After the creation of the Diocese of Gikongoro in 1992, everything connected with the apparitions of Kibeho was transferred to the new diocese led by Mons. Sign up to receive our daily newsletter. The Bishop had personally witnessed an increase in Sunday and daily Mass attendance throughout the country, and more of the faithful were returning to the Sacrament of Confession. Divine Providence had special designs for the three seers: In June 2003, Alphonsine entered the monastery of the Poor Clares in Abidjan. Suddenly the crowd heard Alphonsines frightfully piercing screams. Extremist Hutus blamed it on the Tutsis. She received the religious habit at the beginning of her novitiate on July 26th, 2004. Nathalie's father, Laurent Ngango is still alive and stays about 10 km from Kibeho. He prayed that it would be a holy place of prayer, conversion, and reparation for the world. She had always attended Mass on Sundays and had a special devotion to Our Lady. When asked about her future plans at the time of the apparitions, Alphonsine used to express her wish to join the religious congregation of the Benebikira Sisters. Civilians who had taken refuge in the parish church there in April 1994 were killed. Nathalie's father, Laurent Ngango is still alive and stays about 10 km from Kibeho. Our Lady promised that millions would come to the Shrine to seek her help, and that they would be blessed and strengthened. Anathalie Mukamazimpaka's visions began in January 1982 and ended on 3 December 1983. However, as Divine Providence would arrange it, a space had unexpectedly opened up in a government-run all-girl school staffed by religious sisters. Our Lady exhorted them to pray always and to teach others to pray with greater zeal and purity of heart. My advice therefore is: Guarantee these visionaries peace and encourage them to lead a fairly disciplined life.. She received the habit on July 26, 2004, and made her first profession on July 15, 2006. The Virgin was silent for some minutes, and then she began to weep. From there, she continued her escape up to Bukavu in former Zaire together with many other refugees, including priests and religious of all ethnic groups. What Alphonsine did not tell them was that she was receiving messages for government officials, even the Hutu president. During the war, between 800,000 and 1 million were killed. Augustin Misago, a former member of the theological commission himself. The two commissions completed their investigation twenty years after their creation. Others asked her for proof to support her story. In its discernment, the Church installed two commissions in 1982, one medical and one theological, which should investigate the events of Kibeho using scientifically valid methods. 5 . How to say Alphonsine Mumureke in English? She responded: I am the Mother of the Word.. The authentic conversions of the seers proved that the Good Mother had come to reinforce the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Alphonsine Mumureke left in 1994 during the genocide and never came back. Congo) family whom she had also met during the time of the apparitions at Kibeho, she she continued her tragical journey up to Abidjan at Ivory Coast a few weeks later and got into contact with Father Raymond Halter, a Marian priest who knew her since her last apparition on November 28th, 1989. As for Alphonsine Mumureke, the first visionary, she has had a long journey. All her doubts vanished, as she understood that she was speaking with the Mother of God. She also likes to attend Holy Mass. This choice, however, was a working hypothesis, not a presumption of authenticity for such a large number of visionaries. They are the ones who made Kibeho known as a place of apparitions and pilgrimage causing crowds of people to flock there. Rwanda, known as the land of a thousand hills, is a small country about the size of the state of Maryland, located in Central Africa, situated between Tanzania on the east, Burundi on the south, Uganda on the north and Democratic Republic of Congo on the west. Shortly before the apparitions she was admitted in Kibeho College in October 1981 in order to continue her studies after primary school. 2Our Lady of Kibeho, Immaculee Ilibagiza with Steve Erwin, 2009, 4th ed, Hay House, Inc., p. 35. The director asked her to apologize to the whole school for her lies, but Alphonse couldnt deny that she had seen the Mother of the Word. Following her studies, Marie Claire Mukangango became a teacher. Alphonsine fell to her knees and asked the Lady who she was. At first, no one took the adolescent's claims seriously. UNconfirms death of one of last Rwandan genocide fugitives, Exiled Rwandan opposition politician shot dead in Cape Town, Rwanda president suggests UK extradite genocide suspects after asylum deal, Hotel Rwanda dissident goes on trial accused of terrorism and murder, Zimbabwe denies harbouring deceased Rwandan genocide fugitive. addy06979af1fb68ed1cff9c75452df96a61 = addy06979af1fb68ed1cff9c75452df96a61 + 'gmail' + '.' + 'com'; Editions of the Shrine of Our Lady of Kibeho, The Shrine, Our Lady of Kibeho: her actual life and perspectives for the future, Declaration of the Bishop of Gikongoro bearing the final judgement on the events of the "Apparitions of Kibeho". Rwanda and Burundi were once part of the German East Africa, from 1894 to 1918. Pour sa scurit, elle dut se rfugier au presbytre de la paroisse de Gikongoro. Fortunately, the Benebikira Sisters had just come back to Kibeho and reopened their convent, the school and the health centre. He looked after her until his death in December 1998. Even if the three visionaries mentioned above are the only ones officially approved by the Catholic Church, they were not the only ones who claimed to have been favoured by apparitions at Kibeho. The unmistakable spiritual renewal was also manifested in a deepening of Marian devotion, numerous conversions and an increase in vocations to the priesthood and religious life. Thus, these first eight "visionaries" were chosen as a sample to be investigated in a specific way, without losing sight of the other supposed visionaries. Increasingly distressed by the unrelenting attacks, Alphonsine begged Our Lady to appear to other girls in order that they would believe her. At the start of the 1981-82 academic year it received several dozen boarding students from all over the East African country, as it had in previous years. Theirs was a protest against the moral, social and political decay of their community a reminder that sometimes young people can sense tragedy ahead in a way that adults are incapable of. Despite rumblings of the growing divide between Hutus and Tutsis, we lose ourselves in this story of these three young women who want to change the world they will inherit. Many others soon arrived: the school nurse to take her vitals and assess her medical condition; a Red Cross Official to conduct tests; a member of the Commission of Enquiry to note the facts; Abbot Augustin Misago, the spiritual guide (later the Bishop of Gikongoro, who would officially make a declaration in favor of the authenticity of the apparitions); and two seminarians, along with the entire school staff. Anathalie remains at the Shrine, fulfilling the promise she made to Our Lady, praying and offering her suffering for souls. From there, she continued her escape up to Bukavu in former Zaire together with many other refugees, including priests and religious of all ethnic groups. I am concerned with and turning to the whole world. On August 22nd, 1987, Marie Claire celebrated her church wedding to Elie Ntabadahiga, a member of Mushubi parish. She was then led to the place of the cherished of God, where she saw millions of people with white garments who were happy, but not with the same degree of rapture as the seven angels. Today, Kibeho is best known as a place of apparitions and pilgrimages. On another occasion, the Blessed Mother told Anathalie, When I show myself to someone and talk to them, I want to turn to the whole world. Our Lady told her to sing a song that was to portend the seriousness of this particular apparition. The White Fathers, an international Missionary Society of priests and brothers, arrived in the late 1800s amid all this tension. Only the three initial testimonies merit being considered authentic; they were given by Alphonsine Mumureke, Nathalie Mukamazimpaka, and by Marie Claire Mukangango. In turbulent times when the voices of young people are so often ignored, Katori and I hope that the UK premiere of this extraordinary play will spark a conversation on ways to heal our own political, racial and religious divides. In 1981, when Alphonsine was admitted, the school was called "College de Kibeho"; later in early 1984 it was named "Ecole des lettres de Kibeho" (Humanistic School of Kibeho). Augustin Misago, a former member of the theological commission himself. She witnessed acts of murder and genocide against innocent people. Alphonsine Mumureke was born on March 21st, 1965 in Cyizihira, in the parish of Zaza, Diocese of Kibungo as the daughter of Thadde Gakwaya and Mary Immaculate Mukarasana. Most historical accounts of the genocide focus on either society or the state, the former exploring the longstanding racism in Rwandan society and the latter documenting the complex power struggles in government and the ways in which propaganda radiated from the capital to the provinces and inspired the violence. / My heart is full of sadness, / My child, show me the love, / You love me, / Come closer to my heart.10 The Heavenly Mother had come to ask for repentance, fasting, penance, prayer; and her children were not responding. Kibeho is also the name given to one of the parishes of the diocese of Gikongoro, founded in 1934 and dedicated to Mary, Mother of God. Kibeho itself suffered two massacres. On a summer morning in 2003, many of those who had participated in the genocidal killings walked out of prison into the sunshine, singing hymns, their freedom granted by the president. Then a few months later -- January 12, 1982 -- there were rumors that the Virgin Mary had appeared to another Kibeho student named Nathalie Mukamazimpaka. In this context, Mons. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. The Service Centre was led by a priest. Most of the colleges students were murdered. If you donate . The natives harvest bananas, sweet potatoes, and cassava for their own use throughout the year. For several months, she was hosted at the monastery of the Trappistines of the Abbey of Our Lady of Clarity located not far from Bukavu city. He encouraged her to study theology and catechesis until she obtained her theological baccalaureate. The situation became more and more confusing and it was therefore difficult for the church authorities to find the truth. Our Lady poured out, as it were, so much love upon Alphonsine that she felt she would be lifted to heaven. Today, Rwandans continue to confront on a daily basis the pain of memory, the power of reconciliation, the challenges of redemption and forgiveness and the ineradicability of loss. As visionary, Marie Claire is especially known for the message concerning the Rosary of the Seven Sorrows of the Virgin Mary which goes hand in hand with an urgent call to repentance: Repent, repent, repent! between November 28th, 1981 and November 28th, 1982. The river carried the massacred bodies into Lake Victoria, creating a serious health hazard in Uganda.12 The New York Times claimed that as many as 100 bodies per hour were being washed ashore in Uganda or onto the Islands in Lake Victoria. Spanning eight years and three visionaries at Kibeho College in Rwanda, it all began on November 28 th, 1981, when Our Lady appeared to seventeen-year-old Alphonsine Mumureke while she was serving other children: "She could have chosen me when I was in a chapel praying the Rosary. 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