Our Lady of Kibeho
Our Lady of Sorrows of Kibeho
Our Lady of Sorrows, title under which the Virgin Mary presented herself at Kibeho.
LocationKibeho, Rwanda, Africa
DateThe first apparition was November 28, 1981
WitnessAlphonsine Mumureke
Nathalie Mukamazimpaka
Marie Claire Mukangango
TypeMarian apparition
ApprovalJune 29, 2001[1]
Bishop Augustin Misago
Diocese of Gikongoro
ShrineSanctuary of Our Lady of Kibeho, Rwanda
Feast dayNovember 28

Our Lady of Kibeho (French: Notre-Dame de Kibeho), also known as Our Lady of Sorrows of Kibeho, is a Catholic title of the Mary, mother of Jesus, based on the Marian apparitions reported in the 1980s by several adolescents in Kibeho, south-western Rwanda.[2] The young visionaries were Alphonsine Mumureke, Nathalie Mukamazimpaka and Marie Claire Mukangango.

The Kibeho apparitions apparently communicated various messages to the schoolgirls, including an apocalyptic vision of Rwanda descending into violence and hatred, possibly foretelling the 1994 Rwandan genocide.[3]

In 2001, the local bishop of the Catholic Church officially recognised the visions of three schoolgirls as authentic.[2][4] The Holy See also released the declaration of Bishop Augustin Misago of Gikongoro approving the apparitions.[5]

Marian apparitions

Kibeho is a small village located in southwestern Rwanda. The reported apparitions there began on November 28, 1981, at a time of increasing tension between the Tutsi and Hutu groups. They occurred at Kibeho College, a secondary school for girls,[6] and included an apocalyptic vision of Rwanda descending into violence and hatred which many believe foretold the 1994 Rwandan genocide.

The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Kibeho, in Rwanda.
The statue of the Mercyful Jesus in Kibeho, Rwanda.

Several times in the 1980s, the Virgin Mary was said to have appeared to three young women. The Virgin identified herself as Nyina wa Jambo (Kinyarwanda for “Mother of the Word”), which was synonymous with Umubyeyi W'Imana ("Mother of God").[7] The teenaged seers reported that the Virgin asked everyone to pray to prevent a terrible war. In the vision of August 19, 1982, they all reported seeing violence, dismembered corpses, and destruction.[8]

The longest series of visions were attributed to Alphonsine Mumureke, who had received the initial vision shortly after her admittance into Kibeho High School in October 1981 after her primary education, and the last on November 28, 1989. Anathalie Mukamazimpaka was the next one to have visions, which lasted from January 1982 to December 3, 1983. These emphasised endless prayer and expiation, with the Virgin even instructing Mukamazimpaka to perform penances through mortification of the flesh. Marie Claire Mukangango, who had initially bullied Mumureke at school because of the visions, herself experienced apparitions which lasted from March 2 to September 15, 1982. The Virgin told Mukangango that people should pray the Chaplet of the Seven Sorrows to obtain the favor of repentance.[9]

During his 1990 visit to Rwanda, Pope John Paul II visited Mbare, Kamonyi and Nyandungu. He exhorted the faithful to turn to the Virgin Mary as a “simple and sure guide” and to pray for greater commitment against local divisions, both political and ethnic.[8]

In the 100 days that followed the April 6, 1994 assassination of dictator and President of Rwanda Juvénal Habyarimana, 800,000 to over a million Rwandans were slaughtered by their countrymen and, in some cases, their next-door-neighbors. The Genocide was the culmination of intensifying animosity between Rwanda's principal communities – the Hutus and Tutsis – and the civil war that had preceded it.[10] Kibeho itself was the site of two huge massacres: the first at the parish church in April 1994, and the second a year later when more than 5,000 refugees who had taken shelter there were shot by soldiers.[11] Marie Claire Mukangango and her husband, Elie Ntabadahiga, were trapped in Kigali and were among those killed in the April 1994 massacre.[8]

Approved visionaries

Only the visions of the first three seers (Alphonsine Mumureke, Nathalie Mukamazimpaka, and Marie Clare Mukangango, aged 17, 20, and 21, respectively) received the solemn approval of Augustin Misago, Bishop of Gikongoro.[12]

Unapproved visionaries

Others who claimed to have similar visions but are not recognised by the Catholic Church were Stephanie Mukamurenzi, Agnes Kamagaju, Vestine Salima, and Emmanuel Segastashya, the last of whom was previously a pagan and became a Christian evangelist. Segastashya's alleged visions included meeting Christ in a beanfield.

Interpretation

The visions may be regarded as an ominous foreshadowing of the Rwandan genocide, and particularly the second Kibeho massacre in 1995. The school where the visions occurred became a place of slaughter during the Genocide, as dozens of children were shot and hacked to death by Hutu terrorists.[13] The visionaries had either managed to flee the violence, with Mukangango as among the casualties.

Church approval

Augustin Misago, the Bishop of Gikongoro, approved public devotion linked to the apparitions on 15 August 1988 (the Solemnity of the Assumption of Mary) and declared their authenticity on 29 June 2001.[7] He was accused in 1999 of involvement in the Rwandan Genocide, and acquitted on 24 June of the following year.[13] As early as 1982, an earlier bishop of the diocese, Bishop Jean Baptiste Gahamanyi, already authorized public devotion.[14]

On July 2, 2001, the Holy See also released the declaration of Bishop Augustin Misago of Gikongoro approving the apparitions.[15]

The feast day of Our Lady of Kibeho is on November 28, the anniversary of the first apparition to Alphonsine Mumureke in 1981.[16]

Marian shrine

The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Kibeho, in Rwanda.

The Marian sanctuary at Kibeho was named "Shrine of Our Lady of Sorrows" in 1992.[7] The first stone was laid on 28 November 1992. In a 2003 agreement between the local ordinary and the Society of the Catholic Apostolate (Pallotines), the rectorate of the Shrine of Our Lady of Kibeho is entrusted to the Pallotine Fathers. The rector is appointed by the local bishop and the Regional Pallottine Rector.[17]

Cultural references

American playwright Katori Hall dramatized the events surrounding the apparitions in Our Lady of Kibeho, produced in New York in 2014.[18]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Dichiarazione del vescovo di Gikongoro in merito alle apparizioni di Kibeho" [Declaration of the Bishop of Gikongoro on the Kibeho apparitions] (in French). Holy See Press Office.
  2. 1 2 Curran, Bridget. The Miracles of Mary: Everyday Encounters of Beauty and Grace. 2010, page 128
  3. ↑ Immaculée Ilibagiza, Steve Erwin. Our Lady of Kibeho: Mary Speaks to the World from the Heart of Africa. 2008, page xvii
  4. ↑ "Declaration of the Bishop of Gikongoro, Rwanda". June 29, 2001. Retrieved 16 May 2022.
  5. ↑ "The Miracle Hunter: Kibeho, Rwanda (1981-1989)". Retrieved 16 May 2022.
  6. ↑ ""Kibeho parish", Kibeho Sanctuary". Archived from the original on 2016-03-05. Retrieved 2013-03-30.
  7. 1 2 3 Bishop Augustin Misago of Gikongoro (2001-07-31). "Judgment on the apparitions of Kibeho". EWTN. Retrieved 2009-04-04.
  8. 1 2 3 Rogers, Lois. "Our Lady of Kibeho", The Monitor, January 20, 2012, Diocese of Trenton
  9. ↑ "The Chaplet of the Seven Sorrows", Marians of the Immaculate Conception
  10. ↑ "Remembering Rwanda", The Monitor, January 20, 2012, Diocese of Trenton
  11. ↑ Linskey, Regina. "Our Lady of Kibeho: Forgotten apparitions", Catholic News, Singapore, Vol. 58, No. 25, December 7, 2008
  12. ↑ Misago, Augustin. "Judgement on the Apparitions of Kibeho"
  13. 1 2 Simpson, Chris (2000-06-24). "A bishop tried over genocide". The Tablet. Archived from the original on 2016-02-19. Retrieved 2008-10-30.
  14. ↑ "The Miracle Hunter: Kibeho, Rwanda (1981-1989)". Retrieved 16 May 2022.
  15. ↑ "The Miracle Hunter: Kibeho, Rwanda (1981-1989)". Retrieved 16 May 2022.
  16. ↑ ""Our Lady of Sorrows (Kibeho)", La Carte Mariale du Monde". Archived from the original on 2014-12-05. Retrieved 2013-03-30.
  17. ↑ ""Pastoral Service", Kibeho shrine". Archived from the original on 2016-02-29. Retrieved 2013-03-30.
  18. ↑ "Our Lady of Kibeho", signature Theatre

Further reading

  • Ilibagiza, Immaculée The Story of Jesus and Mary in Kibeho: A Prophecy Fulfilled. Immaculee.com; 1st edition (January 12, 2018). ISBN 978-1532359019
  • Ilibagiza, Immaculée (with Steve Erwin); Our Lady of Kibeho: Mary Speaks to the World from the Heart of Africa. Carlsbad, CA: Hay House, 2008. ISBN 1-4019-2378-X
  • Ilibagiza, Immaculée (with Steve Erwin); The Boy Who Met Jesus: Segatashya Emmanuel of Kibeho. Carlsbad, CA: Hay House, 2012. ISBN 978-1401935825
  • Biziyaremye, Gilbert; Mary Mother of the Word: Theological and Spiritual Meaning of the Title "Mother of the Word" in the Apparitions of Kibeho. Independently published, 2020. ISBN 979-8581449523
  • Biziyaremye, Gilbert; Apparitions of Kibeho: A Divine Mother's Plea for an Unwawering Faith, Sincere Conversion and Unceasing Prayer. Independently published, 2021. ISBN 979-8713467203
  • Casimir, Ruzindaza; The Fascinating Story of Kibeho: Mary's Prophetic Tears in Rwanda. Blessed Hope Publishing, 2022. ISBN 978-6137887066

2°38′S 29°33′E / 2.633°S 29.550°E / -2.633; 29.550

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