Monsignor Henri Teissier, former Bishop of Oran and then of Algiers, died on December 1st, the feast day of Blessed Charles de Foucauld. Father Teissier, both French and Algerian, was a man of encounter and dialogue between cultures. I had the joy of knowing him and conversing with him.
He simply signed as he lived, himself, as a man, as he was: "Friendships. Henri Teissier". A friendship of the field, very perceptible when he drove his car, one hand on the steering wheel, the other hand accompanying his speech and his consideration on the lookout, turned towards places and faces whose memory he faithfully kept. Added to this was his determination, the courage of a man of faith and cultured. Inexhaustibly passionate about Emir Abdelkader, he saw in this prophet of the mid-19th century, a pioneer of the Islamic-Christian dialogue who already announced the urgency of living as brothers, in Algeria.
Henri Teissier was of the opinion that the Kingdom of God is built there "where one works for humanity". From this, he lived as a tireless seeker of humanity, in all times, especially during the dark years of Algeria in the midst of terrorism, a disarming fraternity that does not yield to what is not negotiable: respect for human life and the given word, confrontation without violence.
He took Anne and me, like many others, to Tibherine, after the monks were murdered. I can still see him sitting next to the gardener, together witnessing a presence that never fades. Such a presence of a Church for brothers, whoever they may be, is palpable in Of Gods and Men. In the film, the metaphor of the tree and the branches on which the birds come to rest is evoked. A monk says to an Algerian neighbor: "We are the birds and you are the branch." She replies: "The birds are us, you are the branch. If you leave, on whom could we rest?" This beautiful mutual hospitality remains alive today, between natives and missionaries who have married this land forever.
Father Teissier will be buried on Wednesday in the Basilica of Our Lady of Africa in Algiers. During the funeral homily last Saturday in Lyon, Father Christian Delorme addressed his friend as follows:
With your body, it is all our love for the Algerian people that leaves with you.
A word of life in Algeria.
Roots and wings for a fraternal history written in the light of the Gospel, from the 2nd century, and exalted later by St Augustine (354-430):
Brotherly love comes from God, it is God himself.
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