An Apparition of Warning
- Sandra Hansen
- Oct 13, 2025
- 5 min read
Many of us are drawn to Marian Apparitions, as it gives us a glimpse into the supernatural and the reality of heaven. In an earlier post, I spoke of the Apparitions in Medjugorje, Bosnia-Herzegovina, which began in June of 1981. Interestingly enough, Mary appeared later that same year, in November of ’81, in the small village of Kibeho in southern Rwanda. She came with an urgent message of conversion to a country that had a history of tribal conflict.
Rwanda is a densely populated and very impoverished country with a history of tribal and civil conflict. The three main tribes are the Hutu, Tutsi, and Twa tribes. While these ethnic labels have been meaningless for a long time, they were still the cause of horrible barbarities. In 1981, when the apparitions began, no one knew Rwanda was facing its most horrifying atrocities yet.
On November 21st of that year, a young girl named Alphonsine heard a voice calling her and stepped out into the hallway while she was at school. She saw a beautiful woman in white who said, ‘My daughter.’ When Alphonsine asked who she was, she said, ‘I am the Mother of the Word.’ She then stated that she was coming to Kibeho as a mother and wanted to be loved and trusted in order to lead people to her son.
Her visions continued, and she was often mocked by her fellow students. Then in January 1982, the Virgin appeared to another student, Anathalie. This added validity to Alphonsine’s apparitions, and the school began having more prayer, especially the rosary. One student named Marie-Claire, however, was not convinced and was the most outspoken critic of the two girls. Then in March of 1982, our Lady appeared to Marie-Claire, and she found herself begging for forgiveness from her fellow visionaries. This amazing change in Marie-Claire gave even more validity to the apparitions. Our Lady asked all to meditate on the Passion and her seven sorrows, and to pray the rosary asking for the gift of true repentance.
The visions continued until 1989, and there were others who also said they saw our Lady. The visions of the first three girls were approved by the local Bishop in 2001, following more than twenty years of medical and theological examination of the messages and the visionaries. They were much like other Marian Apparitions of the last century. They took place in poor countries of the world, and the messages urged people to convert, to pray with the heart, to fast and pray the rosary, and to practice humility and guard against sexual impurity.
The Blessed Virgin continually called for penance and conversion, and told Marie-Claire, “I am concerned not only for Rwanda or for the whole of Africa. I am concerned with, and turning to, the entire world.”
Most disturbing was the vision on the Feast of the Assumption in 1982, which was an 8 hour apparition attended by nearly 20,000 people. Mary warned that if Rwanda did not turn to God, there would be “rivers of blood.” The visionaries, who suffered intense tremors and weeping throughout the apparition, saw burning trees, chopped and decapitated bodies, and so many corpses there was no one to bury them. This was an especially troubling vision for Rwanda, as violence was brewing at that time between two of the ethnic groups, the Hutu’s and the Tutsi’s.
In light of the Rwandan genocide that followed just over a decade later, it was obvious this vision was a warning and a prophecy. Sadly, Hutu rebels killed an estimated 77% of the Tutsi population of Rwanda, as well as many Hutus who opposed their actions. Approximately 800,000 people were killed, and Kibeho was one of the places with the most horrific violence. While the visionaries Alphonsine and Anathalie survived, Marie-Claire was killed.
Immaculee Ilibagiza was a young girl from Rwanda at the time of the genocide. She attended many of the gatherings where the young girls saw our Lady and believed whole-heartedly in the apparitions. Immaculee was from the tribe of the Tutsi’s and survived the genocide when a Hutu neighbor hid her and seven other women in his tiny bathroom for 3 months. Her parents and two of her three brothers were killed in the genocide, and her story is a gripping testimony of the importance of prayer and trust in God during the misery she endured. I would highly recommend her book, ‘Left to Tell,’ which is an amazing witness to the power of God and miracles even in the midst of darkness.
Immaculee spent as many as twenty hours a day in meditation and contemplation while she was in hiding. At first, her time was spent begging God to open her heart and show her how to forgive. She knew she could not forgive on her own without God’s grace, and her hatred was so strong that she knew eventually it would crush her. She heard an answer from the Lord: ‘You are all My children.’ Gradually the Lord released her from the unforgiveness and bitterness she felt and gave her the grace to see all as children of God, even those committing atrocities. She then heard, ‘Forgive them, they know not what they do.’ She said for the first time she pitied the killers. For the first time since she entered the bathroom, she slept in peace.
After they were finally released, Immaculee had gone from 115 pounds to 65. It was a challenging time as she set about rebuilding her life. At one point she visited a prison in Kibeho and met with the leader of the gang who had killed her mother and her beloved brother. He was weeping and felt such shame he could barely make eye contact with Immaculee as she reached out to touch his hand and offer her forgiveness. He was now the victim of his victims, destined to live in torment and regret.
While this was a very dark time, the glimmer of hope streams through with our Lady’s miraculous Apparitions. This beacon of hope is a light for all of Africa and the universe, and her presence is still felt at the Kibeho shrine. Immaculee feels it is never too late for our Lady’s messages. She came to Rwanda not for Africa alone, but for the entire world. She comes as she always does, speaking to us as her children, asking us to pray, fast, and convert, and reminding us she loves us.
Books
Left to Tell: Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust: Ilibagiza, Immaculée, Erwin, Steve: 9781401944322: Amazon.com: Books