Our Lady of Kibeho (, ), also known as Our Lady of Sorrows of Kibeho, is a

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

title of the Virgin Mary, mother of Jesus, based on the

Marian apparition A Marian apparition is a reported supernatural appearance of Mary, the mother of Jesus. While sometimes described as a type of vision, apparitions are generally regarded as external manifestations, whereas visions are more often understood as ...

s reported in the 1980s by several adolescents in Kibeho, south-western

Rwanda Rwanda, officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of East Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator, Rwanda is bordered by ...

. The young approved 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 The Rwandan genocide, also known as the genocide against the Tutsi, occurred from 7 April to 19 July 1994 during the Rwandan Civil War. Over a span of around 100 days, members of the Tutsi ethnic group, as well as some moderate Hutu and Gre ...

. In 2001, the local bishop of the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

officially recognised the visions of three schoolgirls as authentic.Curran, Bridget. ''The Miracles of Mary: Everyday Encounters of Beauty and Grace''. 2010, page 128 The

Holy See The Holy See (, ; ), also called the See of Rome, the Petrine See or the Apostolic See, is the central governing body of the Catholic Church and Vatican City. It encompasses the office of the pope as the Bishops in the Catholic Church, bishop ...

also released the declaration of Bishop Augustin Misago of Gikongoro approving the apparitions.

Marian apparitions

Kibeho is a small village located in southwestern Rwanda. The reported apparitions began on November 28, 1981, at a time of increasing tension between the

Tutsi The Tutsi ( ), also called Watusi, Watutsi or Abatutsi (), are an ethnic group of the African Great Lakes region. They are a Bantu languages, Bantu-speaking ethnic group and the second largest of three main ethnic groups in Rwanda and Burundi ( ...

and

Hutu The Hutu (), also known as the Abahutu, are a Bantu ethnic group native to the African Great Lakes region. They mainly live in Rwanda, Burundi, and Uganda where they form one of the principal ethnic groups alongside the Tutsi and the Great L ...

groups. They occurred at a Catholic boarding school, the Kibeho College, a secondary school for girls. The first visionary was Alphonsine Mumureke who claimed to see a beautiful Lady who identified herself as ''Nyina wa Jambo'' (

Kinyarwanda Kinyarwanda, Rwandan or Rwanda, officially known as Ikinyarwanda, is a Bantu language and the national language of Rwanda. It is a dialect of the Rwanda-Rundi language that is also spoken in adjacent parts of the Democratic Republic of the ...

for “Mother of the

Word A word is a basic element of language that carries semantics, meaning, can be used on its own, and is uninterruptible. Despite the fact that language speakers often have an intuitive grasp of what a word is, there is no consensus among linguist ...

”), which was synonymous with ''Umubyeyi W'Imana'' ("

Mother of God ''Theotokos'' (Greek: ) is a title of Mary, mother of Jesus, used especially in Eastern Christianity. The usual Latin translations are or (approximately "parent (fem.) of God"). Familiar English translations are "Mother of God" or "God-bearer ...

"). Her testimony was first received with mixed opinions and much skepticism. Some time later, two new visionaries started claiming to see the Virgin Mary at the College in alignment with Alphonsine: Nathalie Mukamazimpaka on January 12, 1982, and Marie Claire Mukangango on March 2, 1982. The longest series of visions were attributed to Alphonsine Mumureke, who had received the initial vision shortly after her admittance into Kibeho College in October 1981. On March 20, 1982, Alphonsine Mumureke reported experiencing a "mystical journey" with the Virgin Mary during several hours, through symbolic representations of spiritual realities such as

hell In religion and folklore, hell is a location or state in the afterlife in which souls are subjected to punishment after death. Religions with a linear divine history sometimes depict hells as eternal destinations, such as Christianity and I ...

purgatory In Christianity, Purgatory (, borrowed into English language, English via Anglo-Norman language, Anglo-Norman and Old French) is a passing Intermediate state (Christianity), intermediate state after physical death for purifying or purging a soul ...

, and

heaven Heaven, or the Heavens, is a common Religious cosmology, religious cosmological or supernatural place where beings such as deity, deities, angels, souls, saints, or Veneration of the dead, venerated ancestors are said to originate, be throne, ...

. A similar experience was later reported by Nathalie Mukamazimpaka on October 30, 1982. The last apparition to her took place eight years after the first one, on November 28, 1989. Nathalie Mukamazimpaka was the next one to have visions, which lasted from January 1982 to December 3, 1983. Her visions 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, was the third one to experience apparitions. Her visions lasted from March 2 to September 15, 1982. The Virgin told Mukangango that people should pray the

Chaplet of the Seven Sorrows The Chaplet of the Seven Sorrows, also known as the Rosary of the Seven Sorrows or the Servite Rosary, is a Rosary based prayer that originated with the Servite Order. It is often said in connection with the Seven Dolours of Mary. It is a Chaple ...

to obtain the favor of repentance. She was given the mission to renew and spread the devotion to the Chaplet of the Seven Sorrows. On August 19, 1982, the three girls reported seeing a river of blood, people who killed one another, abandoned bodies with no one to bury them, a tree on fire, an open chasm, a monster, and severed heads. In 1994, this apocalyptic vision of Rwanda descending into violence and hatred began to be interpreted as a prediction of the

. During his 1990 visit to Rwanda,

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his you ...

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.

Message of the apparitions

# An urgent call to sincere repentance and conversion of hearts. # An assessment of the bad moral state of the world. # The deep sorrow of the

. # The salvific value of suffering. # To pray unceasingly and with a sincere heart. # Regular prayer of the

Rosary The Rosary (; , in the sense of "crown of roses" or "garland of roses"), formally known as the Psalter of Jesus and Mary (Latin: Psalterium Jesu et Mariae), also known as the Dominican Rosary (as distinct from other forms of rosary such as the ...

and Marian devotion. # The prayer and the spreading of the

Rosary of the Seven Sorrows The Chaplet of the Seven Sorrows, also known as the Rosary of the Seven Sorrows or the Servite Rosary, is a Rosary based prayer that originated with the Servite Order. It is often said in connection with the Seven Dolours of Mary. It is a chap ...

. # A chapel to be built for Mary. # A call to pray for the

Church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...

Links with the Genocide

In the 100 days that followed the April 6, 1994

assassination Assassination is the willful killing, by a sudden, secret, or planned attack, of a personespecially if prominent or important. It may be prompted by political, ideological, religious, financial, or military motives. Assassinations are orde ...

of dictator and

President of Rwanda This article lists the presidents of Rwanda since the creation of the office in 1961 (during the Rwandan Revolution), to the present day. The president of Rwanda is the head of state and head of executive of the Republic of Rwanda. The presi ...

Juvénal Habyarimana Juvénal Habyarimana (; ; 8 March 19376 April 1994) was a Rwandan politician and military officer who was the second president of Rwanda, from 1973 until Assassination of Juvénal Habyarimana and Cyprien Ntaryamira, his assassination in 1994. H ...

, 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 A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

that had preceded it. 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. Marie Claire Mukangango and her husband, Elie Ntabadahiga, were trapped in

Kigali Kigali () is the Capital (political), capital and largest city of Rwanda. It is near the nation's geographic centre in a region of rolling hills, with a series of valleys and ridges joined by steep slopes. As a primate city, Kigali is a relativ ...

and were among those killed in the April 1994 massacre.

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.

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 Paganism (, later 'civilian') is a term first used in the fourth century by early Christians for people in the Roman Empire who practiced polytheism, or ethnic religions other than Christianity, Judaism, and Samaritanism. In the time of the ...

and became a

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

evangelist. Segastashya's alleged visions included meeting Christ in a beanfield.

Interpretation

The visions may be regarded as an ominous foreshadowing of the

, 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

militants.

Church approval

At the time of the apparitions, two separate investigation commissions were established by Bishop Jean Baptiste Gahamanyi, the Bishop of the Diocese of Butare to which Kibeho belonged at the time: a medical commission, on March 20th, 1982 and a theological commission, on May 14th, 1982. On August 15, 1988, day of the

Solemnity In the liturgical calendar of the Roman Rite, a solemnity is a feast day of the highest rank celebrating a mystery of faith such as the Trinity, an event in the life of Jesus, his mother Mary, his legal father Joseph, or another important ...

of the

Assumption of Mary The Assumption of Mary is one of the four Catholic Mariology#Dogmatic teachings, Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church. Pope Pius XII defined it on 1 November 1950 in his apostolic constitution as follows: It leaves open the question of w ...

, Augustin Misago, the Bishop of Gikongoro, approved public devotion linked to the apparitions. On June 29, 2001, Bishop Misago officially declared their authenticity. This is the first Vatican-approved Marian apparition that took place on the African continent. Augustin was later accused in 1999 of involvement in the Rwandan Genocide, and acquitted on June 24 of the following year. On July 2, 2001, the

also released the declaration of Bishop Augustin Misago of Gikongoro approving the apparitions. The

feast day The calendar of saints is the traditional Christian method of organizing a liturgical year by associating each day with one or more saints and referring to the day as the feast day or feast of said saint. The word "feast" in this context does n ...

of Our Lady of Kibeho is on November 28, the anniversary of the first apparition to Alphonsine Mumureke in 1981.

Marian shrine

The Marian sanctuary at Kibeho was first named "Shrine of

Our Lady of Sorrows Our Lady of Sorrows (), Our Lady of Dolours, the Sorrowful Mother or Mother of Sorrows (), and Our Lady of Piety, Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows or Our Lady of the Seven Dolours are Titles of Mary, names by which Mary, mother of Jesus, is referr ...

" in 1992. The first stone was laid on November 28, 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.

Cultural references

American playwright

Katori Hall Katori Hall (born May 10, 1981) is an American playwright and screenwriter from Memphis, Tennessee. Hall's best known works include the hit television series ''P-Valley'', the Tony-nominated ''Tina (musical), Tina: The Tina Turner Musical'', and p ...

dramatized the events surrounding the apparitions in ''Our Lady of Kibeho'', produced in New York in 2014.

References

External links

Sanctuary of Our Lady of Kibeho
– Official website
Video 1 of the Kibeho apparitionsVideo 2 of the Kibeho apparitionsBook: "Our Lady of Kibeho – Mary speaks to the World from the Heart of Africa"DVD Documentary: "If Only We Had Listened" – Kibeho apparitions
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kibeho Shrines to the Virgin Mary Marian apparitions Rwandan genocide Titles of Mary, mother of Jesus