Father Jean Pierre Schumacher one of two has died at the age of 97.Fr. Pierre is one of the two monks who survived the Tibhirine abbey massacre in Algeria in 1996.
Schumacher died in Morocco, where he had been living in a Trappist monastery in Midelt, on 21 November, the feast of Christ the King.
The late monk served as the night porter of the Tibhirine abbey on March 27, 1996 when members of the Armed Islamic Group kidnapped and later beheaded seven of his confreres.
The kidnappers, who entered the abbey through the basement, did not pass the front door where Schumacher was stationed that night. The only other survivor from the community, Father Amédée Noto, died in 2008.
The seven martyred monks from his community were beatified on Dec. 8, 2018, along with 12 other Christians killed during the Algerian civil war in the 1990s. Schumacher was present at their beatification at the Shrine of Our Lady of the Holy Cross in Oran.