TWICE CALLED
The martyrs of Algeria

Exhibition promoted by the Fondazione Oasis Foundation and Libreria Editrice Vaticana
With the support of Fondazione Cariplo

Curated by Alessandro Banfi, Michele Brignone, Martino Diez, Lorenzo Fazzini, Claudio Fontana, Chiara Pellegrino

Scientific Committee: Cardinal Angelo Scola, Archbishop Emeritus of Milan; Cardinal Jean-Paul Vesco, Archbishop of Algiers; Father Thomas Georgeon, postulator for the beatification cause of the Algerian martyrs; Marie-Dominique Minassian, head of the research project “The Writings of Tibhirine”; Nadjia Kebour, professor at PISAI in Rome; Diego Sarrió, Bishop of Laghouat in Algeria and former Dean of PISAI in Rome; Anna Pozzi, journalist for Mondo e Missione (PIME); Jean-Jacques Pérennès, former director of the École Biblique in Jerusalem and biographer of Pierre Claverie.

With the collaboration of Giuseppe Frangi

This exhibition commemorates the memory and testimony of religious men and women killed thirty years ago—together with Bishop Pierre Claverie—between 1994 and 1996, during Algeria’s “Black Decade” of terrorism. “Twice martyrs”, because their fidelity to the call of Jesus Christ through their vocation was embodied in a deep loyalty to the Algerian people, themselves victims of violence and hatred. They engaged in a rich, multilayered dialogue with Muslim individuals with whom, as postulator Thomas Georgeon stated, they “became one body.” Their story reached Italy mainly through the film Of Gods and Men, released fifteen years ago.
The exhibition will present previously unseen materials, videos, and writings that recount the lives of these martyrs—offering a powerful testimony of reconciliation and peace.