Kibeho is a small village located in southwestern Rwanda. Our Lady’s apparitions in Kibeho, Rwanda, began on November 28, 1981, and ended on November 28, 1989. November 28, 1981 was a time of increasing tension between theTutsi andHutu groups. The apparitions occurred at Kibeho College, a secondary school for girls, and included an apocalyptic vision of Rwanda descending into violence and hatred which many believe foretold the 1994genocide.

Over the course of the 1980s, the Virgin Mary appeared to three young women, identifying herself asNyina wa Jambo (Kinyarwanda for “Mother of the Word”), which was synonymous withUmubyeyi W’Imana(“Mother of God”). The teenaged seers reported that the Virgin asked everyone to pray to prevent a terrible war. In the vision of August 19, 1982, they all reported seeing violence, dismembered corpses, and destruction.

The longest series of visions were attributed to Alphonsine Mumureke, who had received the initial…