St. Charles Lwanga is in the top row, center. He and nineteen of those pictured here were martyred eight months after this photo was taken

Today, June 3, is the Memorial of St. Charles Lwanga and Companions.

St. Charles Lwanga was born in Buganda, part of modern-day Uganda on January 1, 1860. He was a member of the Baganda tribe. He served as a page in the court of King Mwanga II of Buganda, where he was introduced to Catholicism by other members of the court. He received catechetical training from St. Joseph Mkasa Balikuddembe, major domo to King Mwanga and a lay catechist.

King Mwanga became paranoid about foreign influence in his court weakening his hold on power. Because of this, he targeted Christians in his kingdome, ordering the massacre of Anglican missionaries, including that of Bishop James Hannington. Joseph Mkasa had counseled the king against these killings, and rebuked him after he carried them out. On November 15, 1885, Joseph Mkasa Balikuddembe was executed by beheading as a result of his having rebuked the king, and Joseph’s followers were arrested. That same day, the king ordered Charles Lwanga to take up Joseph Mkasa’s responsibilities, and it was on that day that Charles and one hundred other catechumens requested and received baptism from White Father missionary Fr. Giraud.

King Mwanga was also a homosexual pervert and demanded sexual favors from the pages of his court. Charles often found it necessary to protect the pages from the king’s sexual desires. On May 25, 1886, Mwanga condemned two of his pages to death. The next day, May 26, Charles baptized those pages who were still catechumens, anticipating their martyrdoms. That same day, Mwanga interrogated Charles and the pages, demanding that they renounce their Christian faith. Mwanga was angry at the Christians for two reasons: he regarded them as under the influence of foreign powers and, as such, a threat to his power as king, and the Christians refused to capitulate to the king’s homosexual demands.

Charles and the pages were marched to the execution site on June 3, 1886. Three were murdered during the march, one was clubbed to death, and the others burned alive. As major domo, Charles was separated from the others and burned alive. All told, between 1885 and 1887 there were 45 Christian martyrs, 22 Catholics and 23 Anglicans. During his homily at the canonization of the Catholic Ugandan martyrs, Pope St. Paul VI made the unusal gesture of mentioning the Anglican martyrs.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, there were barely 2 million Catholics on the African continent. Today, there are over 230 million, and some African countries have significant Catholic populations. Even still, persecution continues. Seven of the ten most deadly countries for Christians are in Africa: Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Niger, Central African Republic, and Mozambique. We pray for our confreres in Africa, Catholic, Anglican, Protestant, Evangelical, Orthodox, and Pentacostal. While we may be separated by doctrine and liturgy, we are one in blood.

from The Liturgy of the Hours for the Memorial of Charles Lwanga and Companions, Martyrs:

Father, you have made the blood of martyrs the seed of Christians. May the witness of Charles Lwanga and his companions and their loyalty to Christ in the face of torture inspire countless mena dn women to live the Christian faith. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.

Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Lwanga

Be Christ for all. Bring Christ to all. See Christ in all.