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The Monks of St. Mary Queen of Peace Abbey in Burundi
Fr. Zacharie Bukuru radiates an irrepressible joy and hope; spending time with him one recalls the words of St. Irenaeus, “The glory of God is a human being fully alive!” This is true despite his suffering an unspeakable tragedy, the massacre of 40 of his beloved students by rebels in 1997. Today, Fr. Zacharie is the abbot of the first Catholic monastery in Burundi, one of Africa’s poorest and most densely populated countries. He founded St. Mary Queen of Peace monastery in 2005 in the same rural town of Buta where the Shrine of the 40 Martyrs of Fraternity was built. He and the 17 other Benedictines have turned their humble monastery into a vital locus of prayer and work that is profoundly inspiring and bettering the lives of the communities throughout the rolling hills of the region.
[Visit our YouTube channel for videos on the story of the Buta martyrs and to hear Fr. Zacharie’s witness: https://tinyurl.com/40martyrs or YouTube Channel ]
Photo: The monks engaging in "lectio divina" - scriptural reading, meditation and prayer
Burundi’s contemporary history is marked by political power struggles, mass atrocities and refugees fleeing violence; frightening instability continues to haunt the country. These make the committed and quiet presence of Fr. Zacharie and his monks a point of loving reference for many. In a time when the US is suffering from social divisions, "culture wars" and the corona virus is still wrecking havoc, Fr. Zacharie and the monks provide a vital witness of hope and a method of building community that is tried and tested by fire.
Goal: Due to the political instability in the country from 2015 until today, the monks have faced financially challenging times. Pilgrims, persons on retreat, visitors to the monastery’s guest house and tourists now come only infrequently, while at the same time new applicants to the monastery arrive and the community is growing. Due to the pandemic, Burundi's borders are closed. The financial needs of the monastery are as urgent as they are simple. We desire to help raise enough funds to sustain the monastery’s operations for one year and to also help grow the association founded by Fr. Zacharie, “Buta for Sustainable Agriculture in the Service of the Environment and Youth” (BASE-Jeunesse) This association is training jobless rural youth, men and women, to improve the productive potential of their family farms, while giving them hope and building communal solidarity in a land traumatized by genocidal violence very similar to that suffered by its neighbor Rwanda.
From Fr. Zacharie: “In the name of my community, I would like to thank you with all my heart for your prayers and donations in support of the monastery and its non-profit association supporting rural agricultural development. May the Lord, who has given you this spirit of solidarity bless and sanctify you!”
Photo: Young woman graduate of the BASE-Jeunesse training class with her proud mother
Out of Tragedy an Extraordinary Witness That Speaks to the World
On April 30, 1997, rebels invaded the grounds of the St. Paul boarding school in Buta where 250 students and their rector Fr. Zacharie were trapped. While some rebels hunted for Fr. Zacharie, others ordered the students, aged 16—24-years-old, to line up against a wall and to separate by ethnic group. The young men did something completely unexpected: they held hands and refused to separate, even though some could have saved their own lives by stepping forward. Instead, they prayed and declared that they forgave the rebels as the machine guns cut them down and a hand grenade exploded in their midst. Forty died that day, and the wounded survivors gave testimony to their brothers’ final words.
Photo: The shrine of the 40 Martyrs of Fraternity
An Education to a True Brotherhood
Fr. Zacharie was not only the students’ rector but also their spiritual father. He had worked for years to educate them to true Christian brotherhood through group dialog, reasoned discussion of current events, sports, folk dance, manual labor, prayer and the sacraments. He recounts how less than a week before the attack, the students had gone on their annual retreat during which a profound experience of unity occurred. Fr. Zacharie realized that some of them had been given a glimpse of heaven, and he says, "Never in my life had I experienced such a depth of brotherly communion or so manifest a presence of the Holy Spirit."[1] The cause for their beatification has been opened by the Vatican and the shrine of the Martyrs of Fraternity has become a place of pilgrimage for many Burundians.
Loving Your Enemy Who Seeks Your Death
Fr. Zacharie himself also experienced a miracle of transformation that tragic day. It happened at the very moment that he thought the attackers were about to burst into his hiding place to kill him. Suddenly, in response to his cry to God, a voice assured him that he would be safe, and a powerful grace was given to him to immediately forgive the killers and see them with the love of a mother embracing her child.
In the Footsteps of the Medieval Monks of Europe
The Benedictine monks of St. Mary Queen of Peace monastery, like their early medieval forefathers, have become a point of hope for the peoples around them, building a deep sense of communal solidarity and individual dignity, and radiating a living faith. Their work echoes the words of Prof. Emanuel Paparella who described how the medieval Benedictine monks, “literally saved agriculture in Europe. They taught the folks how to cultivate the land, especially in Germany where they converted the wilderness into a cultivated country. Manual labor was intrinsic part of their rule which proclaimed “ora et labora” (pray and work).”[2]
The BASE-Jeunesse association is imparting knowledge and skills in farming the land and raising livestock to a generation of young persons. Today, the graduates of BASE-Jeunesse’s “Center of Apprenticeship in Agricultural Practices and Family Development” experience three months of intensive classes and practicums on their home farms. Young men and women from different ethnicities not only learn new technical knowledge that increases agricultural productivity, but also build leadership and develop awareness of human potential. More and more youth from the surrounding region are hearing about the Center of Apprenticeship and the work of Fr. Zacharie and the teachers, who include agricultural experts, veterinarians, agronomists and a psychologist all of whom volunteer their time. However, due to budget constraints, the Center cannot expand its classes.
BASE-Jeunesse students planting crops
Background on Burundi
Burundi remains one of the least developed countries in the world with alarming levels of hunger and malnutrition. Ninety percent of the population depends on agriculture for a living. According to the United Nations World Food Program and the Food and Agriculture Organization, more than 40 percent of the population is facing chronic or acute food insecurity, including 2.3 million who are severely food insecure. This is exacerbated by an economic crisis, which was triggered by the political crisis of 2015 and continues to affect the lives of millions of people.[3]
Photo: Buta valley with St. Paul school in the foreground, the shrine of the martyrs of fraternity to the right and the monastery in the woods
English language translation of Fr. Zacharie's book on the 40 martyrs.
http://www.e.paulinesafrica.org/index.php/book/bookDetails/1035
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[1] Excerpts from the article “The Seminarians of Buta – Martyrs of Christian Brotherhood” https://nunraw.blogspot.com/2008/05/
[2] Prof. Emanuel Paparella, “Medieval Monasticism as a Preserver of Western Civilization,” https://www.metanexus.net/medieval-monasticism-preserver-western-civilization/
[3] See: The World Bank – Burundi Overview: https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/burundi/overview and US Agency for International Development – Burundi, https://www.usaid.gov/burundi
Photo: Monastery grounds looking out the gate to the guest house.
Photo: Monk at work on an electrical wiring project
Photo: The monks' cells.
Photo: The 20-room guest house.
Photo: Monk novices taking vows, two solemn profession, 10 simple profession, March 8, 2019.
Photo: Fr. Zacharie with the monastery's bull.
Photo: A view of the monastery's agricultural fields.
Photo: March 2020 wind damage to the the hog pens and chicken coops.
Photo: Monks and BASE-Jeunesse students working together for February 2020 planting.
Photo: Celebration of the 22nd anniversary of the martyrs of fraternity, April 30, 2019. Young girls dancing around the tombs during the mass.
Photo: Ordination of a priest and deacon from the monastery, along with others, in a July 2020 ceremony presided by the Bishop Niciteretse of the Bururi diocese.
Photo: Landscape around the monastery.
Photo: Fr. Zacharie in the monastery gardens.
Photo: Monks working alongside villagers preparing the Spring planting.
Photo: Young farmers at the graduation ceremony for the BASE-Jeunesse seminar at the monastery grounds.
Photo: Young farmers with their graduation piglets, gifts of from the monastery farm.
Photo: Countryside around Buta.
Photo: Mass at the monastery celebrating the BASE-Jeunesse graduation.
Fr. Zacharie Bukuru radiates an irrepressible joy and hope; spending time with him one recalls the words of St. Irenaeus, “The glory of God is a human being fully alive!” This is true despite his suffering an unspeakable tragedy, the massacre of 40 of his beloved students by rebels in 1997. Today, Fr. Zacharie is the abbot of the first Catholic monastery in Burundi, one of Africa’s poorest and most densely populated countries. He founded St. Mary Queen of Peace monastery in 2005 in the same rural town of Buta where the Shrine of the 40 Martyrs of Fraternity was built. He and the 17 other Benedictines have turned their humble monastery into a vital locus of prayer and work that is profoundly inspiring and bettering the lives of the communities throughout the rolling hills of the region.
[Visit our YouTube channel for videos on the story of the Buta martyrs and to hear Fr. Zacharie’s witness: https://tinyurl.com/40martyrs or YouTube Channel ]
Photo: The monks engaging in "lectio divina" - scriptural reading, meditation and prayerBurundi’s contemporary history is marked by political power struggles, mass atrocities and refugees fleeing violence; frightening instability continues to haunt the country. These make the committed and quiet presence of Fr. Zacharie and his monks a point of loving reference for many. In a time when the US is suffering from social divisions, "culture wars" and the corona virus is still wrecking havoc, Fr. Zacharie and the monks provide a vital witness of hope and a method of building community that is tried and tested by fire.
Goal: Due to the political instability in the country from 2015 until today, the monks have faced financially challenging times. Pilgrims, persons on retreat, visitors to the monastery’s guest house and tourists now come only infrequently, while at the same time new applicants to the monastery arrive and the community is growing. Due to the pandemic, Burundi's borders are closed. The financial needs of the monastery are as urgent as they are simple. We desire to help raise enough funds to sustain the monastery’s operations for one year and to also help grow the association founded by Fr. Zacharie, “Buta for Sustainable Agriculture in the Service of the Environment and Youth” (BASE-Jeunesse) This association is training jobless rural youth, men and women, to improve the productive potential of their family farms, while giving them hope and building communal solidarity in a land traumatized by genocidal violence very similar to that suffered by its neighbor Rwanda.
From Fr. Zacharie: “In the name of my community, I would like to thank you with all my heart for your prayers and donations in support of the monastery and its non-profit association supporting rural agricultural development. May the Lord, who has given you this spirit of solidarity bless and sanctify you!”
Photo: Young woman graduate of the BASE-Jeunesse training class with her proud motherOut of Tragedy an Extraordinary Witness That Speaks to the World
On April 30, 1997, rebels invaded the grounds of the St. Paul boarding school in Buta where 250 students and their rector Fr. Zacharie were trapped. While some rebels hunted for Fr. Zacharie, others ordered the students, aged 16—24-years-old, to line up against a wall and to separate by ethnic group. The young men did something completely unexpected: they held hands and refused to separate, even though some could have saved their own lives by stepping forward. Instead, they prayed and declared that they forgave the rebels as the machine guns cut them down and a hand grenade exploded in their midst. Forty died that day, and the wounded survivors gave testimony to their brothers’ final words.
Photo: The shrine of the 40 Martyrs of FraternityAn Education to a True Brotherhood
Fr. Zacharie was not only the students’ rector but also their spiritual father. He had worked for years to educate them to true Christian brotherhood through group dialog, reasoned discussion of current events, sports, folk dance, manual labor, prayer and the sacraments. He recounts how less than a week before the attack, the students had gone on their annual retreat during which a profound experience of unity occurred. Fr. Zacharie realized that some of them had been given a glimpse of heaven, and he says, "Never in my life had I experienced such a depth of brotherly communion or so manifest a presence of the Holy Spirit."[1] The cause for their beatification has been opened by the Vatican and the shrine of the Martyrs of Fraternity has become a place of pilgrimage for many Burundians.
Loving Your Enemy Who Seeks Your Death
Fr. Zacharie himself also experienced a miracle of transformation that tragic day. It happened at the very moment that he thought the attackers were about to burst into his hiding place to kill him. Suddenly, in response to his cry to God, a voice assured him that he would be safe, and a powerful grace was given to him to immediately forgive the killers and see them with the love of a mother embracing her child.
In the Footsteps of the Medieval Monks of Europe
The Benedictine monks of St. Mary Queen of Peace monastery, like their early medieval forefathers, have become a point of hope for the peoples around them, building a deep sense of communal solidarity and individual dignity, and radiating a living faith. Their work echoes the words of Prof. Emanuel Paparella who described how the medieval Benedictine monks, “literally saved agriculture in Europe. They taught the folks how to cultivate the land, especially in Germany where they converted the wilderness into a cultivated country. Manual labor was intrinsic part of their rule which proclaimed “ora et labora” (pray and work).”[2]
The BASE-Jeunesse association is imparting knowledge and skills in farming the land and raising livestock to a generation of young persons. Today, the graduates of BASE-Jeunesse’s “Center of Apprenticeship in Agricultural Practices and Family Development” experience three months of intensive classes and practicums on their home farms. Young men and women from different ethnicities not only learn new technical knowledge that increases agricultural productivity, but also build leadership and develop awareness of human potential. More and more youth from the surrounding region are hearing about the Center of Apprenticeship and the work of Fr. Zacharie and the teachers, who include agricultural experts, veterinarians, agronomists and a psychologist all of whom volunteer their time. However, due to budget constraints, the Center cannot expand its classes.
BASE-Jeunesse students planting cropsBackground on Burundi
Burundi remains one of the least developed countries in the world with alarming levels of hunger and malnutrition. Ninety percent of the population depends on agriculture for a living. According to the United Nations World Food Program and the Food and Agriculture Organization, more than 40 percent of the population is facing chronic or acute food insecurity, including 2.3 million who are severely food insecure. This is exacerbated by an economic crisis, which was triggered by the political crisis of 2015 and continues to affect the lives of millions of people.[3]
Photo: Buta valley with St. Paul school in the foreground, the shrine of the martyrs of fraternity to the right and the monastery in the woodsEnglish language translation of Fr. Zacharie's book on the 40 martyrs.
http://www.e.paulinesafrica.org/index.php/book/bookDetails/1035
-------
[1] Excerpts from the article “The Seminarians of Buta – Martyrs of Christian Brotherhood” https://nunraw.blogspot.com/2008/05/
[2] Prof. Emanuel Paparella, “Medieval Monasticism as a Preserver of Western Civilization,” https://www.metanexus.net/medieval-monasticism-preserver-western-civilization/
[3] See: The World Bank – Burundi Overview: https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/burundi/overview and US Agency for International Development – Burundi, https://www.usaid.gov/burundi
Photo: Monastery grounds looking out the gate to the guest house.
Photo: Monk at work on an electrical wiring project
Photo: The monks' cells.Photo: The 20-room guest house.Photo: Monk novices taking vows, two solemn profession, 10 simple profession, March 8, 2019.Photo: Fr. Zacharie with the monastery's bull.Photo: A view of the monastery's agricultural fields.Photo: March 2020 wind damage to the the hog pens and chicken coops.Photo: Monks and BASE-Jeunesse students working together for February 2020 planting.Photo: Celebration of the 22nd anniversary of the martyrs of fraternity, April 30, 2019. Young girls dancing around the tombs during the mass.Photo: Ordination of a priest and deacon from the monastery, along with others, in a July 2020 ceremony presided by the Bishop Niciteretse of the Bururi diocese.Photo: Landscape around the monastery.Photo: Fr. Zacharie in the monastery gardens.Photo: Monks working alongside villagers preparing the Spring planting.Photo: Young farmers at the graduation ceremony for the BASE-Jeunesse seminar at the monastery grounds.Photo: Young farmers with their graduation piglets, gifts of from the monastery farm.Photo: Countryside around Buta.Photo: Mass at the monastery celebrating the BASE-Jeunesse graduation.