Saints of the Month - June 2019: The 22 Martyrs of Uganda

St. Charles Lwanga &

Companion Martyrs of Uganda

Witnesses of Christ to the end

Feast: June 3rd

Between November 1885 and January 1887, twenty-two layman from Uganda, Africa - Catholic converts of the White Fathers Congregation from France - lost their lives in witness of the Faith.**  They were mostly youthful pages in the service of Mwanga II, the ruling "Kubaka", or native king, who ordered the brutal executions of his Christian courtiers.  To make a long backstory short, Mwanga II at first welcomed the White Fathers to his realm, but came to change his mind as their influence grew among the people, especially with the converted chiefs.  Furthermore, the ruler reportedly indulged a perverse attraction towards his pages and the Christian head of the pages - Joseph Mukasa - went out of his way to shelter the Christian boys under his charge from the king's sexual advances, infuriating the Kubaka.

"A Christian who gives his life

for God is not afraid to die."

~ St. Joseph Mukasa

to his executioners

Fueled by the scheming of a pagan Prime Minister, Mwanga's paranoia and resentment towards Christians grew to the point where he ordered the execution of Joseph Mukasa over the devout man's meddling in his sexual trysts.  Joseph was beheaded and his body cremated on November 15, 1885.  Before his sentence was carried out, he was heard to forgive his king and urged him to repent.

A rare photo showing 20 of the

22 Lay-Martyrs of Uganda.

Things were relatively calm for the next 6 months before the Christian persecution erupted on a larger scale in May 1886.  This time around, it was the Christian page, Charles Lwanga, who incurred the wrath of the king for having taken up the role of mentor and protector of the Christian pages left vacant by the death of Joseph Mukasa.

"I am a Catholic and I

shall die a Catholic."

~ St. Mattias Mulumba's final

profession of faith

Exasperated, Mwanga rounded up the pages and ordered those "who pray" to identify themselves.  Charles was the first to do so and was followed by the other Christians.  When all refused to give up their faith in Jesus Christ they were immediately bound and made to undergo a death-march to a place of execution in Namugongo (17 miles away).  Due to sheer fatigue and/or physical injuries sustained during their long trek, a few did not reach their final destination and were killed along the way.  Those who did manage to complete the journey were eventually burned to death in a large bonfire.

A photo from Tripadvisor showing a

display at the Ugandan Martyrs Shrine

in Namungongo.  It depicts the manner

of death the martyrs suffered.

All the martyrs met their deaths with a heavenly calm and dignity that impressed witnesses, including the executioners who remarked they never saw men as courageous as these martyrs.  Even before the fire was lit, the collective sound of prayer could be heard from the heap of bodies piled together in a circle; words of encouragement towards each other could also be heard.

"Do the job you were

ordered to do by the king - kill

me.  I have decided never to

deny my religion, but to die for

Christ who died for me."

~ Words of St. Mbaaga Tuzinde to his

uncle, one of the executioners

Because of the lead role he played among the martyrs, Charles Lwanga was singled-out for an exceptionally cruel death from a controlled, slow-burning fire.  When he was about to be separated from his companions, he shouted to them with conviction, "I will join you very soon in Heaven!"  His last word before he succumbed to the torture was, "Katonda (My God)".

St. Charles Lwanga was the unofficial

leader of the band of Ugandan royal pages

who bravely died for Christ in May 1886.

The last martyr to die was James-Mary Muzeeyi, who was beheaded on January 27, 1887.  

The 22 Martyrs of Uganda were collectively Beatified in 1920 and Canonized in October 1964.  May they pray for us from their places in Heaven and protect the Church against its enemies here on earth, especially the suffering Christians in Africa.

A List of the 22 Martyrs of Uganda**

** NOTE:  There were actually 45 Christians who lost their lives during this period of persecution in Uganda - 22 Catholics and 23 Anglicans.  This blog speaks only of those Canonized by the Catholic Church.