Ici l'égalité

 Tales from the Cemeteries of
Celigny

The village of Celigny lies 20 kilometres outside Geneva on the north side of Lac Leman.

It needs planning with care to get there by train. From Geneva Cornavin station three types of train depart in the direction of Celigny, But not all of them arrive at the little station. Two of the three types thunder through; one ‘rapide’, 40 or so minutes to the city of Lausanne at the far end of the lake; one “express”, first stop Nyon, well beyond our target.

It has been known for Bossey students to pass through the station three or more times before they manage to get on to the platform.

On a September day in 1972 I stepped onto that same platform. Fortunately there were another three arrivals, all English. One of them, a clear leader, had already phoned Bossey to send transport. It arrived, driven by a pleasant gentleman who was German and spoke no English. And so I was inducted into the community where I would live for seven months, a place where communications would be a frequent challenge where, in our extended family of forty, conversations would be randomly fluent or impossible. Depending on who spoke which languages and who understood.


Anyway the minibus climbed up through the village and out into the country beyond. Turn left and here was our home for the months to come. And more of this in future posts.

Passing through the village, later I was to explore and find a road that led not to one, but to two cemeteries. Les Cimetières de Celigny. And above the first gateway the sombre message - Ici l’Egalité. Here is equality.

On the 18th October, 2020, the death was announced of Hans Reudi Weber. Hans Reudi was probably the greatest developer and practitioner of Bible Study in our generation. He was a leader in the ecumenical movement, and held several vital posts in Geneva and around the world. One of those posts was as Director of the Ecumenical Institute at Bossey.

Enter the first and newest of the cemeteries surrounded by a stone wall. Against the back wall there is a small, gravestone - to the memory of Marc Weber. In his book about Bossey, Hans Reudi wrote a dedication to “the children from many nations who grew up at Bossey”, and in particular to Marc, “a boy not yet two years old when he lost his life in the pond on one of his voyages of discovery around the château” When I arrived at the Institute, the community there was still deeply affected by that terrible tragedy.

Step back out on to the road and descend through the trees towards the Old Cemetery. A dank and damp place near the river. There you will find the grave of Richard Burton who died in 1984. And just on the opposite side of the path lies Alastair MacLean. His death in 1987 took place in Munich, but he was brought back here to be buried in Celigny.

Appropriate that they should lie close together, considering the number of novels from MacLean’s pen that ended up being made into films in which Burton starred.

Two cemeteries, one light and airy, the other dark and musty. I’m glad that little Marc Weber rests in the former.

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