Aloys Bigirumwami
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Mgr. Aloys Bigirumwami |
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|---|---|
| Bishop of Nyundo | |
 |
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| Appointed | 14 February 1952 |
| Term ended | 17 December 1973 |
| Successor | Vincent Nsengiyumva |
| Orders | |
| Ordination | 26 May 1929 |
| Consecration | 1 June 1952 by Laurent-François Déprimoz |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
22 December 1904 Zaza, Rwanda |
| Died | 3 June 1986 (aged 81) |
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Styles of Aloysius Bigirumwami |
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|---|---|
.svg) |
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| Reference style | The Most Reverend |
| Spoken style | Your Excellency |
| Religious style | Monsignor |
| Posthumous style | none |
Aloys Bigirumwami (December 22, 1904 – June 3, 1986) was a Rwandan prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Nyundo from 1959 to 1973, having previously served as its Apostolic Vicar.
Aloys Bigirumwami was born into a Tutsi family on 22 December 1904 in Zaza, Rwanda, and baptized on Christmas Day. He came from the Bagesera-Bazirankende clan, which had ruled Gisaka, a state that around 1850 had been conquered and annexed to Rwanda. His father, Joseph Rukamba, was one of the first Christians of the Catholic mission that had been founded at Zaza in 1900, baptized on Christmas 1903. Aloys was the eldest of a family of six boys and six girls.
At the age of ten Aloys entered the Minor Seminary of Kabgayi. He entered the Major Seminary of Kabgayi in 1921, where he studied under Bishop John Joseph Hirth, founder of the church of Rwanda. He was ordained a priest on 26 May 1929.
Bigirumwami taught at the Minor Seminary of Kabgayi in 1929. He was then in turn vicar of the parishes of Kabgayi (1930), Murunda (1930), Kigali Sainte Famille (1931) and Rulindo (1932). On 30 January 1933 he was appointed pastor of Muramba, holding this post until 17 January 1951. In 1947 he was the first Rwandan priest to be named to the council of the Vicariate. In 1951 he was made pastor of Nyundo.
On 14 February 1952 Pope Pius XII appointed Bigirumwami the first Vicar Apostolic of Nyundo, and titular Bishop of Garriana. He was ordained bishop at Kabgayi during the feast of Pentecost, on 1 June 1952, in a ceremony attended by many church and civil leaders and by a huge crowd of Christians. King Mutara Rudahigwa of Rwanda was also present and spoke at the occasion. After his consecration, Nyundo received 20,000 converts.
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