Taizé Community
1940 - Present
Ecumenical Christian Community
Biography
The Taizé Community is an ecumenical Christian monastic community founded in 1940 by Roger Schutz-Marsauche, later known as Brother Roger, in the village of Taizé in Burgundy, France. During the Second World War, Brother Roger initially used his home there to shelter refugees. After a period in Switzerland, he returned with other brothers in 1944, and in 1949 the first seven brothers made a lifelong commitment to celibacy, common life, and simplicity.
From its beginnings, the community developed a vocation centered on prayer, reconciliation, and Christian unity. Its brotherhood eventually included Catholics as well as Christians from several Protestant traditions, and its international meetings drew large numbers of young people. To make common prayer possible across languages, Taizé developed a distinctive repertoire of short scriptural and devotional songs designed for repeated singing, often with multilingual texts, descants, and periods of silence.
“Eat This Bread” emerged from that setting in 1983 through collaboration among Brother Robert of Taizé, Robert J. Batastini of GIA Publications, and Jacques Berthier. The community is therefore properly credited as part of the song’s textual and liturgical formation rather than as a single individual author.
From its beginnings, the community developed a vocation centered on prayer, reconciliation, and Christian unity. Its brotherhood eventually included Catholics as well as Christians from several Protestant traditions, and its international meetings drew large numbers of young people. To make common prayer possible across languages, Taizé developed a distinctive repertoire of short scriptural and devotional songs designed for repeated singing, often with multilingual texts, descants, and periods of silence.
“Eat This Bread” emerged from that setting in 1983 through collaboration among Brother Robert of Taizé, Robert J. Batastini of GIA Publications, and Jacques Berthier. The community is therefore properly credited as part of the song’s textual and liturgical formation rather than as a single individual author.
Hymns by Taizé Community
Eat This Bread
Role: Lyricist