CHAPTER 3: EUCHARIST IN ECUMENICAL MONASTERIES 117 contemplate the essence and shape of the community that he envisioned by visiting various Catholic (Trappists of Tamié, France), Orthodox (at Mount Athos, Greece), and Reformed (Taizé, France) monasteries and communities. Bianchi wished to implement the results of the Second Vatican Council, especially its reforms of the liturgy and monasticism, and its ecumenical commitment. Significantly, he chose the closing day of the Council as the founding date of his community, even though he spent the first years in solitude. These years were filled with challenges. Not only were the living conditions harsh – Brother Guido Dotti notes that there was no proper housing, no electricity, and that food was scarce in the early years of the community278 – but Brother Enzo also endured the disapproval of the local bishop of Biella. This bishop, Msgr. Carlo Rossi, prohibited celebration of the sacraments and public liturgy in 1967 mainly because of the many Protestants among Brother Enzo’s guests. Turin’s archbishop, Cardinal. Michele Pellegrino, lifted the interdict in June 1968 and offered to act as guarantor for the emerging community.279 Only in 1988 did the new bishop of Biella, Msgr. Massimo Giustetti, eventually accept the community again in his diocese. He even urged that canonical recognition was necessary. He approved the status of the community as a private association of the faithful in 2001 as mentioned earlier. In 2017, Brother Enzo stepped down as prior of the community. His resignation had been prepared for several years and the community elected Brother Luciano Manicardi as its new prior. This major transition for the community was accompanied by several befriended experts and leaders of other monasteries. The community now reports that during this “fraternal visit, (…) [s]ome critical points emerged, but these did not impede the unfolding of events that culminated with the resignation of br Enzo.”280 In December 2019 and January 2020, however, the Vatican initiated an intervention of a different category. Having received indications of internal problems and struggles, pontifical delegate Fr. Amadeo Cencini visited and investigated the community. In a letter on their website, the community explains: The apostolic visit was initiated by the Holy See because of various reports about profound suffering in the fraternal life in Bose and after 278 Guido Dotti, “Bose, an Ecumenical Monastery,” One in Christ 43, no. 1 (2009): 12. 279 Pecklers, “Worship at the Ecumenical Monastery of Bose,” 208. 280 Monastero di Bose, “We Are Not Better,” Bose website, June 19, 2020, https://www.monasterodibose.it/en/community/news/community-life/13952-we-are-notbetter.
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