New book on "Our Lady of Kibeho" released Nov. 28, 2009

Book on Rwandan Marian apparitions to be released on anniversary

By Regina Linskey
Catholic News Service

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Like many stories from Africa, the story of Mary appearing to three young girls in Rwanda "wasn't told" beyond the continent, said best-selling author Immaculee Ilibagiza.

So Ilibagiza wrote the first English-language book about Mary's apparitions in the 1980s at an all-girls Catholic high school in the remote Rwandan village of Kibeho, the only Vatican-recognized Marian apparitions in Africa.

"Our Lady of Kibeho" was to be released Nov. 28, the anniversary of the first apparition in 1981.

Calling "Our Lady of Kibeho" "the most important book I will write," Ilibagiza told Catholic News Service in a telephone interview Nov. 20 that she can remember hearing about the apparitions from her father at the dinner table, a place where her close family gathered nightly to share the stories of the day and talk about religion.

"My dad said, 'You won't believe what happened; the Virgin Mary appeared to a girl in Kibeho,'" Ilibagiza recalled.

She said she learned the details of the Marian apparitions from family talk, village chatter and the tape recordings of the visionaries and Kibeho onlookers that the local priest recorded and played to his parish.

But Ilibagiza said she wasn't exactly thrilled at the time that another girl saw Mary before she did. That year, Ilibagiza's fourth-grade teacher had told her class the story of Our Lady of Fatima, and the young Ilibagiza made it her mission to become a visionary. Ilibagiza, her best friend and her best friend's little brother pretended to be shepherds, just like the Fatima visionaries, and prayed that Mary would appear to them.

Initially, the local Kibeho priest, villagers and even some members of the Ilibagiza family thought the first visionary, Alphonsine Mumureke, was a liar.

"In my heart as a child, I believed it 100 percent," said Ilibagiza.- (please see link http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/0805917.htm )

Here is the book's page at http://www.amazon.com/Our-Lady-Kibeho-Speaks-Africa/dp/140192378X .

So far, I am not finding this book listed at Leaflet Missal, a popular Catholic faith bookstore. ( http://www.leafletonline.com/catalog/Home/HomePage.aspx?