Guidelines for the community's life are contained in The Rule of Taizé written by Brother Roger and first published in French in 1954.

Over 100,000 young people from around the world make pilgrimages to Taizé each year for prayer, Bible study, sharing, and communal work.

If a house could be found there, of the kind I had dreamed, it would offer a possible way of assisting some of those most discouraged, those deprived of a livelihood; and it could become a place of silence and work.

"[5] He eventually settled in Taizé, which was a small, isolated village just north of Cluny, the site of a historically influential Christian monastic foundation.

Only miles south of the demarcation line that separated Vichy France and the Zone occupée, Brother Roger's home became a sanctuary to countless war refugees seeking shelter.

On November 11, 1942, the Gestapo occupied Roger's house while he was in Switzerland collecting funds to aid in his refuge ministry.

[9] They began forming "fraternities" of brothers in other cities that sought to be "signs of the presence of Christ among men, and bearers of joy".

Since 1951, the brothers have lived, for longer or shorter periods, in small fraternities among the poor in India (chiefly in Calcutta), Bangladesh, the Philippines, Algeria, Cuba, South Korea, Brazil, Kenya, Senegal, and the United States (chiefly in the Hell's Kitchen section of Manhattan, New York City).

They have sought to demonstrate this in the music and prayers where songs are sung in many languages, and have included chants and icons from the Eastern Orthodox tradition.

The music emphasizes simple phrases, usually lines from Psalms or other pieces of Scripture, repeated and sometimes also sung in canon.

The schedule of a typical day in the youth meetings:[20] The evening prayer is broadcast every Saturday at 22:00 Central European Time by the German radio station Domradio and provided online as a podcast.

[23][24] It is organized by brothers of the Taizé Community, sisters of St. Andrew, and young volunteers from all over Europe, and from the host city.

The meal is followed by a common prayer, and the afternoon is spent in workshops covering faith, art, politics and social topics.

In his "Unfinished Letter",[25] published after his death, Brother Roger is quoted to have proposed to "widen" the "Pilgrimage of Trust" originating from the Taizé community.