The Most Reverend

Vincent Nsengiyumva
Kigali
DioceseArchdiocese of Kigali
InstalledApril 10, 1976
Term endedJune 7, 1994 (his death)
PredecessorNone
SuccessorThaddée Ntihinyurwa
Orders
OrdinationJune 18, 1966
ConsecrationJune 2, 1974
Personal details
Born(1936-02-10)February 10, 1936
Rwaza, Ruanda-Urundi
DiedJune 7, 1994(1994-06-07) (aged 58)
Kabgayi, Rwanda
NationalityRwandan
DenominationRoman Catholic
Styles of
Vincent Nsengiyumva
Reference styleThe Most Reverend
Spoken styleYour Excellency
Religious styleMonsignor
Posthumous stylenone

Vincent Nsengiyumva (February 10, 1936 – June 7, 1994) was a Rwandan prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who served as Archbishop of Kigali from 1976 until his death.

Born in Rwaza, he was ordained to the priesthood on June 18, 1966.

On December 17, 1973, Nsengiyumva was appointed Bishop of Nyundo by Pope Paul VI, replacing Aloys Bigirumwami, who had resigned. He received his episcopal consecration on June 2, 1974, from Cardinal Laurean Rugambwa, with Bishop Aloys Bigirumwami and Archbishop André Perraudin, MAfr, serving as co-consecrators. He was later named the first Archbishop of Kigali on April 10, 1976.

Within the Rwandan government, Nsengiyumva served as chairman of the central committee of the National Republican Movement for Democracy and Development for fourteen years, until the Vatican Curia intervened in 1990, ordering him to withdraw from further political involvement.[1][2] The National Republican Movement for Democracy and Development was the Hutu-dominated ruling party in Rwanda between 1975 and 1994.

Nsengiyumva was a personal friend of then Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana, whose portrait pin he wore while saying Mass.[3]

On June 7, 1994, at the age of 58, he was murdered near the Kabgayi church center with two bishops, ten priests, and a child,[4] by soldiers of the Tutsi-dominated Rwandan Patriotic Front.[2] The RPF claimed that the soldiers believed that the prelates were involved with the killing of their families.[5]

References

  1. ↑ The Age. Rwanda 10 Years On: Not Forgiven, Not Forgotten April 3, 2004
  2. 1 2 Michael Swan, "Report calls for church to admit role in Rwanda genocide". The Catholic Register, July 24–31, 2000, p. 24.
  3. ↑ Human Rights Watch. The Army, the Church and the Akazu
  4. ↑ Guichaoua, André (2015). From War to Genocide: Criminal Politics in Rwanda, 1990–1994. University of Wisconsin Press. pp. 313–315. ISBN 9780299298203.
  5. ↑ New York Times. June 5-10: New Atrocities in Africa; Three Bishops and 10 Priests Are Slaughtered in Rwanda As Tribal Killings Go On, June 12, 1994
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