Cyprien and Daphrose Rugamba

Cyprien (ca. 1935–1994) and Daphrose Rugamba (ca. 1944–1994) were a married couple from Rwanda, who introduced the Catholic Charismatic Renewal and the Emmanuel Community to their country in 1990, and were assassinated in the Rwandan genocide of 1994. The cause for their canonization in the Catholic Church was opened in 2015.[1]

Servants of God

Cyprien and Daphrose Rugamba
Photograph taken in 1992 in the garden of their home in Kigali (Rwanda).
Married Couple
BornCyprien Rugamba
ca. 1935
Daphrose Mukansanga
ca. 1944
Cyanika, Nyamagabe, Rwanda
Died(1994-04-07)7 April 1994
Kigali, Rwanda
Venerated inRoman Catholic Church
Patronage

Biography

Cyprien [Sipiriyani] Rugamba attended primary in Nyabagabe. In September 1948, he was admitted to Saint Leon Minor Seminary of Kabgayi where he finished in 1954 and moved to Major Seminary of Nyakibanda. He also studied history in Burundi and in Belgium. He had a talent for poetry, music, and choreography,[2] with a particular interest for ancestral art forms in Rwanda.[3] He served as director of the Rwandan National Institute for Scientific Studies in Butare.

Daphrose [Daforoza] Mukasanga was a school teacher, born in the same village of Cyanika in the south of Rwanda as Cyprien. They married in 1965, but the relationship was not easy; Cyprien neglected Daphrose and was unfaithful to her, leading to a separation. In 1982 Cyprien, who had lost his Catholic faith, had a religious experience which restored their marriage.[4] They moved to Kigali, where they established a feeding center for street children.[5] They encountered the Emmanuel Community in 1989 through Fidesco and went on a pilgrimage to Paray-le-Monial. When they returned to Rwanda, they started a household (a weekly sharing group). The first Community Weekend took place on 22–23 September 1990, thereby establishing the Emmanuel Community in that nation.[6]

The independence of the Republic of Rwanda led to ethnic tensions between the Hutu and Tutsi peoples. Cyprien and Daphrose advocated peace. Cyprien advised President Juvénal Habyarimana to stop the registration of ethnicity on identity cards. He was warned that this stance would place him on a hit list.[7] The couple were killed, with six of their ten children, on 7 April 1994 - one day after the assassination of the president, which marked the start of the Rwandan genocide.

Legacy

In 1992 the Rugambas started a center in Kigali to feed and educate street children. Since 1995, after the genocide, this center has been managed by Fidesco. It is now called Centre Cyprien et Daphrose Rugamba (CECYDAR).[8] In 2015 Cyprien and Daphrose Rugamba were declared "heroic in virtue", marking the start of the formal process towards their canonization as saints recognised by the Catholic Church.[9]

References
  1. Lesegretain, Claire (2015). "L'Église se penche sur la sainteté d'un couple rwandais". La Croix.
  2. Nyemazi, Pascal (2011). La poésie et la chanson de Cyprien Rugamba. Edilivre Edition Universitaire. ISBN 978-2812152184.
  3. Sipiriyani Rugamba. "Amasimbi n'Amakombe".
  4. "Cyprien et Daphrose Rugamba : les époux rwandais en route vers la sainteté". Aleteia.
  5. "Keeping children off the streets of Rwanda".
  6. "Ouverture des causes de canonisation de Cyprien et Daphrose Rugamba".
  7. "Serviteurs de Dieu Cyprien et Daphrose Rugamba".
  8. "Centre Rugamba".
  9. "List of candidates for sainthood".
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