A number of years ago, I remember my mom was deeply moved by a book she read called Left to Tell: Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust written by Immaculée Ilibagiza, a survivor of the Rwanda genocide in 1994, about her time spent in hiding while most of her family was brutally murdered. When our brother in Christ John recently received two of the other books she’s written, Our Lady of Kibeho and The Boy Who Met Jesus, I told him I wanted to borrow them both as soon as he’d finished them.
Our Lady of Kibeho is a very powerful account about the visionaries in Rwanda to whom the Blessed Mother and Jesus appeared starting in 1981. Immaculée, the author and narrator, was a young girl growing up in a devout Catholic family in Rwanda when these apparitions began. She was very intrigued and overjoyed to hear the radio reports that three school girls in Kibeho had been visited by the Blessed Mother. She begged her parents to go on a pilgrimage to the village. Though her parents, neighbors, brothers, and other family members made the trek to Kibeho, they didn’t allow Immaculée to go, as they feared for her safety.
The account of the visionaries, the messages they received, the Commission of Enquiry put together to ascertain that these supernatural experiences were authentic, and the reactions of the people of Rwanda and the leaders of the Church are all explained in fascinating detail.
Included in these miraculous accounts, Immaculée shares the story of how Our Mother Mary interceded on her behalf over the years. When she came of age, she rejoiced in finally getting the opportunity to make more than one pilgrimage to Kibeho, the place she’d longed to visit ever since hearing the first report of possible apparitions.
Our Lady of Kibeho ends with a guide on how to pray the Rosary of Seven Sorrows which the Blessed Mother entrusted visionary Marie-Claire Mukangango to reintroduce to the world.
I was so enthralled with the accounts that it only took me a day to finish the book. I highly recommend it to all who are interested in learning about the love the Blessed Mother has for every person in the world. You can purchase a copy of Our Lady of Kibeho here.
