Our Lady of Kibeho

there are emotions that carry me away because a moment is unforgettable life-changing it is not at all meaningless sorry about that in the small Rwandan village of Quebec Oh a series of extraordinary events unfolded the first took place at 12:35 on November the 28th 1981 alphonsine mama Rekha a young 16 year old student attending a college run by nuns saw a figure that no one else could see [Music] preventing a bomb on November the 28th which by the way was a Saturday we all went to the refractory I began tidying up the plates when I heard a voice saying kid easy laughs ah child I found myself isolated from my surroundings I lost sight of all my friends around me and all I could see was a cloud a beautiful lady stood in the cloud I asked her who are you my lady and she answered I am the mother of the word [Music] [Music] he was still very young at the time so it would not have been her imagination expression we never ramble in Kenya Rwanda mother of the word did not appear in any of the religious materials that we had at that time the mother of the word reappeared to alphonsine on that very night this time though they talked about our fond scenes private life and about her relationship with her family the mother of the words asked her to encourage her friends to pray with great fervor and told her about her future visits alphonsine recounted all that had happened to the headmistress of the college the headmistress however did not believe that she did not want to show herself in all the apparitions that followed she wanted instead to help me understand that I was living a false life for me to question and start again and so to stop all this silliness however I did see her regularly and could always say here is what the mother of the word told me till Monday she'd be everyone at Kibeho used to say that maybe she is mad the child is mad we did not believe in all that did not believe at times I would ask myself whether it was real alphonsine murmur echo with her boisterous character who had seen the Holy Virgin she really is active alfonsín in class is a pupil like many others and force in aluminum alphonsine murmur wrecker was a young girl who did not pray much she prayed when it was necessary at the beginning when she began having the apparitions we never believed her commit to begin with when they cornered me they imply that I was mentally unbalanced but at the same time I felt an inner strength that gave me to understand that what I was living was real when the Virgin Mary told me I will come on such-and-such a day during such moments some said it's untrue the whole weight before the apparition was hellish she really wasn't easy the Kazakh region from where alphonsine came was known throughout the whole of Rwanda for its magic practices and occultism so people began to think that alphonsine was cooperating with evil supernatural forces all of us Rwandans are afraid of this region because it he said that there are many many witches there I was 16 years old I found myself in an unknown place I had just arrived this wasn't my place this was not the region of my birth when someone stands before me and says I am sure uncertain but it's not the Virgin Mary and I can prove it based on this or that person's statements then I think that's diabolical I understood from the start that these were attacks I could feel my heart pounding as if somebody was hitting me it was like being struck it was thin but I nevertheless started to pray I said right mother of the world I believe that it is you that is what I feel inside that you appeared to me but is it possible for you to show yourself to others from another region and class than my own with whom I have never chatted if you could have chosen another girl not receive and when I also began having apparitions like the second visionary on January the 12th 1982 students began to say the demons attack those who do not pray according to the students alphonsine was in the grip of the demon but how could the demon also attacked Natalie who prayed there was a young girl who came up and said do you know natalie is in the chapel we were praying together and she was motionless we tried to budge her but she would not move the others ran away but I did not run with them I felt in my heart that the Virgin Mary was there Thank You mr. Chenault Juanita Maria none of the statues of the Virgin Mary but I have ever seen resemble her I saw her faith and it was very beautiful when you look at her you see that she has a beauty that transcends that of whites or blacks nonetheless her eyes very closely resemble those of blacks she was between twenty and thirty years old she was at once like a young bride she had a very young heir she said the message that I give you is not destined uniquely for you it is rather a message for the whole world what I say to you I do not say only to you I say it to all the people on earth she said that the people lived as they wished she asked us to love God and our fellow human beings with a love that knows no lies my fellow students the headmistress governors and teachers none of them understood anything of all that was happening right up to 1982 they persecuted us the headmistress used to say you are spreading feelings of insecurity throughout the school I will dismiss you but the Virgin continued to work miracles students the headmistress and some of the teachers were converted when a Hindle cart [Music] three months after the first apparition something happened that was to prove alphonsine and Natalie's demeanor worthy of their faith on the 1st of March 1982 a third student Marie Claire also saw the mother of the word up to that time she had been a most vociferous opponent inciting her fellow students to revolt against alphonsine and Natalie accusing them of being possessed by the devil a receipt also melaku is offered and from that moment the college children began saying now that is something extraordinary Marie Claire who persecuted our Francine also has visions from what alfonsín told me Marie Claire kissed her and said that what she was saying was true was right sitting for a satirist news about the extraordinary events at Cabarrus soon spread throughout the country journalists and pilgrims from throughout Rwanda neighboring countries as well as Beyond including Europe began to flock to the small village there was a person in front of Marie Claire that I could not see maybe believe that somebody was there was her gaze fixed on one spot there was a kind of dialogue and everyone who was there could guess the question she was being asked one could see that the Virgin Mary came quite simply like a mother wanting to play with her child to sing and dance and tease each other as they talk [Music] karabast no commas when an apparition begins no there is no panic no fear either I was always amazed at the place there was a lot of greenery one could quite simply really smell the fragrance of the grass it was beautiful it was truly a beautiful place is she gonna be a Muslim when she was a girl Connie fat curry doing over Viacom okay Michaela me to come in here and what inspires me today in my Christian life is the Virgin Mary simplicity the last set of years the church authorities set up two Commission's to investigate in detail the behavior of the girls during the apparitions as well as the contents of the messages of Our Lady of the world the theological Commission set up by the bishop of the area Monsignor jean-baptiste Kaahumanu de pute re was composed mainly of lecturers from the higher seminary was members of the medical Commission came wholly from the University of Rhonda's medical faculty the pyramid I'll defeat the sis's even mother-to-be who I have been able to follow the events in Quebec Hall for a long time now thanks to the two Commission's that have done so much good work especially the medical Commission the psychiatrist's distinguished himself though on occasion we were concerned that he mistreated the children decades of ways I looked listened so what was happening made notes and reported to the Monsignor I'm a senior Levesque we're interested in how they were influenced by their surroundings dude I am oh my we did various tests during the apparitions for example to ascertain whether a visionary was in touch with the world around him whether he could hear he was suffering see see the truth would for example prick a finger with a needle we even applied a burning candle to see whether the child would pull away his hand they didn't even react when we pinched them in order to maintain the highest standards of scientific impartial tea the AIDS of internationally acclaimed independent experts was sought following detailed research they presented their findings and opinions I concentrated on alfonsín America's gaze alfonsín was surrounded by a multitude of journalists who ceaselessly photographed her using a flash before an apparition she would blink at the flashes but not during an apparition one could say that she had become totally disconnected from the world around her [Music] [Music] successive tests showed that during an ecstasy all links of these girls with the outside world ceased they disengaged did not see the world around them as we did they heard nothing they entered another world that became more real than the reality that surrounded them with free will one can maintain such a state perhaps one minute two minutes but undoubtedly not for ten minutes or an hour that is impossible there must be something that captures their gaze the same goes for hearing she heard a voice that others clearly could not hear sahajiya the young people's gazes return towards the sky directly at the burning Sun directly overhead for over an hour they faced the Sun without burning their retinas I'd very much like an explanation for it is undoubtedly a phenomena that falls outside human will clearly even of a hysteric for his eyes his retinas would burn of course yet bears did not clinical examinations apart the medical Commission initiated long term psychiatric tests the visionaries psychological condition was appraised each was individually examined for epileptic tendencies drug addiction hysteria and any signs of mental instability we have been following the case of these children for one to three years it was much more than just a matter of a single examination we saw how they evolved in apparitions apart there was nothing we could approach them for speaker I can offer no medical explanation I can offer no earthly explanation clearly there is something else happening here that science can but record and that is all the cost attitude to the apparitions were accompanied by a variety of supernatural phenomenon the visionaries experienced journeys that could be qualified as mystic which at times lasted over ten hours ecstasy's were long and silent with our FONSI nor Natale stretched out motionless as if submerged in a coma their weight increased to a point that it became very difficult to lift them in such a state they experienced journeys of the soul made visits beyond their surroundings where they saw images they were counted on their return [Music] I remember one day exceptionally well she appeared before me and said you will tell your superior that I want to take you on a journey I was delighted to be able to go to my headmistress and to tell her the Virgin Mary is taking me on a journey she took me to a place where people were a bit sad it wasn't nice to look at and so I asked her why did you bring me here it's sad she replied one must please God one must do what God wants or one would end up here then we arrived in a different place that was Karma but equally sad right it was not jolly but in comparison with the first place it was better we then arrived in yet another place it was wonderful I could hear sound music sweet voices I said but I cannot see anybody here she replied for as long as you are on earth you will not see the people who sing that more or less revealed what awaits me depending for instance on my behavior including certain difficulties that I have to face but of course I should not forget the essentials to stick with the rosary the mass live her son's mysteries live the sacraments that the church offers for it is from these that I will draw my strength [Music] Culver is a revealer to vacate on my arrival I find her in the following state stretched out like so like a dead body one of my students was a nurse and he tried to reanimate but to no avail two adults who are unable to live to 25 to 30 kilogram child even though they were male adults steady personal prefix she showed no response her hands were always firmly joined and for example her knees however one might try could not be moved though you could try separating her joined hands you would not succeed so he tried to test a response to pain but again to no effect [Music] [Music] as a commission we endeavoured to be present from start to finish we carried out every possible test when she was in that state what that showed us was that in spite of everything there was something here that was quite extraordinary [Music] sky remedy will appear a massage poem on what our lady told me what I can say the message for the world is love our lady recite the rosary and convert we have to follow what the Church teaches us we have to love Jesus our Lord and the Virgin Mary because she is our mother whatever happens do not let go of Jesus do not let go of our Lord Indian girls in unison is identical see this certain elements of the message was similar but every child had her particular message our fond scenes particular message was to pray for families and the church no go no go savvy dingoes are secondary familiar me Natalie the Virgin entrusted to especially pray for the world and to pray for the souls that were in purgatory and to accept with love suffering that would help Jesus and the Virgin Mary to save the world first years or know each other Maria which is this marie-claire received a special message to pray and to teach others the Rosary of the Seven Sorrows no queer Disha we made some research to find out if there was any outside influence on her we saw that she could not have this knowledge on her own or found this in any book and we knew that such a rosary had existed however nobody in this country not even priests or bishops knew the rosary of the sorrows existed the Virgin Mary's apparition on the day of the Assumption in 1982 was prophetic as events twelve years later were to confirm everybody expected a joyous festival parishioner if the opposite happened and everybody was surprised and rather stupefied to be faced with Calvary the Virgin Mary showed herself to the visionaries with tears in her eyes crying she was inconsolable her sadness was that she was carrying as a message of salvation which we did not wish to receive and we examined the comportment of the visionaries upon analysis realized that it was serious normally in our video camera outfitted Sarah who is Chavo in 1982 the Virgin Mary showed me people killing each other and fires on the hills everything was burning she showed me holes deep and very dark she also showed me human skulls heads cut in half in 1983 she showed me a river of blood that was about to flow she said I suffer because your heart has continued to harden I suffer because many espoused vice / virtue I suffer because you no longer abide by God's commandments I suffer because of your hypocrisy I suffer because there is no love amongst people one could clearly see that she manifestly shared in the sufferings but at that moment we paid little attention to what she was telling us we were not prepared to do what she was asking us [Music] Civil War exploded in Rwanda in October 1990 the genocide that followed in 1994 took the lives of 800,000 victims Kabhi ho despite the apparitions of Our Lady only a few years before was particularly affected and witnessed Massacre and death even a few the quarren de jure army they were whole columns of armed men with clubs and guns the attack came the murder was approached from below the church they fired up the crowd we tried to defend ourselves with stones you saw people fall it was shooting around to burn them as they go to shinjitsu G on April 14th 1994 genocide took place here on a huge scale a dozen maybe up to 20,000 people died in the area most certainly ten or eleven thousand on this spot is worse specially here in the church before us the parish church where many took refuge from the killers in the hope that a holy place such as a church would be respected if not their lives in at least the place and so they would be saved it emits a cigarette Gaming had innumerable fancy-free marine at one point I thought that I was going to die I felt that I still had a chance to choose the place of my death and I said to myself I must go to the church-going I met a man who said father we have really done everything possible give us the sacrament of reconciliation so that we can die like the others who died before us what is most important is that our Lord should receive us in heaven she feel free Madison I really saw horrendous scenes many were killed and their bodies laid in stacks stacks of people dying in agony the length of the Secretariat erudition one is a did Freeman I heard the sound of people dying in agony [Music] that you like of a planner mark during his duels these violet stains of which there are many on the walls of this church mark whether Interhamwe bandits cut hose to get at the crowd of people who had gathered inside the church seeking shelter to see Tom she's clearly necessary building summer divine worship just a Judy chip and the bandits threw grenades through these holes or fire the Kalashnikov or whatever had a machine gun and in the end poured petrol to light a fire those who weren't killed by a machine gun fire or a grenade fragment were burned alive [Music] without shame jungles may now associate Nick Bala further along and neighboring fields in gardens we still find people find and bring us skulls shin and other bones that is why this place with a great amount of blood was spilt many innocent lives lost is a holy place a place of martyrdom because those who died here though perhaps not directly as a result of their faith in Christ died as a result of their humanity it's a live way young and that is what the visionaries of Quebec who saw the Virgin who told them pray for the sins of the world will bring disasters upon you for a very long time they saw before their eyes a country submerged in blood a country at war terrible battles many dead and bodies that could not be buried it seemed unbelievable people said these visions are mad with their dreams of disaster profits of misfortune and doom yet the prophecy was true incomprehensible to begin with but then so true I want to really easy for me Quebec ho will always be a symbol testament to the gospel of the cross and the redemptive nature of suffering yeah so France servi feet [Music] [Music] in subsequent apparitions Mary asked Natalie to fast for two weeks as penitence for the sins of the world she was to seek nourishment uniquely from the Word of God and Holy Communion during all these days I drank or ate nothing's she exceptionally allowed me to receive Holy Communion which I did every day on the eighth day she allowed me to drink holy water I was very thirsty and he thirst was the first pain my throat became dry and I began to have wounds in my throat then hunger as I ate nothing I felt hungry I felt terribly hungry I suffered much but at the same time her fasts were long so much so that doctors could not explain them because Africa is hot six days without water means death the doctors were very concerned but because the holy virgin had instructed her they preferred to let the matter rest continuing to monitor her closely - if need be step in at the last moment but nothing happened and she remained perfectly healthy Musa for fear of a Medusa we took blood and urine samples to ensure that there weren't any disturbing changes in her body functions but she managed to survive on the eucharist her organism suffered no ill effect here in the flange a dumb organism lose avoid trade you were very hard on the children I must admit that to begin with we were set against keen to find evidence proving that it was all false we ended up having to say otherwise every time into everything we had seen unable to offer or find any natural explanations with time the situation in Quebec became more complex in May 1982 many other people also claimed to have had visions to these events verged on sorcery and divinations of which there was much in the country I especially asked Christians to refrain from turning to 2 sayers or deities or practicing any other bizarre practices which they were doing to prove that they were also seeing something that calmed things down the questioning of many people ended and the investigators could once more concentrate and studying what were regarded as the serious vision after 20 years of meticulous research the two Commission's medical and theological recognized as uniquely authentic the visions of the first three girls our fond scenes nataly's and Marie Claire's on June the 29th 2001 Augustin masago the local bishop supported by Rwanda is Bishops Conference announced the church's decision on this question in my capacity as diocesan bishop of this site I declare what follows yes the Virgin Mary did appear at Quebec Hill on the day of the 28th of November 1981 and on subsequent occasions in the course of the months that followed [Music] annachi Sheila luckily we research the quality of the messages their authenticity the visionaries coherence and that is how we arrived at these three seconds Aqua Net Olivia it required a truly United and competitive work front from both the medics and theologians Coverity regime because the UK you believe that they meet the criteria laid down by the church moreover that the first three children recognized as such are responsible for making so many people talk about Quebec [Music] I believe tomorrow obviously the messages and their contents are the most important but there are also the spiritual fruits brought to the Christian community as a result of the messages the public apparitions at Quebec were more frequent than those at Lourdes or Fatima spread out over eight years the Holy Virgin talked with Natalie for the last time on December the 3rd 1983 whilst with alphonsine on November the 28th 1989 in the meantime the Holy Virgin has appeared a number of times privately oh girl get up P hunger Anna and she told me be patient I asked her whether I should enter religious orders she told me to stay here at Kibeho she told me you cling to me people and things pass you hold on to me and have greater confidence in me than a child towards its parents and then she told me to pray a lot pray a lot so that you are not overcome she has not returned since then [Music] I felt that she was telling me that the time had arrived for me to become responsible for what I had received it was sad knowing that she would no longer come and yet it was as if I was also sending myself on this mission she told me say this or say that presently it was my turn to uphold and to bring to all people the life that the Virgin Mary asks us to live [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] she specifically asked that a chapel be built here as a lasting sign of her visit Sooey [Music] the church authorities treated the holy virgins wishes seriously on the very first site of Africa's first apparitions a Church of Our Lady of the sorrows was built and consecrated on May the 31st 2003 [Applause] in a very short time she became a place of pilgrimage to which especially during Marian holidays over 30,000 pilgrims flock from all around the world many are converted and many cured whenever there was an apparition here in qio the holy virgin would say my children I would like all those who are ill to be healed I had sinusitis and within a couple of days I was cured just like that Jerry I felt dizzy and I fell down often relapses became ever more frequent I remember that evening in February 2000 I had experienced a particularly hard time with many recurrences throughout the night and then he all disappeared on that very same day just like that [Music] and many more at home but a man is objective I was amongst those who refused to recognize the cubical apparitions I came with a friend as company I wasn't used to praying but then my conscience began to question me after what I had seen at Quebec her with my own eyes I was a soldier so I returned to pray here after my demobilization towards the end of December 1998 I came back to thank God and I stayed for a one-week retreat during that retreat God made miracles that gave me peace and led to my conversion the priest who accompanied us talked about our vocations about our parish and about how bad it was he explained all this to the visionary at once saying right you must ask the Virgin Mary to really help us with vocations I said mother Mary do something because I would also like to be a priest but I don't know how to go about it I did not have to wait long it must have been about a year later that I joined the Palatine teacher who treated his students badly who persecuted us proved to be yet another sign he changed he began to love praying to the point that he is now a priest also contributed to pupils gradually changing [Music] fact Abbiati sanctorum a tiki boss a the fact of the apparitions and the Shrine of Our Lady of the sorrows at Quebec or could become instruments important instruments of reconciliation pilgrims who come here from throughout the country as well as neighboring countries become United they often arrive having been in dispute and yet and are praying together [Music] in operation together one never knows for certain whether an apparition is authentic or not it might be a high probability can have a moral conviction but an apparition is never Dogma it does not become a Church's article of faith it does have it become an expression of the church's faith a little sign given to the faithful a precious little sign is so precious in fact but apart from st. Peter's in Rome all the biggest shrines of Christendom are low linked apparitions never met a lady said that she had come to help us rise again because she could see that the world was once again in danger that things were going badly that there must be a way of helping us to recover it is an urgent call to convert to repent repent repent if not you will fall into an abyss the world is not well here in Rwanda we did not want to convert sufficiently and we saw the consequences the war the genocide and even in our region of the Great Lakes as you can see blood that has flowed and that still flows all this shows that precisely man the heart of man as difficulty in converting it is a formula that is repeated from apparition to apparition and that was first applied at La Salette I shall be forced led for the arm of my son I believe it is a visual formula that the Virgin employed to ensure that the peasants understood but it will not be God who strikes the world the world is destroying itself when man separates himself from God when man turns his back on love and so becomes egoistic hostile divisive well then humanity self destructs and voluntarily separates itself from God God's justice is not like human justice that practices the law of the guillotine heads are cut gods is an innate justice [Applause] it is not a message directed uniquely at Kibeho or Africa it is rather a message for the entire world the Virgin Mary wishes for a conversion of all human hearts in talking about pilgrimages she talks about sacrifice or mortification she says that for our spirit to enter into intimate communion with God we need to suppress our body to acts of suffering and then she gives examples to go on pilgrimages to fast to pray on our knees single for coming here my first item in our visit John Paul the second said in your country you have Quebec oh what news from Quebec Oh an answer for today is to invite everybody listening to come to the back home the Virgin Mary's shrine Quebec off the very first apparition and pilgrimage site officially recognized by the church and how we see the very first such site in Africa [Music] [Music] [Music]

Channel: Seton Parish

Views: 183,924

Rating: 4.8782902 out of 5

Keywords: Rwanda, Our Lady of Kibeho, Diocese of Gikongoro, Emmanuel Ingabire

Id: PEkY6vwZc3U

Length: 49min 58sec (2998 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 31 2019