A Brief History of our Patron Saint
St Charles L’Wanga
(Karoli Lwanga) (1860[1][2]
or 1865–June 3, 1886) was a Ugandan
convert to the Catholic Church,
who was martyred
for his faith and is revered as a saint
by both the Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion.
Life
Charles was born in the Kingdom of Buganda,
the southern part of modern Uganda, and served as a page and later major-domo
in the court of King Mwanga II. As part of the king's effort to
resist foreign colonization, the king insisted that Christian
converts abandon their new faith, and executed many Anglicans
and Catholics between 1885 and 1887, many of whom were officials in the royal
court or otherwise very close to him, including Lwanga.
Martyrdom
The persecution started in 1885. After a massacre
of Anglican missionaries,
which included Bishop James Hannington, the leader of the Catholic
community, Joseph Mukasa – who was then major-domo of the
court, as well as a lay
catechist--reproached the king for the killings, against which he had counseled
him. Mwanga had Mukasa beheaded and arrested all of his followers.
This took place on November 15th. The king then ordered
that Lwanga, who was chief page at that time, take up Mukasa's duties. That
same day, Lwanga sought baptism as a Catholic by a missionary priest.
On May 25, 1886, Mwanga ordered a general assembly of the
court while they were settled at Munyonyo, where he charged two of the pages,
whom he then condemned to death. The following morning, Lwanga secretly
baptized those of his charges who were still only catechumens.
Later that day, the king called a court assembly in which
he interrogated all present to see if any would renounce Christianity. Led by
Lwanga, the royal pages declared their fidelity to their religion, upon which
the king ordered them bound and condemned them to death, directing that they be
marched to the traditional place of execution. Two of the prisoners were
executed on the march there.
When preparations were completed and the day had come for
the execution on June 3rd, Lwanga was separated from the others by the Guardian
of the Sacred Flame for private execution, in keeping with custom . As he was
being burnt, Charles said to the Guardian, "It is as if you are pouring
water on me. Please repent and become a Christian like me."
Twelve Catholic boys and men and nine Anglicans were then
burnt alive (another Catholic, Mbaga Tuzinde, was speared to death for refusing
to renounce Christianity, and his body was thrown into the furnace to be burned
along with those of Lwanga and the others[3]).
The ire of the king was particularly inflamed against the Christians was
because they refused to accede to demands to participate in sexual acts with
him.[4]
Charles Lwanga, in particular, had protected the pages
from King Mwanga's sexual advances.[5]
The executions were also motivated by Mwanga's broader efforts to avoid foreign
threats to his power. According to Assa Okoth, Mwanga's overriding
preoccupation was for the "integrity of his kingdom," and perceived
that men such as
Lwanga were working with foreigners in "poisoning
the very roots of his kingdom". Not to have taken any action could have
led to suggestions that he was a weak sovereign.[6]
Veneration
Charles Lwanga and the other Catholics who accompanied him
in death were canonized in 1964 by Pope Paul VI
during a pastoral visit to Uganda.[7]
Although the Anglicans could not be canonized, they were named "with the others,
also deserving mention" for enduring "death for the name of
Christ".[8]
The Basilica of the Uganda Martyrs
was built at the site of the executions, and serves as their shrine.The Brothers of St. Charles Lwanga
were founded in 1927 as an indigenous religious congregation of Ugandan men committed
to providing education to the youth of their country.
Relics
A vertebra of St Charles Lwanga is on display in the
Treasury of Westminster Cathedral, London
