He was born in Switzerland, in 1938, at Saint-Sulpice in the canton of Neuchâtel. As a young theology student in Neuchâtel, he joined the Taizé Community in 1958. Continuing his theology studies, living between Taizé and Neuchâtel, he collaborated on his professor Jean-Louis Leuba’s research on ecumenical councils in the thinking of the Reformers. In 1961, he settled in Taizé and made a lifelong commitment to the community. In 1962, he returned to Neuchâtel for a half-year internship in the collegiate parish, before being ordained pastor in 1963 in Le Locle.

From the moment he arrived in Taizé, he assisted Brother Roger until the latter’s death in 2005. He was in charge of the secretariat. He accompanied the Prior of Taizé during the sessions of the Second Vatican Council, as well as for the annual visits to Popes Paul VI and John Paul II. With Brother Roger and an intercontinental team of young people, he spent time in Calcutta, Hong Kong, Nairobi and Temuco in the late 1970s, helping to draft the letters written on these occasions for meditation and discussion at Taizé meetings.

He was the living memory of Taizé. From 2011 to 2023, he edited the ten volumes of the Collection “Les écrits de frère Roger, fondateur de Taizé”. In the last years of his life, fighting against illness, he never ceased to invest himself fully in the life of the community. He helped welcome Yezidi refugees, worked in the herb garden and herbal tea workshop, and accompanied the publication of the book “Through the Iron Curtain”, which recounts Taizé’s links with Christians in Eastern Europe before 1989.

Throughout his life in Taizé, he exercised a ministry of accompaniment with retreatants, volunteers and brothers of the community. Brother Charles-Eugène had a gift for encouraging others. His body was weary from illness, but his mind was alert right up to the last day of his life. His incomparable knowledge of Taizé’s history was not tinged with nostalgia: he was fully involved in the new steps the community was about to take.