CONYERS--Seven azalea bushes were planted at the Abbey of Our Lady of the Holy Spirit on March 3 in memory of seven monks from the Monastery of Our Lady of Atlas in Algeria.

The monks in Algeria, all French citizens, were kidnapped March 27, 1996. Two months later a note sent by a Muslim extremist group in Algeria, claimed they had all been murdered. Their bodies were found decapitated.

The red azaleas were planted in a circle in the abbey's inner garden. Taking part in the planting were Dom Bernardo Olivera, abbot general of the Trappists visiting from Rome; Dom Bernard Johnson, abbot of the Rockdale County monastic community; Father Lawrence, Brother Eutropius, Brother Seamus and Paco Ambrosetti, associate oblate.

Abbot Olivera read from Psalm 23 and said a prayer in which he mentioned each of the monks: Christian, the superior of the monastery; Luc, 82 years old and a doctor; Christophe, Michael, Bruno, Clestin and Paul.

The ceremony was intended to symbolize the participation of the Abbey of Our Lady of the Holy Spirit in a World Day of Martyred Missionaries to be observed March 24.

Similar ceremonies, planting of trees or bushes or erecting crosses, have taken place in Trappist communities around the world to commemorate the supreme sacrifice of their brother monks, who chose to remain in Algeria despite prior threats against their lives.

In 1996 there were 46 Catholic missionaries killed, 40 of them in Africa. Eight died in Algeria, 19 in Zaire, seven in Burundi, three in Rwanda, two in Ghana and one in Tanzania. Other missionaries were killed in Puerto Rico, Colombia, Bosnia, Cambodia and India.

Those killed in 1996 included three bishops, 13 sisters, 18 priests, eight brothers and four lay workers.