This is a quick post to direct you to the story of Cyprien and Daphrose Rugumba, a Rwandan couple whose cause for canonization is underway.

This article in The Pillar tells the story of how Daphrose was a faithful Christian who raised her ten children in the faith despite her husband’s infidelity and the mockery he made of her witness and convictions.

As reported in aforementioned the article and also by the Emmanuel Community of which the couple eventually became members and founders of the Rwandan branch:

In 1982, Cyprien became gravely ill with a sickness that doctors were unable to diagnose. Believing he was on the verge of death, Cyprien underwent a radical conversion, which he attributed to Daphrose’s prayers for him. He recovered from his illness, and committed himself to a renewed life in Christ, becoming a devoted husband and man of service.

For the next decade, the couple committed themselves to hospitality, charitable works, and evangelization.

As the persecution against Tutsi escalated, Cyprian denounced the sectarianism in his country and implored a sincere fraternity among Rwandans.

Given the couple’s influence and outspokenness, they were prioritized for assassination and murdered, along with six of their children, at the outset of the genocide on April 7, 1994.

This story shows how Cyprien’s near-death experience led to the “death” of his former self. It’s clear that a physical recovery alone would not have given him another life like his conversion did.