too much on the surface of things. He was appointed bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Oran on May 21, 1981 and was consecrated in October of the same year by Cardinal Léon-Etienne Duval, taking over from Henri Antoine Marie Teissier, who was named archbishop of Algiers.

He had such an excellent knowledge of Islam that people of Oran called him "the bishop of the Muslims", a title that must have pleased him, since dreamed of establishing true dialogue among all believers, whether they were Muslims, Christians or of other faiths.

The Civil War

From 1992 onward, after the Algerian Civil War broke out, the small Catholic Church, which served mainly foreign workers was threatened. Many in Europe advised the Church people to leave the country. Claverie was firmly opposed to doing so: even if he was never able to obtain Algerian citizenship, he considered himself Algerian and refused to leave a people to whom his destiny was inextricably linked. During the crisis, he also refused to keep quiet. When he deemed it necessary, he did not hesitate to publicly criticize the two main opposing forces, the integrist Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) and the Algerian government.

After the murder of the monks of Tibhirine, at May 26, 1996, Claverie knew that he was also in danger. On August 1, 1996, he was assassinated along with his young driver and friend, Mohamed Bouchikhi, by the explosion of a bomb, that destroyed the entrance to the bishopric as they were entering the building shortly before midnight. Claverie was coming back from a trip to Algiers where he had met with the French Minister of Foreign affairs to talk about the security of the French residents of Algeria. Seven people were convicted of the killings and sentenced to death on March 23, 1998 for their involvement in the attack. The Catholic Church of Algeria petitioned successfully to have the death penalty commuted.

A process of beatification for Claverie and the 18 religious who lost their lives during the crisis of the 1990s in Algeria is under way.

Pierre & Mohamed

Pierre & Mohamed is a play by the Dominican Adrien Candiard. It is based on texts by Pierre Claverie, and was produced by Francesco Agnello for the Festival d'Avignon in 2011. It continues to be shown around France and in French-speaking countries and presents a message of friendship and respect through inter-religious dialogue as it was expressed by Pierre Claverie. The author blended the bishop's writings with what he learned about Mohamed. In this play, which is more a meditation than a drama, the actor Jean-Baptiste Germain plays the roles of both men. The show is enhanced by the music of Francisco Agnello on the hang. Pierre Claverie's dedication to his cause is apparent in this short excerpt from the play:

"Religion can trigger the worst forms of fanaticism, because people use the divine as a cloak for their thirst for power or for their lack of knowledge. All religions are constantly in danger of becoming instruments of oppression and alienation. Let us not allow the spirit of the law to be stifled by the letter of the law. We can fight against these distortions of faith, ours and the faith of others, by maintaining dialogue in spite of external upheavals and apparent resistance. Dialogue needs to be ceaselessly rekindled. It is the only way to disarm fanaticism in ourselves as well as in others."

Writings

Texts and messages by Pierre Claverie

• Le Livre de la Foi, by Pierre Claverie et les Evêques du Maghreb, Editions du Cerf, Paris 1996,157 p.
• Lettres et messages d'Algérie, Editions Karthala,Paris 1996 222p.
• Donner sa vie: Six jours de retraite sur l'Eucharistie, Éditions du Cerf, Paris, 2003, 120 p.
• Ii est tout de même permis d'être heureux: Lettres familiales 1967-1969, edition presented and annotated by Eric Gustavson, Pierre Claverie's brother-in-law, with the assistance of Sister Anne Catherine Meyer, OP, preface by Jean- Jacques Pérennès, OP, Éditions du Cerf, Paris, 2003, 688 p.
• Petit traité de la rencontre et du dialogue, Éditions du Cerf, Paris, 2004, 176 p.
• Je ne savais pas mon nom...Mémoires d'une religieuse anonyme: presentation by Sister Anne Catherine Meyer, OP, Éditions du Cerf, Paris, 2006, 192 p.
• Cette contradiction continuellement vécue: Lettres familiales 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.
• Humanité Plurielle, Éditions du Cerf, Paris, 2008, 336 p. [1]
• Marie la Vivante: Sept jours de retraite avec Marie, presentation by Sister Anne Catherine Meyer, OP, Éditions du Cerf, Paris, 2008, 320 p.
• Petite introduction à l' Islam, presentation by Sister Anne Catherine Meyer, OP, Éditions du Cerf, 2010, 112 p.
• Quel bonheur d'être croyant! Vie religieuse en terre algérienne, presentation by Sister Anne Catherine Meyer, OP, Éditions du Cerf, Paris, 2012, 304 p.
• Là où se posent les vraies questions: Lettres familiales 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.
• Prier 15 jours avec Pierre Claverie Evêque d'Oran martyr, Editions Nouvelle Cité, France, 2011, 127 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. This book was translated into English with the following title: A life poured out: Pierre Claverie of Algeria preface by Timothy Radcliffe, OP, Maryknoll, N.Y., Orbis Books, 2007, 286p.