ST. CHARLES LWANGA AND COMPANIONS
Christianity was still quite new to Uganda,
Africa, when a Catholic mission was started in 1879. The priests were members
of the Missionaries of Africa. Because of their white religious habit, they became
popularly known as the "White Eathers." King Mwanga did not know what
Christianity was all about. But he became angry when a Catholic, Joseph Mkasa,
corrected him for the way he was living. The king had murdered a group of
Christians and their Anglican bishop. The king was also involved in homosexual
activity. He was especially interested in his court pages. King Mwanga's anger
turned into resentment and hatred for Joseph Mkasa and his religion. A few of
the king's ambitious officers fueled his fears with lies. Joseph Mkasa was
beheaded on November 18, 1885. The persecution had begun. Before it was over, a
hundred people died. Twenty-two of them would be declared saints.
With the death of Joseph Mkasa, Charles Lwanga
became the chief religion teacher of the king's Catholic pages. On May 26,
1886, the king found out that some of his pages were Catholic. He called in
Denis Sebuggwawo. He asked Denis if he had been teaching religion to another
page. Denis said yes. The king grabbed his spear and flung it violently through
the young man's throat. Then the king shouted that no one was permitted to
leave his headquarters. War drums beat throughout the night. In a hidden room,
Charles Lwanga secretly baptized four pages. One was St. Kizito, a cheerful,
generous thirteen-year-old. He was the youngest of the group. St. Charles
Lwanga had often protected Kizito from the king's lust.
Most of the twenty-two Uganda martyrs who have
been proclaimed saints were killed on June 3, 1886. They were forced to walk
thirty-seven miles to the execution site. After a few days in prison, they were
thrown into a huge fire. Seventeen of the martyrs were royal pages, One of the
martyred boys was St. Mbaga. His own father was the executioner that day.
Another of the martyrs, St. Andrew Kagwa, died on January 27, 1887. He was
among the twenty-two proclaimed saints in 1964 by Pope Paul VI.
St. Charles Lwanga is the patron of black
African young people. He and his companions greatly appreciated their gift of
faith. They were heroes! We all can pray to St. Charles and these African
martyrs. We can ask them to show us how to witness to Jesus and the Church as
they did.
Charles Lwanga and Companions MM (RM)
(also known as Ugandan Martyrs)
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Died at Namugongo, Uganda, 1885-1887; beatified in 1920; canonized by
Pope Paul VI in 1964; feast added to the Roman Calendar in 1969; declared the
protomartyrs of Black Africa. Twenty-two Catholic men, including seventeen
young pages between the ages of 13 and 30, plus some Protestants, were martyred
by King Mwanga of Uganda. Their heroic courage rivalled that of the early
martyrs. Catholic
Christianity began to take root in Uganda after Cardinal Lavigerie's White
Fathers established missions in central Africa in 1879. Progress was made
under the rule of the not unfriendly local chieftain named Mtesa; however,
his successor, Mwanga detested the faith that would accuse him of debauchery.
King Mwanga
of Uganda took as chief steward a young Christian named Joseph Msaka
Balikuddembe. Joseph detested the king's debauched ways, especially his
attempts to corrupt other young men of Uganda, whom the steward tried to
protect. Mwanga distrusted foreign visitors, fearing they might report his
evil ways to the British government, which had given him his power. In October
1885, Mwanga ordered his followers to kill an Anglican missionary, Bishop
James Hannington. The Catholic steward Joseph protested at the murder of a
fellow Christian. The following month, Mwanga had him beheaded. "A
Christian who gives his life for God is not afraid to die," Joseph
proclaimed. "Mwanga has condemned me without cause; but tell him I
forgive him from my heart." To the king's astonishment, the Christians
were not cowed by his sudden outrage. Six months
later Mwanga's savagery was even worse. He discovered that a 14-year-old
page, Mwafu, had been receiving instruction in the Catholic faith. He called
for Denis Sebuggwago, who had been teaching the page, and killed him by
thrusting a butcher's cleaver or spear through his throat. That night Charles
Lwanga, the new master of the pages, baptized five of them including Kizito,
who he had repeatedly rescued from Mwanga's pederasty. The next day
the baptisms were discovered. Enraged, Mwanga assembled all the pages and ordered
the Christians to separate themselves from the others. Fifteen, all under the
age of 25, did so at once and were later joined by two others who were
already under arrest and by two soldiers. They were asked if they wished to
remain Christian and each replied, "Until death." The king then
ordered every Protestant and Catholic living in the royal enclosure to be put
to death. Thirty-two
Catholics and Protestants were led 37 miles away to a place called Namugongo
to be burned to death in a literal holocaust. Three were killed on the way.
One of these, a district judge named Matthias Kalemba, declared, "God
will rescue me. But you will not see how he does it, because he will take my
soul and leave you only my body." He was cut into pieces and left to die
slowly by the roadside. The rest of
the martyrs were taken to Namugongo. They were imprisoned there for seven
days while a huge pyre was prepared. At the appointed time on Ascension Day,
they were forced to lie down on reed mats. Wrapped up in the mats and tightly
bound, they were laid side by side. Fuel was poured on them, and they were
set afire. As their executioners sang barbarously, the martyrs died
confidently praying to their Savior. The
persecution spread. A leader among the confessors was Matthias Murumba, who
was killed with revolting cruelty. During the reign of Mwanga about 100
Christians of various denominations were martyred.
Charles
Lwanga is the patron saint of African Catholic Youth Action (White). |
