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Our Lady of Kibeho: Mary Speaks to the World from the Heart of Africa
Thirteen years before the bloody 1994 genocide that swept across Rwanda and left more than a million people dead, the Virgin Mary and Jesus Christ appeared to eight young people in the remote village of Kibeho. Through these visionaries, Mary and Jesus warned of the looming holocaust, which they assured could be averted if Rwandans opened their hearts to God and embraced His love.
Much like what happened at similar sites such as Fátima and Lourdes, the messengers of Kibeho were at first mocked and disbelieved. But as miracle after miracle occurred in the tiny village, tens of thousands of Rwandans journeyed to Kibeho to behold the apparitions. For years, countless onlookers watched as the Mother and Son of God spoke through the eight seers about God’s love, sending messages that they insisted were meant not only for Rwandans, but for the entire world, to hear. Mary also sent messages to government and church leaders to instruct them how to end the ethnic hatred simmering in their country. She warned them that Rwanda would become “a river of blood” —a land of unspeakable carnage —if the hatred of the people was not quickly quelled by love.
Some leaders listened, but very few the prophetic and apocalyptic warnings tragically came true during 100 horrifying days of savage bloodletting and mass murder. After the genocide, and two decades of rigorous investigation, Our Lady of Kibeho became the first and only Vatican-approved Marian (that is, related to the Virgin Mary) site in all of Africa. But the story still remains largely unknown.
Now, Immaculée Ilibagiza plans to change all that. She made many pilgrimages to Kibeho both before and after the holocaust, personally witnessed true miracles, and spoke with a number of the visionaries themselves. What she’s discovered will deeply touch your heart.
Much like what happened at similar sites such as Fátima and Lourdes, the messengers of Kibeho were at first mocked and disbelieved. But as miracle after miracle occurred in the tiny village, tens of thousands of Rwandans journeyed to Kibeho to behold the apparitions. For years, countless onlookers watched as the Mother and Son of God spoke through the eight seers about God’s love, sending messages that they insisted were meant not only for Rwandans, but for the entire world, to hear. Mary also sent messages to government and church leaders to instruct them how to end the ethnic hatred simmering in their country. She warned them that Rwanda would become “a river of blood” —a land of unspeakable carnage —if the hatred of the people was not quickly quelled by love.
Some leaders listened, but very few the prophetic and apocalyptic warnings tragically came true during 100 horrifying days of savage bloodletting and mass murder. After the genocide, and two decades of rigorous investigation, Our Lady of Kibeho became the first and only Vatican-approved Marian (that is, related to the Virgin Mary) site in all of Africa. But the story still remains largely unknown.
Now, Immaculée Ilibagiza plans to change all that. She made many pilgrimages to Kibeho both before and after the holocaust, personally witnessed true miracles, and spoke with a number of the visionaries themselves. What she’s discovered will deeply touch your heart.
256 pages, Paperback
First published November 28, 2008
243 people are currently reading
1359 people want to read
About the author
Immaculée Ilibagiza
29 books503 followersToday Immaculée is regarded as one of world's leading speakers on peace, faith, and forgiveness. She has shared her universal message with world dignitaries, school children, multinational corporations, churches, and at many conferences. Immaculée works hard to spread her message and to raise money for her Left to Tell Charitable Fund which directly benefits the children orphaned by the genocide.
Immaculée Ilibagiza is a living example of faith put into action. Immaculée's life was transformed dramatically during the 1994 Rwandan genocide where she and seven other women spent 91 days huddled silently together in the cramped bathroom of a local pastor's house. Immaculée entered the bathroom a vibrant, 115-pound university student with a loving family - she emerged weighing just 65 pounds to find her entire family had been brutally murdered (with the exception of one brother who had been studying out of the country).
Immaculée Ilibagiza is a living example of faith put into action. Immaculée's life was transformed dramatically during the 1994 Rwandan genocide where she and seven other women spent 91 days huddled silently together in the cramped bathroom of a local pastor's house. Immaculée entered the bathroom a vibrant, 115-pound university student with a loving family - she emerged weighing just 65 pounds to find her entire family had been brutally murdered (with the exception of one brother who had been studying out of the country).
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 148 reviews
August 10, 2016
Even though I tend to be hesitant about mystics and miracles, it intruiged me that one of the few Vatican approved Marian apparitions took place in a little town in Rwanda. I thought that the prophecies of the genocide were convincing, and I was familiar with Immaculée from EWTN and her book Left to Tell about her experiences of the Rwandan genocide. I expected it to be a good story, but I didn't expect it to delight me like it did. I've had some emotional reservations about Marian devotion, but this story seemed to melt them away. The manner in which she appeared to the children was so simple and motherly. The children felt so surrounded by love that they would laugh and giggle in her presence. She showed intense love for her "children" in the messages she gave, and also wisdom, even though her words were so simple. I enjoyed reading about it from Immaculée's perspective, because she was a child when they apparitions began, and witnessed miracles -- not just physical miracles, but changes in the hearts of her family and village. Reading this book, there's been a change in me as well -- a greater devotion to Christ through Our Lady, and a deepened understanding of the mysteries of the faith through the Rosary and the special Rosary of the Seven Sorrows.
June 15, 2019
The sole African Marian apparition approved by the Catholic Church, the first time Mary appeared to a young person in Kibeho was 13 years before the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. She appeared to at least 8 young people, girls and boys, and Jesus appeared also, at least to one young man, which was connectedt to the Kibeho appearances. 3 of these 8 have been officially approved; there might be more than 8, but they have remained unknown to most.
Although Mary talked about people needing to mend their ways the usual way, she also talked about future events, especially about the genocide, which spread even to where the visionaries talked to the crowd of people, in Kibeho. Blood would flow, but the site would later be rebuilt, and the pilgrimage there revived, though visionaries (some of them dying during the genocide) no longer appearing.
The author has traveled to the site, talked with some of the visionaries, and her own history is very tied to this site, as she tells in this book. She tells us the whole story, from the first appearance of Mary to the site being rebuilt. There's a bunch of photographs in the middle, which makes the story come alive quite well. At the end is the rosary connected to the story, the Seven Sorrows of Virgin Mary, and we're guided through it (you don't even need to find the type of rosary used in it, just following the guide will do).
The story is very easy to read, even in its heartbreaking spots. It's inspiring and interesting, and quite motivating. It's great to learn about something that would otherwise be overlooked by other apparitions very well known; this one is a treasure also.
Although Mary talked about people needing to mend their ways the usual way, she also talked about future events, especially about the genocide, which spread even to where the visionaries talked to the crowd of people, in Kibeho. Blood would flow, but the site would later be rebuilt, and the pilgrimage there revived, though visionaries (some of them dying during the genocide) no longer appearing.
The author has traveled to the site, talked with some of the visionaries, and her own history is very tied to this site, as she tells in this book. She tells us the whole story, from the first appearance of Mary to the site being rebuilt. There's a bunch of photographs in the middle, which makes the story come alive quite well. At the end is the rosary connected to the story, the Seven Sorrows of Virgin Mary, and we're guided through it (you don't even need to find the type of rosary used in it, just following the guide will do).
The story is very easy to read, even in its heartbreaking spots. It's inspiring and interesting, and quite motivating. It's great to learn about something that would otherwise be overlooked by other apparitions very well known; this one is a treasure also.
October 27, 2015
When the Rwandan massacre happened I was only vaguely aware of it, my happy little world revolved around two lively toddlers. Reading about it years later I wept bitterly. Eventually I learned about Immaculee Ilibagiza, weeks spent hiding in a bathtub emerging to discover her whole family slaughtered; suddenly the horror became even more intensely personal. But it wasn’t until recently when I became familiar with the devotion known as The Seven Sorrows Rosary that I made a concerted effort to learn more about the Church-approved Marian apparitions which preceded the tragic events of 1994 by 12 years.
Although the Seven Sorrows devotion goes back to the Middle Ages it gained new popularity following the Church approval of these apparitions in Kibeho, Rwanda. In her apparitions, Our Lady recommended that people pray the Chaplet (or Rosary) of the Seven Sorrows to obtain the favor of repentance.
Our Lady of Kibeho: Mary Speaks to the World from the Heart of Africa by Immaculee Ilibagiza is a poignant personal account of what the apparitions meant to someone who lived through this horrific historic event. It is told in the traditional African way—gentle, honest, and guileless, straight from the heart. Do we know what to do with something so precious?
Although the Seven Sorrows devotion goes back to the Middle Ages it gained new popularity following the Church approval of these apparitions in Kibeho, Rwanda. In her apparitions, Our Lady recommended that people pray the Chaplet (or Rosary) of the Seven Sorrows to obtain the favor of repentance.
Our Lady of Kibeho: Mary Speaks to the World from the Heart of Africa by Immaculee Ilibagiza is a poignant personal account of what the apparitions meant to someone who lived through this horrific historic event. It is told in the traditional African way—gentle, honest, and guileless, straight from the heart. Do we know what to do with something so precious?
September 14, 2009
Immaculée Ilibagiza has done it again. She has captured hearts and minds with her truly amazing book. I was so entranced by its story and the author's deep and trusting love for the Blessed Mother that I still find myself thinking about it several days since I've finished reading it. And I pray that I will take its lessons to heart.
Our Lady of Kibeho is an approved Marian apparition site in a tiny, obscure village on the edge of Rwanda. The Virgin Mary appeared to 3 school girls in Kibeho, one by one. Later, Mary and her son, Jesus, would appear to at least 4 others, including an illiterate pagan to whom Jesus himself taught scripture, prayers and basic doctrine. The nuns at the school, the village priest, and all their classmates were at first unbelieving and taunted the visionaries, calling them liars and devils. When the girls would fall into a trance-like state of ecstasy when being visited by the Blessed Mother, their classmates would pinch, poke and burn the visionaries to try to illicit some response but they only kept their blissful smiles and radiant faces turned toward the sky and were totally unaware of any harm being done to them.
As a natural skeptic myself, I appreciated the thorough tests and interviews the Vatican put the visionaries through. After 20 years of investigations, the Vatican approved Kibeho as an authentic Marian apparition site in 2001. This means it is worthy of belief, yet the Church never requires belief in any Marian apparition.
Our Lady came to Kibeho in 1981, it would seem, with a message of urgency for Rwanda and all the world: to repent from our sins and believe. She revealed to the visionaries the terrible violence that would befall Rwanda during the genocide of 1994. The prophecies were horrifically accurate. One million Tutsis were mercilessly slaughtered to death. They were pulled from their homes and chopped to pieces by machete by their own friends and neighbors. How could this evil have happened? Our Lady's message to her children was that we are all capable of such evil if we hide it in our hearts.
Our Lady of Kibeho is an approved Marian apparition site in a tiny, obscure village on the edge of Rwanda. The Virgin Mary appeared to 3 school girls in Kibeho, one by one. Later, Mary and her son, Jesus, would appear to at least 4 others, including an illiterate pagan to whom Jesus himself taught scripture, prayers and basic doctrine. The nuns at the school, the village priest, and all their classmates were at first unbelieving and taunted the visionaries, calling them liars and devils. When the girls would fall into a trance-like state of ecstasy when being visited by the Blessed Mother, their classmates would pinch, poke and burn the visionaries to try to illicit some response but they only kept their blissful smiles and radiant faces turned toward the sky and were totally unaware of any harm being done to them.
As a natural skeptic myself, I appreciated the thorough tests and interviews the Vatican put the visionaries through. After 20 years of investigations, the Vatican approved Kibeho as an authentic Marian apparition site in 2001. This means it is worthy of belief, yet the Church never requires belief in any Marian apparition.
Our Lady came to Kibeho in 1981, it would seem, with a message of urgency for Rwanda and all the world: to repent from our sins and believe. She revealed to the visionaries the terrible violence that would befall Rwanda during the genocide of 1994. The prophecies were horrifically accurate. One million Tutsis were mercilessly slaughtered to death. They were pulled from their homes and chopped to pieces by machete by their own friends and neighbors. How could this evil have happened? Our Lady's message to her children was that we are all capable of such evil if we hide it in our hearts.
February 22, 2009
I haven't read any of Immaculee Ilibagiza other books. In this book she relates how Our Lady appeared to Rwandans about ten years before the massacre to warn them about it. The apparitions have been approved by the Catholic Church. Rwanda is the most Catholic nation in Africa, about 60% Catholic. Rwandans flocked to Kibeho but unfortunately, like people at Lourdes and Fatima, appeared to be more interested in the miraculous goings-on than in the message of repentance. The book is worth reading just for its description of the simple, direct faith of African Catholics. It has some interesting photos of the visionaries taken while they were talking to Mary.
Our Lady asked people to pray the "Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary" rosary, which had fallen by the wayside after its initial appearance in the 13th century. The "Seven Sorrows Chaplet" can be ordered online. It has seven sets of seven beads, making for 49 Hail Marys. The Chaplet should come with instructions and the book also has instructions.
My understanding from prior apparitions is that when societies sin, as in abortion in America, temporal punishment is forthcoming. The wrong-doers may or may not repent but the apparitions make it possible for others to make repentance for them. We're not talking sackcloth and ashes here. Offering up a daily rosary and one's daily sufferings is all it takes. In other words, the apparitions make it easy to to avert the punishment.
As an aside, I knew a Catholic student from Ghana in college and he said one of the reasons the Catholic Church is increasing in leaps and bounds in Africa was because witchcraft is quite prevalent in Africa. The student related some of his own experiences in Ghana. I myself have heard of, but not witnessed, similar activity in India, especially one incident where a Hindu servant who had been mistreated by a Catholic family went back to her village and asked for a spell to be cast on that family. All hell broke loose and it took a good while and many exorcisms before things returned to normal. Witchcraft is not mumbo-jumbo, witness the power of Pharaoh's priests when confronted by Moses to turn sticks into snakes. Africans see witch doctors put spells on Catholic priests and churches and see they have no effect. Demonic activity would be far more prevalent in the West were it not for the ubiquity of the sacraments.
Our Lady asked people to pray the "Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary" rosary, which had fallen by the wayside after its initial appearance in the 13th century. The "Seven Sorrows Chaplet" can be ordered online. It has seven sets of seven beads, making for 49 Hail Marys. The Chaplet should come with instructions and the book also has instructions.
My understanding from prior apparitions is that when societies sin, as in abortion in America, temporal punishment is forthcoming. The wrong-doers may or may not repent but the apparitions make it possible for others to make repentance for them. We're not talking sackcloth and ashes here. Offering up a daily rosary and one's daily sufferings is all it takes. In other words, the apparitions make it easy to to avert the punishment.
As an aside, I knew a Catholic student from Ghana in college and he said one of the reasons the Catholic Church is increasing in leaps and bounds in Africa was because witchcraft is quite prevalent in Africa. The student related some of his own experiences in Ghana. I myself have heard of, but not witnessed, similar activity in India, especially one incident where a Hindu servant who had been mistreated by a Catholic family went back to her village and asked for a spell to be cast on that family. All hell broke loose and it took a good while and many exorcisms before things returned to normal. Witchcraft is not mumbo-jumbo, witness the power of Pharaoh's priests when confronted by Moses to turn sticks into snakes. Africans see witch doctors put spells on Catholic priests and churches and see they have no effect. Demonic activity would be far more prevalent in the West were it not for the ubiquity of the sacraments.
September 27, 2011
(I thought I already wrote a review! Where did it go? Oh well, here I go again.)
Immaculee Ilibagiza is the young woman, you may remember, who survived the Rwanda genocide by hiding in a cramped bathroom with 7 other women for 91 days. She is a remarkable woman, deeply spiritual and full of faith. In this book she details the apparitions of Mary in Kibeho that were ongoing during her childhood. The visionaries were warned of the upcoming horrors. Indeed, several of the visionaries themselves would be murdered. I had never heard of these apparitions in Kibeho until someone put this book in my hands and told me to read it! Now I want to read her other books.
Immaculee Ilibagiza is the young woman, you may remember, who survived the Rwanda genocide by hiding in a cramped bathroom with 7 other women for 91 days. She is a remarkable woman, deeply spiritual and full of faith. In this book she details the apparitions of Mary in Kibeho that were ongoing during her childhood. The visionaries were warned of the upcoming horrors. Indeed, several of the visionaries themselves would be murdered. I had never heard of these apparitions in Kibeho until someone put this book in my hands and told me to read it! Now I want to read her other books.
August 30, 2012
Loved it! I read this book right after "Led by Faith," the one that came before this one. Both were excellent, but this one took me by surprise. I didn't know what to expect but she tells it from a very personal viewpoint, starting from when she was a little girl wishing Our Lady would appear to her and her friend. Ever since that time she was drawn to Mary and ached to visit Kibeho when the apparations there began. A very powerful account of what became a faith revival in that area, nicely told.
June 27, 2013
How did I not know there were Vatican approved apparitions of Mary in Rwanda?!? This is Immaculee Ilibagiza's third book about the Rwandan genocide. She is always inspiring and uplifting. I find it very hard to put her books down and come back to reality. If you have not read her previous two books about surviving the genocide, do it now! Her story deserves and needs to be heard. If you have read the other two, don't pass on this one. It is a bit different since it's not an actual biography, but it is an amazing part of Immaculee's (and Rwanda's) story.
October 30, 2013
This was a great exposition of the recent (1980's through early 2000's) Marian apparitions in Africa. The authenticity and personal details shared were very moving.
I would encourage anyone interested in Marian apparitions to read. It is a truly amazing story.
Recommended.
I would encourage anyone interested in Marian apparitions to read. It is a truly amazing story.
Recommended.
August 17, 2013
This book covers six months of intensive visions of Jesus and Mary by several visionaries in Rwanda in 1982, toward the end of which Mary predicted the 1994 genocides if people didn't let go of their hatred and if the {Hutu} government didn't change its extremist treatment of the minority Tutsi tribe.
Overall the messages are gentle, kind, eminently Christian -- and yet there aren't enough of them in the text. I was dissatisfied with the way the story unfolded because it felt more like something my mother might tell me at the kitchen table than a documented event I'd read in a book. Most of the visionaries' messages are not given verbatim, and we hear about some of them only glancingly ( for example, that the government stopped allowing them to be broadcast over the radio when Mary got critical of the Rwandan government -- when we never heard that kind of message related from her in the book.)
I'm not sure if this means the author wasn't given permission to access the Vatican archives regarding the visions, or whether she wanted to keep it colloquial, but for me, I'm less interested in the way a family received the messages than I am in what the messages themselves actually were. We're sorely lacking in specifics as to how things were said, when they were said, and what the messages were, other than "be good to each other." I couldn't help but feel we kept skipping over the most interesting parts: what Mary actually said.
I did find it very interesting to be immersed in Rwandan culture and perspective, and the authors were great about describing the visionaries' personalities, lives, and the difficulties they endured. The book was very readable and I went through it in about two days.
I am passing this book along to my mother for her to read or to give to her Carmelite group.
Overall the messages are gentle, kind, eminently Christian -- and yet there aren't enough of them in the text. I was dissatisfied with the way the story unfolded because it felt more like something my mother might tell me at the kitchen table than a documented event I'd read in a book. Most of the visionaries' messages are not given verbatim, and we hear about some of them only glancingly ( for example, that the government stopped allowing them to be broadcast over the radio when Mary got critical of the Rwandan government -- when we never heard that kind of message related from her in the book.)
I'm not sure if this means the author wasn't given permission to access the Vatican archives regarding the visions, or whether she wanted to keep it colloquial, but for me, I'm less interested in the way a family received the messages than I am in what the messages themselves actually were. We're sorely lacking in specifics as to how things were said, when they were said, and what the messages were, other than "be good to each other." I couldn't help but feel we kept skipping over the most interesting parts: what Mary actually said.
I did find it very interesting to be immersed in Rwandan culture and perspective, and the authors were great about describing the visionaries' personalities, lives, and the difficulties they endured. The book was very readable and I went through it in about two days.
I am passing this book along to my mother for her to read or to give to her Carmelite group.
May 8, 2017
This was amazing. I've read Immaculee's first book and have her second yet to read. I loved hearing the story behind the apparitions. This book encouraged and bolstered my faith and my belief in our blessed Mother's constant care and concern for us here. I've already passed this on and can't recommend enough.
September 10, 2022
I'm amazed that no one talks about the genocide in Rwanda during the 1990s. And I'm amazed that the Catholics I know never talk about the Marian apparitions that occurred before the genocide.
Catholic Church has approved the apparitions.
Catholic Church has approved the apparitions.
August 1, 2025
So glad I picked this book up at a Catholic shrine several months ago the ago. It was a gem. I really couldn’t put it down.
September 9, 2016
In 1994, within 100 days over 800,000 people were massacred. In 1981 Mother Mary, Jesus’s mother, appeared to three students at Kibeho High School pleading that people change their ways. The “Mother of Sorrows” wept because her messages were not heeded.(There were more visionaries, but much was lost in the genocide.) The book details how tape recordings of the apparitions were played in remote villages and on the government owned radio. Word of them spread and it was common for tens of thousands to come to witness them. This is a great OVERVIEW of the apparitions of Our Lady of Sorrows, Mother of the World.
To read more go here: http://kibeho.org/en/history.php
Messages detailed:
Valentine - Queen of Heaven asked: Do penance, accept suffering without complaint for others sins, say the rosary daily, say the rosary of the seven sorrows 2x daily.
Agnes - bring the world back from sin, especially the youth from sins of the flesh.
Vestine - Jesus offers peace, happiness and great love, pray to Mother Mary for strength to accept. Traveled throughout with a tree branch as a staff (shepherd), pray the rosary as you walk......Jesus asks her do die on Good Friday....she died Good Friday.
Segatashya - message to purify hearts.
Sun danced
Cross appeared in sky
Hell & Heaven
To read more go here: http://kibeho.org/en/history.php
Messages detailed:
Valentine - Queen of Heaven asked: Do penance, accept suffering without complaint for others sins, say the rosary daily, say the rosary of the seven sorrows 2x daily.
Agnes - bring the world back from sin, especially the youth from sins of the flesh.
Vestine - Jesus offers peace, happiness and great love, pray to Mother Mary for strength to accept. Traveled throughout with a tree branch as a staff (shepherd), pray the rosary as you walk......Jesus asks her do die on Good Friday....she died Good Friday.
Segatashya - message to purify hearts.
Sun danced
Cross appeared in sky
Hell & Heaven
February 21, 2013
While I liked it, I can't rave about it. I guess I just expected more theology, or more detailed accounts of the apparitions, or more detail of the lives of the visionaries after the apparitions.
That being said, I'm relieved there wasn't much detail on the horrors of the Holocaust in 1994. I suppose that's all the followup necessary.
Another question I have is, am I the only one who questioned the veracity of Marie-Claire's visions? If the Church did the research and found them to be true, that should be enough, but it still seemed... too good to be true? Of all the students, the one who was leading the abuse of the other visionaries?
That being said, I'm relieved there wasn't much detail on the horrors of the Holocaust in 1994. I suppose that's all the followup necessary.
Another question I have is, am I the only one who questioned the veracity of Marie-Claire's visions? If the Church did the research and found them to be true, that should be enough, but it still seemed... too good to be true? Of all the students, the one who was leading the abuse of the other visionaries?
December 4, 2020
As the title suggests, this is the story of the apparitions of Our Lady at Kibeho. The author is not a visionary, but an apologist. Kibeho (to my knowledge) is the only approved apparition by the Catholic Church of Mary in Africa. This book focuses on the events and visionaries, as opposed to the genocide in Rwanda that the author treats in other books. While a bit pious for my taste, it is good and worthy for spiritual reading.
April 26, 2010
Ilibagiza's personal account of the appearances of the Virgin Mary to teenagers and young adults in Rwanda in the eighties. Very interesting introduction to these little-known appearances of Mary. However, the story is told more in relation to the writer's own experience and faith than to that of Rwanda and the genocide.
June 29, 2017
Fabulous book about the apparitions in Rwanda. Beautiful portrayal of Our Blessed Mother's tender love and compassion for all of her children. It makes me want to read more about Our Lady and grow closer to her, too.
In Jesus Through Mary!
In Jesus Through Mary!
November 25, 2014
Just finished reading this again! I could read it a dozen times and still love it. Our Lady of kibeho, pray for us!!
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This book is beautiful and excellently written. If you are interested in Mary and what she has done in the world, this is a must read.
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This book is beautiful and excellently written. If you are interested in Mary and what she has done in the world, this is a must read.
May 12, 2009
I am not skeptical. It happened. It will happen again.
April 3, 2010
This book was well researched and presented. I felt like I was present during the apparitions and I felt close to the people involved. Immaculee does it again! I can't wait for her next one.
April 23, 2010
Immacuulee tells this wonderful story with a simple and sweet style. Kibeho is now on my must see location in my travels.
June 15, 2014
Immaculee Ilibagiza describes her Catholic childhood in Rwanda. She lived a holy life of prayer, and faith until she was age 11.She started to doubt God’s existence, Bible stories, and Heaven. But all that changed when one of her favorite teachers told her about Our Lady of Fatima. The story of Lucia dos Santos, Francisco Marto, and Jacinta deeply captivated Immaculee. Later she and her friend Jeanette and her brother Fabrice climbed a local hilltop each da to tend their goats, where they prayed to Our Lay to appear in Rwanda.
A week later, Our Lady did appear a 16- year –old student who was attending a school in a town named Kibeho and to two other students. Her name was Alphonsine Mumureke. The second student at Kibeho High School was 17-year-old Anathalie Mukamazimpaka. The third student was 21- year-old Marie Claire Mukangango. Immaculee then goes in depth with each girl’s background and story. They were all very similar in that they were simple children who received messages from Mary, and skeptical friends and authorities mocked them at first. In these messages, Our Lady asked for increased prayer, conversion of hearts, and a chapel to be built in Kibeho. All of the girls spoke to the Virgin Mary casually because Mary had said sse didn’t want us to think of her as a strict teacher, but as a mom who really loves us and wants to play with us. Mary was described as a majestic lady, who was bathed in soft light. She wore a dress that was completely seamless and her skin shined like polished ivory. There are no words to define her beauty. When the girls went into their apparitions, doctors would physically torture the girls to test the limits of each girl’s vision. But whenever a visionary was in ecstasy, she was impervious to pain and unaware of her physical environment. Soon many individual came to the village to witness the miracles.
Even Immaculee’s father, who was a skeptic at first started to believe in the authenticity of the apparitions. He left to go a pilgrimage to Kibeho where he watched Alphonsine sing and dance beautiful songs that the Holy Mother had taught her. He was inspired to pray the Rosary for years, asking Mary to get Immaculee into a good high school despite impossible odds. The best private high school in Rwanda, in all of Africa, accepted her.
Immaculee begged to go with her father on the next pilgrimage but she wasn’t allowed to go because it wasn’t safe. On this trip to Kibeho, Marie- Claire was taught a special prayer called the Rosary of Seven Sorrows who then taught thousands how to pray. The lives of the people in Kihebo, Rwanda, Mataba were deeply affected by this prayer and the messages of the Blessed Mother. In 1982, the bishop authorized Kibeho as a site for public devotion.
Soon after, more children began to experience visions. Jesus visited Segatashya, a poor peasant boy. He did not know anything about God or religion and instantly converted. Another messenger was Vestine Salima who was born into a Muslim family. Jesus and Mary appeared to her sending her on a mission to travel to other parts of Africa, Zaire, Burnundi, Uganda, and Tanzania preaching love and faith. Other visionaries include 21- year-old Agnes Kamagaju, 14-year-old Stephanie Mukamurenzi, and Valentine Myiramukiza who joined the other visionaries in Kibeho. These missionaries all had similar messages that God loves All is children and that he doesn’t abandon anyone. We have to have true conversion of the heart, and prayer from the heart.
Also Alphonsine, Anathalie, and Vestine all had mystical journeys to Heaven, Purgatory, and Hell. Each girl would appear to be dead, but in a few days would miraculously come back to life. Soon after, the girls began to see violent images, like a river of blood, people killing each other, the country burning. These apparitions had shaken the thousands who listened to visionaries and Mary. These images were a cautionary glimpse into the near future of the genocide that was about to come in 1994.
Immaculee had to hide in a bathroom with seven others during the genocide. She struggled with the hatred that filled her hearted and had to fight hard to hold onto faith. It was her deepest moment of despair until she heard a live apparition from Kibeho on the radio. Through Valentine, the Blessed Mother reassured her children that she was them and to keep having faith. Immaculee made it out alive but most of her family was killed. Three visionaries had been killed and the other five were forced to move on with their lives.
After the genocide, Immaculee continued to visit Kibeho whenever she could but had to leave in 1998 due to death threats. In 2001, the Church finally proclaimed that the evidence it had collected on the apparitions was too overwhelming to ignore. The Vatican endorsed “the Shrine of Our Lady of Sorrows” which is the only approved apparition site in Africa.
I choose to read this book because it was a topic I did not know. I remember learning about he 1994 genocide in Rwanda and being intrigued by Immaculee Illibagiza’s deep faith. I am glad that I got to read about her early childhood. Her writing was very honest and personal. I admire Immaculee’s faith in Mary and courage during the genocide.
One of my favorite parts was when Mary taught her earthly children how to pray properly. I learned that we must offer God all that we conceal in our souls. God sees everything but we must tell him- have a strong will to confess all of our transgressions. Ten we have to ask for God’s forgiveness from the bottom of our hearts. By beginning this way, the sins that are carried cannot distract from praying sincerely. Then we must offer forgiveness by asking God to forgive all those who have trespassed against us. Then we have to pray for the spiritual and physical welfare of our relatives, so that God may bless them. Then we have to give thank to Him for having received and answered our prayers. Most importantly we must asks God for the strength to do His will, and for the strength not o stray form His light. Lastly we have to pray for the strength to be humble. Prayers have no meaning is they do not come form the depths of the heart.
Lastly I learned the important of a pilgrimage. As we have learned this year a pilgrimage is a journey. After reading this book I believe that everyone should make at least one pilgrimage in their life. Through reading Immaculee’s experiences on her pilgrimages to Kibeho, her faith was strengthened and she received joy and peace whenever she went.
A week later, Our Lady did appear a 16- year –old student who was attending a school in a town named Kibeho and to two other students. Her name was Alphonsine Mumureke. The second student at Kibeho High School was 17-year-old Anathalie Mukamazimpaka. The third student was 21- year-old Marie Claire Mukangango. Immaculee then goes in depth with each girl’s background and story. They were all very similar in that they were simple children who received messages from Mary, and skeptical friends and authorities mocked them at first. In these messages, Our Lady asked for increased prayer, conversion of hearts, and a chapel to be built in Kibeho. All of the girls spoke to the Virgin Mary casually because Mary had said sse didn’t want us to think of her as a strict teacher, but as a mom who really loves us and wants to play with us. Mary was described as a majestic lady, who was bathed in soft light. She wore a dress that was completely seamless and her skin shined like polished ivory. There are no words to define her beauty. When the girls went into their apparitions, doctors would physically torture the girls to test the limits of each girl’s vision. But whenever a visionary was in ecstasy, she was impervious to pain and unaware of her physical environment. Soon many individual came to the village to witness the miracles.
Even Immaculee’s father, who was a skeptic at first started to believe in the authenticity of the apparitions. He left to go a pilgrimage to Kibeho where he watched Alphonsine sing and dance beautiful songs that the Holy Mother had taught her. He was inspired to pray the Rosary for years, asking Mary to get Immaculee into a good high school despite impossible odds. The best private high school in Rwanda, in all of Africa, accepted her.
Immaculee begged to go with her father on the next pilgrimage but she wasn’t allowed to go because it wasn’t safe. On this trip to Kibeho, Marie- Claire was taught a special prayer called the Rosary of Seven Sorrows who then taught thousands how to pray. The lives of the people in Kihebo, Rwanda, Mataba were deeply affected by this prayer and the messages of the Blessed Mother. In 1982, the bishop authorized Kibeho as a site for public devotion.
Soon after, more children began to experience visions. Jesus visited Segatashya, a poor peasant boy. He did not know anything about God or religion and instantly converted. Another messenger was Vestine Salima who was born into a Muslim family. Jesus and Mary appeared to her sending her on a mission to travel to other parts of Africa, Zaire, Burnundi, Uganda, and Tanzania preaching love and faith. Other visionaries include 21- year-old Agnes Kamagaju, 14-year-old Stephanie Mukamurenzi, and Valentine Myiramukiza who joined the other visionaries in Kibeho. These missionaries all had similar messages that God loves All is children and that he doesn’t abandon anyone. We have to have true conversion of the heart, and prayer from the heart.
Also Alphonsine, Anathalie, and Vestine all had mystical journeys to Heaven, Purgatory, and Hell. Each girl would appear to be dead, but in a few days would miraculously come back to life. Soon after, the girls began to see violent images, like a river of blood, people killing each other, the country burning. These apparitions had shaken the thousands who listened to visionaries and Mary. These images were a cautionary glimpse into the near future of the genocide that was about to come in 1994.
Immaculee had to hide in a bathroom with seven others during the genocide. She struggled with the hatred that filled her hearted and had to fight hard to hold onto faith. It was her deepest moment of despair until she heard a live apparition from Kibeho on the radio. Through Valentine, the Blessed Mother reassured her children that she was them and to keep having faith. Immaculee made it out alive but most of her family was killed. Three visionaries had been killed and the other five were forced to move on with their lives.
After the genocide, Immaculee continued to visit Kibeho whenever she could but had to leave in 1998 due to death threats. In 2001, the Church finally proclaimed that the evidence it had collected on the apparitions was too overwhelming to ignore. The Vatican endorsed “the Shrine of Our Lady of Sorrows” which is the only approved apparition site in Africa.
I choose to read this book because it was a topic I did not know. I remember learning about he 1994 genocide in Rwanda and being intrigued by Immaculee Illibagiza’s deep faith. I am glad that I got to read about her early childhood. Her writing was very honest and personal. I admire Immaculee’s faith in Mary and courage during the genocide.
One of my favorite parts was when Mary taught her earthly children how to pray properly. I learned that we must offer God all that we conceal in our souls. God sees everything but we must tell him- have a strong will to confess all of our transgressions. Ten we have to ask for God’s forgiveness from the bottom of our hearts. By beginning this way, the sins that are carried cannot distract from praying sincerely. Then we must offer forgiveness by asking God to forgive all those who have trespassed against us. Then we have to pray for the spiritual and physical welfare of our relatives, so that God may bless them. Then we have to give thank to Him for having received and answered our prayers. Most importantly we must asks God for the strength to do His will, and for the strength not o stray form His light. Lastly we have to pray for the strength to be humble. Prayers have no meaning is they do not come form the depths of the heart.
Lastly I learned the important of a pilgrimage. As we have learned this year a pilgrimage is a journey. After reading this book I believe that everyone should make at least one pilgrimage in their life. Through reading Immaculee’s experiences on her pilgrimages to Kibeho, her faith was strengthened and she received joy and peace whenever she went.
March 10, 2022
Reading this with a view to review on RadioMariaIreland where we have a Book Club
Feel free to tune in to Radio Maria Ireland at 4 pm each Thursday to listen in to a book review
There are podcasts for over 20 book reviews originally broadcast in 2021
Feel free to tune in to Radio Maria Ireland at 4 pm each Thursday to listen in to a book review
There are podcasts for over 20 book reviews originally broadcast in 2021
February 25, 2018
Talk about having strong Faith. I can definitely learn a lot from Immaculèe. I hope I get to meet her one day.
December 28, 2019
Very easy read to pick up and put down, very well written and awe inspiring.
February 6, 2021
What an amazing inspirational book.
April 21, 2023
I love reading Immaculee's books! Another I will read over and over again
February 22, 2024
This is a beautiful book with so many details I had never heard of.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 148 reviews