Today is the feast day of St. Charles Lwanga of Buganda, who was martyred for the faith on June 3, 1886. Buganda is the Bantu kingdom that lies in the south-central region of Uganda.
King Mwanga of Buganda ascended to the throne October 18, 1884 at the age of 16. The young king liked boys, but found that many of the pages in his court rejected his advances, because they had converted to Christianity. In addition, two men who held the position of Master of Pages – Joseph Mukasa and Charles Lwanga – repeatedly rescued the royal pages in their care from the king’s sexual predations.
Enraged, King Mwanga had Joseph beheaded, only to find his replacement, Charles, was just as troublesome. The king ordered all the Christians in his court to choose between renouncing Jesus or dying. All 30 of the Catholic and Anglican court pages chose death. The stained glass image above shows King Mwanga sentencing the Uganda Martyrs to death on May 26, 1886. It is in the Munyonyo Martyrs Shrine in Kampala, Uganda.
Twenty-two of these men, those who had converted to Catholicism, were first forced on a two-day march to Namugongo. There, they were bound together for several days while wood was gathered to burn them. Charles Lwanga, as the leader, was selected first. The executioners tortured him, offering him life if he apostatized. When Charles refused, they set fire to his stake. He told his executioner, “It is as if you are pouring water on me. Please repent and become a Christian like me.” At last, Charles looked heavenward, exclaimed, “My God!” and expired. It was June 3, 1886.
Within a year after the slaughter, the number of catechumens in the kingdom rose from 800 to 3,000. Uganda is now 84.4% Christian.
- https://www.catholiccompany.com/getfed/do-you-know-the-holy-martyr-from-19th-century-uganda/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mwanga_II_of_Buganda
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Lwanga
- https://www.thesaintsproject.org/st-charles-lwanga/
- https://faithofthefatherssaintquote.blogspot.com/2014/06/saint-charles-lwanga-quote.html
- https://stpiusbrantford.ca/events/st-charles-lwanga-and-companions/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buganda
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uganda
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