I have lost a reference. Pius-Ramon Tragan has died in Montserrat at the age of 95. He was a wise man of those who no longer remain. Monk, secretary of the famous Abbot Escarré, biblical expert, dedicated most of his life to teaching. He is a professor at the University of Strasbourg and at the Pontifical S. Anselmo in Rome, of which he was rector. Brilliant and cosmopolitan, he had a German rigor, a Roman classicism and a French refinement, the language in which he wrote his thesis on the Gospel of John. He knew the Holy Land well. From his last trip, a few years ago, he wrote some notes, which he sent me. He anticipated the tragedy that is now occurring.
Expert in the canonical and apocryphal gospels, scholar of early Christianity, supporter of the method of critical exegesis of the Bible, when he retired from Roman teaching, he returned to Montserrat, where, in addition to continuing to publish books, he took charge of two impressive legacies that are preserved in the monastery, such as the fabulous Roca Puig collection of papyri, which includes, among others, fragments from the 3rd century BC. of the Iliad and the Odyssey and texts from II AD. from the Gospel of Matthew. He also modernized and enhanced the Biblical Museum, which the monk, translator, wise man and adventurer Bonaventura Ubach (the one who brought a Caravaggio and a mummy to Montserrat) treasured on his travels through the Middle East, when the very ancient Christian communities of these places still existed. Arabized were flourishing (and not persecuted or eliminated as now).
The historical method of biblical exegesis is frowned upon by the fundamentalist sectors of Catholicism. With absolute intellectual honesty, he used it in his studies, but also with absolute ecclesial fidelity. This is what impressed me about him: he balanced critical rationality with ecclesial loyalty. His life lesson is valid for everyone: make freedom compatible with commitment.
