segatashya 5

For those of you who are unfamiliar with my most recent book, Our Lady of Kibeho: Mary Speaks to the World from the Heart of Africa [2008], I should explain that Segatashya was one of a group of young visionaries who had apparitions of the Virgin Mary—and in Segatashya’s case, of Jesus Christ—in the remote Rwandan village of Kibeho during the 1980s. 

At the time, there were dozens of visionaries who claimed to be having divine apparitions, but in Our Lady of Kibeho, I focused on the eight who were found to be most credible by the Catholic Church, as well as by the tens of thousands of pilgrims who flocked to Kibeho for inspiration. 

In essence, the visionaries delivered messages of love, instructing us on how to live better lives closer to God’s will. They told us that by following the inspirational advice of those messages, our world would become a more peaceful place, and our souls would be better prepared for the day when we meet Jesus at the end of our lives and called to account for our time on Earth. 

The heaven-sent messages delivered in Kibeho were, as both the Blessed Mother and Jesus made clear,  of great and immediate concern to everyone in the entire world. They contained warnings for Rwanda,  for our planet, and for our individual  souls—warnings about the terrible things that could befall us as individuals and as a species if we did not embrace the pure and loving lifestyle Mary and Jesus were offering to us. 

As Jesus told Segatashya, the world is in very bad shape, and terrible days await us—but, no matter how dire things become, if we pray from our hearts and sincerely perform good deeds, we will find peace in this world and the next.

I was 11 years old  when the apparitions began in Kibeho.  

The wondrous, mystical encounters experienced by the visionaries, and the miraculous messages they received from heaven and delivered to the rest of us, have shaped my life in more ways than I can possibly count. 

And no visionary was more influential to my young mind, my burgeoning faith, and my long-term spiritual growth than Segatashya. His unique personal story and incredible interaction with Jesus  captivated me as a child, and has kept me happily enthralled ever since. I’m sure that once you get to know him as I have, you will feel precisely the same way. 

Although the Kibeho apparitions are still largely unknown in much of the world (but I am working hard to change that), the miraculous events that took place there radiated across Rwanda’s farms, forests, and jungles, electrifying my native country with such power and intensity that its priests, bishops, and archbishops were forced to stand up and take notice. 

How could they not? Countless Rwandans traveled for hundreds of miles on foot, and often without food or shelter, just to get a glimpse of the visionaries of Kibeho and to be part of the miracles happening there. Authorities from the Catholic Church launched a rigorous investigation into the origin and nature of the apparitions, an investigation that would scrutinize and dissect every aspect of the visionaries’ lives and backgrounds. 

A Commission of Enquiry was established, and the Vatican itself became part of the investigation into the shocking supernatural occurrences taking place in one of the most obscure regions of deepest Africa. The investigation led by Church experts—including top theologians, scientists, physicians, and psychiatrists—lasted a full two decades. 

And as remarkable as the apparitions of the Virgin Mary and Jesus were in themselves, to many, the positive conclusions of the Commission of Enquiry after its 20-year examination was almost equally miraculous. In November 2001, the Vatican, in an extremely rare decree, approved the apparitions of the Virgin Mary experienced by three Kibeho visionaries between 1981 and 1989.  

Those  three  visionaries—Alphonsine,  Anathalie, and Marie-Claire—were all teenage schoolgirls at Kibeho High School and were the first visionaries to have apparitions in the region. The Church officially endorsed worship at “the Shrine of Our Lady of Sorrows,” making Kibeho the only approved apparition site in all of Africa. 

The little shrine at the tiny village school is slowly but steadily becoming a favorite pilgrimage destination for the faithful from all parts of the world.I was beyond thrilled by the Church’s findings. The fact that Mary and her son’s messages were reaching out to the world despite having been delivered in such a remote country—and in a place touched and tainted by the most evil form of mass murder—proved to me that God’s power was boundless, that His love will conquer all obstacles. 

The Vatican’s endorsement of Our Lady’s shrine inspired me so much... 

that I sat down and wrote 'Our Lady of Kibeho',  which was published in 2008.  

I wanted the whole world to know about the Kibeho visionaries and their  messages of love, hope, and  peace. I wanted the whole world to share my love of the Virgin Mary. And I wanted the whole world to travel to Rwanda and visit Our Lady’s remarkable shrine... to feel the power and purity of her love in that holy place for themselves. 

In so many ways, my wishes have come true. So far my book has been translated into more than ten languages and, God willing, will one day be read by people everywhere on the planet. Hundreds of people who have read it have made the life-changing journey to the shrine  in  Kibeho.  So  many  of  them  have  experienced miraculous healings—like one little boy I know who was healed of bone cancer after his grandmother recited the Rosary of the Seven Sorrows in the chapel where the Virgin Mary sometimes appeared to the visionaries. 

I have personally accompanied dozens of friends on pilgrimages from the United States to Rwanda and have seen first-hand many transformations of hearts and souls taking place on that blessed ground where the Virgin Mother and Jesus appeared to the young visionaries...

[bron]