John Downes recalls a meeting with Frère Roger in which he found rare qualities in a man dedicated to helping others.
The slightly stooped, grey-haired old man walking down the aisle to his seat in Taizé's church always did so with a benign smile. Dressed in white, he would sometimes stop to greet well-wishers, making clear his delight at the number of young faces in the crowd.
Frère Roger of Taizé had a common touch, and emphasised the important role of young people in the world. But he also had a determined streak which belied his advancing years.
It is difficult to put into words his effect on the thousands of people who travel to Taizé every year. Having first gone there myself as a schoolboy, I have numerous fond memories, reinforced by many subsequent trips.
I particularly recall a week spent in silence at Taizé, which happened to coincide with my birthday. When they realised I would be spending the day alone, Frère Roger and the community of brothers invited me to temporarily postpone my solitude by eating lunch with them.
A student at the time, I had spent the summer busking in Paris. On hearing this, Frère Roger, then well into his 80s, was enthralled. Introducing me and the other guests, he simply could not get over the fact that I had "sung on the streets of Paris".
He then presented me with a birthday present from the community - a Taizé chalice and a book. The look of sheer joy in giving, reflected in the faces of the other brothers, is one which will always remain. These simplest of gestures were typical of a man who dedicated his life to helping others, and promoting peace through a simple generosity of spirit.
It seems likely that Frère Roger would have welcomed his killer into the Taizé community, whose ethos is to turn no one away. She would have gathered, along with thousands of others, for one of the daily prayer and meditation sessions. There were no barriers between him and the people he welcomed to his community.
That was his way. For myself, as for many thousands of young people from Ireland and around the world, Frère Roger was, and remains, a beacon of peace and love in a sometimes harsh and cruel world.