Charles Lwanga

Charles Lwanga (c. 1860–1886) and his companions, the Martyrs of Uganda, are among the most celebrated saints of the African continent. Their sacrifice — a group of young Catholic and Anglican converts burned alive and killed by various means for refusing to renounce their faith and submit to the sexual demands of King Mwanga II — represents one of the most powerful testimonies to Christian conviction in the modern era. Christianity had arrived in the Kingdom of Buganda (in present-day Uganda) only in 1879, brought by the White Fathers (Missionaries of Africa) and Anglican missionaries. The young, highly organized society of the Baganda proved remarkably receptive, and conversions occurred rapidly among the royal pages — young men who served at the king's court. Charles Lwanga was baptized by Father Giraud on November 15, 1885, taking the role of chief of the royal pages and catechist after his predecessor, Joseph Mukasa Balikuddembe, was beheaded for protesting the king's killing of an Anglican missionary. Lwanga took it upon himself to protect the younger pages from the king's sexual advances and to instruct those seeking baptism. King Mwanga II, initially tolerant of Christianity, became increasingly threatened by the missionaries' moral teaching, which the pages used as grounds to resist his sexual demands. On May 25, 1886, the king ordered all Christian pages to separate themselves from the rest. When asked if they intended to remain Christians, they unanimously declared their faith. Between May 26 and June 3, 1886, twenty-two Catholic young men (and a similar number of Anglicans) were executed — most by being wrapped in reed mats and burned alive at Namugongo. Lwanga, who had baptized several of the pages the night before their execution, was burned separately and more slowly than the others. He reportedly said to his executioner, 'You are burning me, but it is as if you are pouring water over my body.' The martyrs were beatified in 1920 and canonized by Pope Paul VI in 1964. The annual pilgrimage to the Namugongo shrine draws over three million people, making it one of the largest Christian gatherings in Africa.