One of the great privileges of doing my job is the opportunity to encounter those people in the world who come to being living saints. Brother Roger was one such. Two more were Mother Teresa and the late Pope.

But where Brother Roger was unique among the world’s great spiritual leaders was his absolute abnegation of any attempt to venerate him as such.

During a rare interview when he was 85, he told me that as a young man he had actually burned the only autobiography he had written.

In an era seemingly characterised by religious strife, the Taizé community is the one place where spiritual barriers simply collapse in the face of the simple but effective rounds of worship, music and community life.

Given all the current controversies surrounding so many religious leaders, Brother Roger was the last for whom any would have predicted a violent death. His rule, if he had one, was: "Love, and express that with your life."

Brother Roger founded Taizé, near Cluny, in 1940 as a refuge to those fleeing the war, irrespective of their religion. Protestant and with a degree in theology, his aim was to build bridges and cross them. Word of his community spread by mouth.

None quite understand how or why, but within a few years, hundreds were turning up and after a few decades, the numbers had grown to tens of thousands. While all are made welcome, youth are particularly encouraged.

Music and song are the keys to understanding the Taizé phenomenon. A classically-trained musician, Brother Roger introduced the form of meditative chant that came to characterise Taizé and which has been taken up by churches worldwide.

Many churches today hold regular Taizé services using the community’s music, for which Brother Roger never took any personal credit, but which has always born his indelible numinous imprint.

Few are aware of the extent to which the soft, rhythmic harmonic chants of Taizé influenced the development of the new age and ambient genres that have moved into the secular mainstream.

At the community, song practice is one of the main communal activities. Songs are sung in a dozen or more languages, often simultaneously. Chants such as "Gloria... et in terra pax", "Laudate Dominum" and "Ubi caritas Deus ibi est" have become Christian classics.

The Taizé songbook states: "Song is one of the most essential elements of worship. Short chants, repeated again and again, give it a meditative character. Using just a few words, they express a basic reality of faith, quickly grasped by the mind."

Christians worldwide will be praying that Brother Roger’s death will not silence his song of reconciliation, beauty and peace.

Explore World News

• World Agenda

• Iraq News

• US & Americas News

• Europe News

• Middle East News

• Asia News

• Africa News

• Ireland News

Times Recommends

• Rio Tinto four held as China prepares case
• Diplomats must keep heads down and trousers up
• When in Rome should one make like Berlusconi?