All are invited to attend the “A Weekend of Healing and Hope with Immaculé Ilibagiza” retreat on Friday, March 8 from 5:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. and on Saturday, March 9, from 9:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. The retreat is being hosted by the Magnificat St. Petersburg Florida Chapter. Tickets and itinerary information are available through Immaculée’s website. Tickets may be bought in advance or at the door.

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Immaculée Ilibagiza is a powerful, faithful Catholic witness who survived the 1994 Rwandan genocide. She credits her survival to a set of rosary beads given to her by her father. She is the renowned author of several books, most notably her first work Left to Tell; Discovering GodAmidst the Rwandan Holocaust, which became a NY Times Best Seller. It has been translated into 17 different languages and has sold over 2 million copies.  A subsequent work, Our Lady of Kibeho,details the apparitions of Our Blessed Mother in the village of Kibeho, Rwanda beginning in 1981. After decades of rigorous investigation, in 2001 Our Lady of Kibeho became the first Vatican approved Marian site in Africa, yet this still remains widely unknown. Our Lady’s plea to pray, to love, and to cleanse our hearts is an urgent universal message, not only for the faithful, but for the whole world.

Immaculée has received honorary doctoral degrees from the University of Notre Dame, Saint John’s University, Seton Hall University, and the Catholic University of America. She has also received humanitarian awards including The Mahatma Gandhi International Award for Reconciliation and Peace. In 2007 she established the Left to Tell Charitable Fund which directly benefits Rwandan orphans.