L’abate Costantino Bosschaerts e l’ecumenismo profetico di Vita et Pax

Abstract

The figure of Abbot Bosschaerts must be understood in the religious climate of Europe between the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, when the ecumenical movement took shape and radiated its charm in the circles of the more progressive Catholics. These were the years in which the ecumenical wind was blowing along the axis of Great Britain, the Netherlands and the Franco-German area. As for the Catholic Church, although it had always had the reunification of churches at heart, it officially did not consider it appropriate to contribute to the development of this movement. Nonetheless, within it, there were people particularly sensitive to the cause of unity, with new ideas, which would later converge in the ecclesiology of Vatican II, undertook to elaborate and propagandize. Dom Constantinus Bosschaerts, a Belgian Benedictine, was a broad-minded creative and prophetic spirit, a convinced supporter of the unity of the Church. His historical parable was largely parallel to that of his friend and confrère dom Lambert Beauduin, from whom he distinguished himself for a more concrete activism and innovative spirit. His ecumenical vocation matured in England, during the Second World War, when he was chaplain to Belgian refugees and had experience of collaboration with the Anglican Church. Later, like the confrere d. Beauduin, dom Constantinus developed his ideal of unity from the monastic experience of liturgical prayer and the participation of the Christian people in it. The thought of dom Constantinus went in the direction of a universal ecumenism, on the foundation of the reconciliation of all things in Christ. As for the practical aspect, the commitment would involve everyone, not only the clergy, but especially the laity, men and women without distinction.After being one of the promoters of the liturgical movement in the Netherlands - with the foundation of the Felix Concordia Secretariat - he was a tenacious propagator of the ideal of the unity of the Church, adhering to the Work of the Union (following Pius XI’s letter Equidem Verba to the Benedictines, in which an inter-ritual monastic congregation of specialist monks was envisioned, who would work for the reconciliation of the Eastern Churches). In the meantime, Mons. Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, appointed Apostolic Visitor to Bulgaria, wanted him as his secretary. The Bulgarian experience served to get to know closely the reality of the Eastern Christian communities, contributing, among other things, to the growing relationship of esteem and friendship between the Belgian monk and the future Pope, who was fascinated by it and followed with great interest all his ecumenical activities. Constantine’s ecumenical project took concrete form with the Vita et Pax foundation, consisting of male, female and oblate monasteries, which aimed to work for the union of the churches both with liturgical prayer - celebrated in the dual Latin and Byzantine rite- and with a fervent activity of conferences, lectures, publications, exhibitions and more. The enterprise, also supported by the Benedictine Congregation of Monte Oliveto, was initially successful with international diffusion, although the premature death of dom Constantinus, in 1950, did not allow his work to reap the full fruits it deserved.