Martyrs

This past Thursday through Saturday I spent time in the town of Buta in the province of Bururi.  The town is home to a seminary and the first monastery in Burundi. The Benedictine Monastery, known in English as St. Mary Queen of Peace, was begun eight years ago by Fr. Zacharie, the former Rector Principal of the seminary.  He was the rector during the genocide of the Tutsi by the Hutu in the 90s.  He is a fascinating man and his story is quite enthralling, as is the story of the Forty Martyrs of Buta.  I am sure to fail to do it justice. During the time of strife, a Hutu student tried to use the seminary as a recruiting ground for members of the Hutu militia.  Fr. Zacharie would not allow this and asked the student to leave.  The student swore revenge.  During this time Fr. Zacharie had a vision for a new chapel in the community, and while the official answer was no, the boys volunteered to design it and building was begun.  This in time would be their memorial.  Also, at this time a young man came asking to work at the seminary as a carpenter. The need was for locally produced coffins so people did not have to be travelling to the city, at least an hour or more by foot, to acquire a coffin for family members.   As the young man worked, a local stockpile of coffins was produced.  He also had a vision that he needed a new black suit, so he purchased one in Bujumbura, but never wore it as it was for a special occasion.  I have the impression that it was to be his funeral suit. As the tension between Hutu and Tutsi increased, and the civil war began, Fr. Zacharie taught and reinforced the unity of the people in Christ. The remaining students took this to heart. In the pre-dawn hours of April 30, 1997, the Hutu rebels arrived.  They first stationed snipers on the hills behind the seminary, to shoot or corral any students who tried to escape.  The former student then led Huti militia members into the dormitory building.  Some students tried to escape using bedsheets as ropes from the bedrooms which were all on the second floor. These students were rounded up and taken as bearers for the militia.  The snipers, meanwhile, were firing into the building to keep the students in place.  As the remaining students were rounded up, other militia were burning whatever they could find including all the posessions in the Rector's home.  Fr. Zacharie was in his office, a building about 50 yards from the dormitory, and he knew that he would die. As he prepared, he felt the presence of God, and heard the assurance that he would live and must preach and work for forgiveness and reconciliation. He then says, he was given a brief vision through the office walls and into the hearts of the boy militia outside.  He says he could see the evil in their hearts like an invasive disease, and then he could see them as God sees: people overcome, enthralled to sin and hatred, needing the freeing mercy of God through Christ.  This has become his mission and the monastery is that work, with Hutu and Tutsi brothers living, working and praying side by side as an example to the community. Meanwhile on that day, the militia had rounded up forty students and started to call on the Hutu students to cross over to them and give up the Tutsis.  The offer was refused by all.  They stated that they were neither Hutu or Tutsi, but brothers in Christ.  They were one people. This enraged the militia, who then gunned down the forty brothers. Thus the forty, through Christ, were united in life and now in death and the hope of resurrection. They are memorialized in the chapel they designed given the name The Chapel of the Martyrs of Brotherhood.  Fr. Zacharie preached and celebrated at the funerals and the dedication wearing the new suit, which was all that survived from the burning of his possessions. Mass is celebrated at the memorial for the community's children each Friday.  This past Friday, during our visit, the chapel was full and I was drawn from the guest house by the beautiful singing of united voices that carried the 200 yards that separated the locations. It is said that, "the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church", and in Buta you see it is true. Visiting the memorial was an intensely moving experience for me as I sat in silence and prayed in that space.  A local artist, using photos, has painted the face of each martyr on the wall behind the altar.  The bodies he has given them are all the same shape and size so that Hutu and Tutsi charachteristics are minimized. The graves are lined up in two rows with names, year of birth, and the date 30 April, 1997.  Each day visitors place wildflowers on the graves. What stirred me most were the graves of the two eldest martyrs. Their markers bore the year 1973, the same as mine. I wonder if I would have had the fortitude and the faith to stand before the executioner without wavering at the ripe age of 24. The Church teaches that martyrdom is a grace, and these young men were filled with that grace. May their powerful witness of faith, resurrection hope, and Christian brotherhood be an example to all of us.