To See the Hand of God

By Miss Julia St. Clair, Province Communications Director

(New Rochelle, NY – April 18) – For nearly a year, our province has been blessed to have Br. Hubert Twagirayezu, SDB, with us in New Rochelle. Having come from the AGL Province (Uganda, Rwanda, and Berundi), Br. Hubert currently attends Iona University, where he studies business management.

“I’m finishing the coursework that I paused when I served as my province’s treasurer,” Br. Hubert explained.

His term as treasurer lasted from 2018-2021, and he began his journey to the SUE Province. “Although I was supposed to come to New Rochelle in August 2021, I had to wait due to the visa process,” Br. Hubert detailed. “I am very patient where most people would lose courage. Some people told me I was ‘wasting my time.’ I told them ‘I will never give up; I will get it.’ Then, I began my journey in New Rochelle on August 13, 2022.”

Br. Hubert grew up in Rwanda in his home province. As a child, he took part in summer games where he would meet young people in his parish. “Although I enjoyed being a part of it and was in the parish, I wasn’t baptized,” Br. Hubert recalled.

When he was ten years old, Br. Hubert’s life changed forever. “My brothers, sister, and I lost our parents in the same year, and we went to live with our grandparents,” he remembered. Their grandfather taught catechism in his parish and helped guide Br. Hubert on the start of his vocational journey.

“After a few months, [my grandfather] asked me, ‘Do you know how to pray?’” he reminisced. “He tried to prepare my siblings and me for Baptism.”

Br. Hubert received the Sacraments of Baptism, Reconciliation, Eucharist, and Confirmation when he was 12 years old. Inspired by his grandfather’s witness, Br. Hubert did all he could to become involved with his priest, which led him to the priest who would become his first mentor.

“During my time as an altar server, I had been chosen by a parish missionary priest from Spain to help with morning Mass,” he recollected. “He did everything for me and was like a father to me. I went to live with him, and he gave me clothes and food and paid for my tuition.”

During this time, the Rwandan genocide occurred. Within 400 days, 1 million people were killed. “We saw what happened,” Br. Hubert contemplated. “Some friends died, while others disappeared. But we survived.”

The event led Br. Hubert to a realization on God’s love and protection over him and his family. “In my childhood, I saw many things, and I suffered many things,” he explained. “I always saw the hand of God in the suffering; what I was looking for God was providing. [My siblings and I] matured earlier, and God had his hand on us.”

After his first mentor left the community, Br. Hubert encountered his next mentor, a Sister from the Congregation of St. Joseph. “I call her my mom, and she calls me her son,” he beamed. “She did for me what the pastor did but as a mother.”

During his teenage years, Br. Hubert unknowingly encountered Don Bosco. “I had a friend in high school who always locked up this book he read,” he evoked. “One night as we prepared for our final government prepared exam, he left and forgot to lock up the book, and I looked at it. I thought, ‘Who is Don Bosco?’”

That question would be answered as Br. Hubert later began his vocation journey. “I wanted to imitate my first mentor and help people,” he declared. “I want to help young people and help the poor. The pastor I told all this to went ‘ah-ha!’ and put me in contact with the Salesians of Don Bosco.”

It was during his initial formation that Br. Hubert again discovered the book he glanced upon years earlier. “When I entered community life, I was given the book I saw—The Biographic Memoirs of Don Bosco,” he revealed.

Br. Hubert is very happy to be in the SUE Province and would like to remind others of the Salesian mission. “[my home province] is called Africa Great Lakes—we make sure young people are very happy,” he commented. “As Salesians, we are to evangelize them and put them in contact with Jesus and the Church.”