Community of Taizé

The Community of Taizé is an ecumenical Christian monastic community in Burgundy, France. Its beginnings go back to 1940, when Roger Schutz, later known as Brother Roger, settled in the village of Taizé during the Second World War and offered hospitality to people in need, including refugees. A small brotherhood developed around a shared life of prayer, simplicity, reconciliation, and service; in 1949 the first brothers made a lifelong commitment to common life.

As international gatherings of young adults grew after the 1960s, the community needed forms of worship that could unite people who spoke many languages. The brothers therefore developed a style of prayer built around Scripture, silence, intercession, and short repeated songs. Taizé’s official history of its music describes Jacques Berthier and Joseph Gelineau as composers who worked in collaboration with the brothers, especially as this repertoire expanded during the 1970s and 1980s.

The community’s songs have since circulated through Roman Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, Reformed, Methodist, and other hymnals and worship collections. Their characteristic brevity and repetition are intended to make common prayer possible across linguistic and denominational boundaries. In published sources for “Prepare the Way of the Lord,” the Taizé community is credited alongside Jacques Berthier for the 1984 tune, reflecting that collaborative method of composition and adaptation.