HISTORICAL INSIGHTS
Before
Kibeho Sanctuary is situated in the parish erected in 1934, born from the Kansi Parish founded in 1910, which was also born from Save Parish, the oldest parish established in Rwanda. This parish was dedicated to the Mother of God (Umubyeyi w’Imana) and characterized by a strong christianity and many vocations to priesthood and to religious life.
Kibeho College, in which the apparitions happened, was founded in 1968 and entrusted to the Benebikira sisters until now. It was a simple and regular school, like any other school in Rwanda until the first apparitions took place on the 28th of November 1981.
During
The history of Kibeho started changing its face since the apparitions of the Virgin Mary to the three student girls (1981-1989). To the first visionary, namely Alphonsine Mumureke, the Virgin Mary introduced herself saying “Ndi Nyina wa Jambo”, which means “I am the Mother of the Word”. Since then, Kibeho became prominent, and people from every corner of Rwanda and all over the world started to come to Kibeho, attracted by what was happening there.
You may wonder and ask yourself why did the Virgin Mary select Kibeho. The answer was given by the Virgin Mary Herself saying that she appears to whom she wants and when she wants. Since then, the school of “Mère du Verbe” (as it is called today) became a center of the apparitions, and the message of Kibeho spread surprisingly fast.
Many newspapers, such as Kinyamateka, Imvaho and broadcasting channels wrote and talked about spectacular events in Kibeho, which made it a center of interest to the whole world.
Thus, all the three visionaries who are Alphonsine Mumureke (28 nov,1981-28 November 1989), Nathalie Mukamazimpaka (12 January 1982-03 December 1983), Marie Claire Mukangango (02 March 1982-15 September 1982) significantly facilitated the understanding and spreading of the Virgin Mary’s message, and influenced the Catholic Church to make an intense investigation about their life and the apparitions in general. Henceforth, Bishop Gahamanyi Jean Baptiste created two commissions: medical (March 1982) and theological (May 1982).
When you dig deep into the apparition events, you find behind the Virgin Mary’s appearance a message of a Mother who is nurturing her children and bringing comfort to their lives. When you take a closer look at the old days of the visionaries, you notice a common trait of hardship, as we ourselves have them in our own life. Therefore, the three girls acted as a bridge of the Virgin Mary’s comfort and unconditional love to us.
Those Virgin Mary’s apparitions themselves are a peculiar point of “contact between heaven and earth”. Typically, they happen in times of crisis in the world as the Virgin Mary says “The world conducts itself very badly (“Isi imeze nabi cyane.”). The world hastens to its ruin, it will fall into the abyss”, in other words, “it is plunged into innumerable and unrelenting disasters.” (“Ngo isi igiye kugwa mu rwobo.”). The world is rebellious against God (ubu isi yarigometse), it commits too many sins, it has neither love nor peace. “If you do not repent and do not convert your hearts, you will fall into the abyss.”
This part of the message is a call to conversion and reconciliation
From the 28th of November 1981 to May 1982, all the apparitions took place in the dormitory, which was transformed into the “Apparition’s Chapel”. While from 31st May 1982 to 28th of November 1989 held outside of the dormitory, but a long part of them would take place at the podium (15th August 1982 to the 21st of November 1989).
After
After experiencing the supernatural events, some people remained with doubts but others were convinced and waiting for the declaration of the Church about the authenticity of what they have heard and seen. Fortunately, the investigations were concluded by approving the Kibeho apparitions as authentic. It was on the 29th of June 2001, after the approval of the Holy See, when the Declaration of the Bishop of Gikongoro bearing the final judgement on the events of the Apparitions of Kibeho, was issued by Mgr Misago Augustin.
Apparitions of the Virgin Mary have been reported worldwide since antiquity; but the Roman Catholic Church’s investigations offered approval to a number of them, such as Guadalupe, Fatima, Lourdes etc. Thus, Kibeho is one of them; the first approved in African continent.
The very first words of the Virgin Mary at Kibeho are fundamental to one who would like to dig deeper into her Message: “Mwana” (Child) and “Ndi Nyina wa Jambo” (I am the Mother of the Word). By these words, she clearly identified herself as a Mother who is calling all her own children. This motherhood can be represented in to two ways, that means the Mother of the Church (cf. Jn 19, 27), and Mother of God (cf. Ephesus Council, 431).