Celebrated on August 15 every year, the day commemorates the belief that Mary, the mother of Jesus, was taken up into Heaven, body and soul, at the end of her earthly life.
In Rwanda, the day is particularly special to the members of the Catholic Church, as thousands of pilgrims often throng the Kibeho Holy Land, renowned for the apparitions of the Virgin Mary.
The 'Holy Land,' situated in the Nyaruguru District of Southern Province, rose to prominence four decades ago following reported apparitions of Mary to three high school girls.
Alphonsine Mumureke was the first to claim that she saw a Lady of incomparable beauty, who presented herself as 'Nyina wa Jambo' (Mother of the Word), while in the cafeteria of the Catholic boarding school Kibeho College, Rwanda, on November 28, 1981. The 16-year-old girl said that she immediately recognized the Lady as the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Mumureke's claims were initially met with scepticism, with some people dismissing her as crazy or possessed by evil spirits. Others accused her of fabricating the story to gain favour at the school run by the Benebikira Sisters.
Amid the scepticism, two other students at the school, Marie Claire Mukangango and Nathalie Mukamazimpaka, also reported the phenomenon, further deepening the mystery.
From May 1982, the phenomenon was reported outside the college of Kibeho with some visionaries claiming to have seen Mary and others Jesus.
The growing number of visionaries prompted an inquiry by the Catholic Church, led by Mgr. Jean Baptiste Gahamanyi, former Bishop of the Diocese of Butare, to which Kibeho belonged at the time.
As part of the investigations into the reported apparitions, two separate commissions were established by the local Catholic Church. A medical commission began its inquiry on March 20, 1982, while a theological commission was installed on May 14, 1982.
The main mandate of the two committees was to investigate the events with all objectivity, patience, serenity and without taking into account their personal emotions.
While conducting their probe, it's documented at the Kibeho Sanctuary that the two commissions were guided by instructions given by the Holy See: The "Norms for Judging Alleged Apparitions and Revelations", published by the Congregation of the Doctrine of Faith on February 24, 1978 in Rome. The Holy See is the central governing body of the Catholic Church worldwide.
Given the large number of supposed visionaries, the commissions had to prioritize the first eight casesâ€"those from the first year of the apparitions at Kibeho, which occurred between November 28, 1981, and November 28, 1982.
'This choice, however, was a working hypothesis, not a presumption of authenticity for such a large number of visionaries,' Kibeho Sanctuary explains on its website.
In the months and years that followed, the commissions released reports about the apparitions, and on August 15, 1988, Augustin Misago, the Bishop of Gikongoro, approved public devotion linked to the apparitions at Kibeho.
To promote the already authorized public worship, Mgr. Misago presided over the laying of the foundation stone for the future chapel of the apparitions on the esplanade of the shrine during the first anniversary of the apparitions on November 28, 1992.
On May 31, 1993, the very first official Diocesan pilgrimage to Kibeho took place with the intention of praying for peace in Rwanda. This was at the height of the liberation war between the Rwandan Patriotic Army (RPA) and government forces.
On November 20, 1993, about one year after the laying of the first stone for the Shrine of Kibeho, the Bishop blessed and inaugurated a provisional Chapel in one of the dormitories of Kibeho Secondary School, nicknamed the "dormitory of the apparitions'.
Sadly, in April 1994, during the Genocide against the Tutsi, Kibeho Parish Church became a site of massacre. Many victims, who sought refuge there, were killed in what should have been a safe haven for them.
After the country's liberation and the beginning of the nation's healing journey, pilgrimages started at Kibeho on Christmas Eve of 1995.
Nearly six years later, on June 29, 2001, Bishop Misago declared the authenticity of the Kibeho apparitions, paving the way for even more pilgrimages to the site.
'Yes, the Virgin Mary appeared at Kibeho on November 28, 1981, and in the months that followed. There are more reasons to believe in the Apparitions than to deny them... The Apparitions of Kibeho are now officially recognized... The name given to the Marian sanctuary at Kibeho is Shrine of Our Lady of Sorrows,' the late bishop declared in his judgment.
He added, 'That Kibeho become a place of pilgrimage and of encounter for all who seek Christ and who come there to pray, a fundamental centre of conversion, of reparation for the sins of the world and of reconciliation, a point of meeting for 'all who were dispersed', as for those who aspire to the values of compassion and fraternity without borders, a fundamental centre that recalls the Gospel of the Cross."
Today, tens of thousands of pilgrims from around the world visit the site each year to seek blessings.
The Assumption Day celebrations are marked by a Mass and prayers led by devotees. Water from the fountain near the church is said to have miraculous properties. Pilgrims collect it in jerry cans, have it blessed by the priest, and take it with them when they depart.
Wycliffe Nyamasege
