A Pilgrimage of Pain and Hope – UGANDA [2]
“You will be my witnesses” (Acts 1:8).
[1] National Shrine of the Ugandan Martyrs.[2] A portrait of the 22 Ugandan Catholic Martyrs [3] A stained glass window showing St Kizito
In the beginning there were two – Kigungu Landing Site
Appropriately, our pilgrimage began at the beginning of it all – with a visit to the Kigungu landing site of the two pioneer French Catholic missionaries, Fr. Siméon Lourdel (locally known as “Mapeera”) and Br. Amans Delmas (locally called “Amansi”) from the order of Missionaries of Africa (the “White Fathers”). This took us back to the cradle of the Catholic faith in Uganda.
131 years ago, on 17 February, 1879, the two missionaries set foot on Uganda when they arrived in the little fishing village on the shores of Lake Victoria, in what was then the Kingdom of Buganda. They left their native town Marseilles with a caravan of White Fathers on April 22, 1878 and landed in Zanzibar on 30th May and on June 17, the whole caravan ventured on foot into the interior of Africa, trekking across the wilderness. Of the ten missionaries, two went northwards across Lake Victoria to explore the situation in Uganda. On their arrival at Entebbe, they landed on the Kigungu Peninsula. A modest monument marks the spot which is today a popular annual pilgrimage centre. After some difficulties, King Mutesa I consented to the coming of the Catholic mission into his kingdom on February 23, 1879.
Whereas in the beginning there were two, today, the movement they started has firmly become the Ugandan Catholic Church, the biggest religious denomination in Uganda.
Next stop – the Namugongo Martyrs’ Shrine
While the work of Mapeera and Amansi represented the first seed-sowing of the Catholic faith in Uganda, the deaths of the world-renown, awe-inspiring Ugandan Martyrs marked a new beginning of the spread of Catholicism and a whole new impetus to the growth of Christianity in the African continent and, together with it, the mushrooming of indispensable social services in the recent history of this country. Truly, as some local priests remarked, if the churches were to pull out of education, health care and welfare services, “the country would collapse”.
Our journey took us to the impressive Namugongo Martyrs’ Shrine that commemorates 22 Ugandan Catholics burnt alive in 1886 on the orders of the Kabaka (King) Mwanga II of Buganda.
Two initial striking points
Two points about the Ugandan Martyrs were at once profoundly striking for us.
First, was the year the martyrdom happened. It was 1886, barely seven years after the arrival of the first two foreign Catholic missionaries. Imagine the struggles involved in the conversion from traditional beliefs and practices in late 19th century, the battle for Christian virtue, and the sacrifice of life itself for a completely new faith. That it happened so soon after the Gospel was first preached on Ugandan soil is simply stunning. From Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians, we can practically hear the Apostle telling the first converts to Christianity in Corinth that they were “once no people, now God’s people”, united not in anything else, but in the crucified Christ whose Good News was the singular subject matter of his preaching. That Good News was not some clever philosophy spoken from wise lips, but it was the language of the Cross preached in “fear and trembling”– the suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ for the salvation of humankind. Paul preached Christ crucified as the power and wisdom of God (1 Cor 1:17-18; 2:1-5). These Ugandan Martyrs heard the same message of salvation either from the first missionaries or from local teachers who heard from them, opened their hearts to Christ, and the graces that coursed through their souls were simply astounding. There is a great lesson here – preaching and hearing the Good News of Jesus Christ stand at the beginning of great things in the universe.
Second, was the fact that these martyrs were all ordinary lay people, most of them young men and boys working as pages in the royal court, and some of whom were still neophytes – fresh out of the baptismal water. Truly, sainthood is reserved neither for the old and seasoned, nor for the famous and high office-bearers. And look at the glorious faith these “ordinary” lay people who died for the faith have inspired in death! There is another great lesson here, best captured by the words of Sr Joan Chittister – “The spirit that we have, not the things that we do, is what makes us important to the people around us”.
The work of the Holy Spirit
In the case of the martyrs, the Church understands this human spirit to be infused with the Spirit of God. So St Paul wrote: “No one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit” (1 Cor 12:3). The martyrs were able to accept faith due to the work of the Holy Spirit. They allowed the Holy Spirit to fill their lives and they became consumed with the love of the Lord Jesus Christ. So the martyrs’ sole aim was the Lord Jesus Christ and their life with Him in blissful Eternity which, quite simply, explains why they followed Him wholeheartedly even to their death. Neither temptations nor tortures could alter their hearts which abided in the Lord, as St. Paul wrote: “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?… For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor power, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:35-39). This is fervent witnessing.
The risen Lord Jesus Christ said, “You shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8). Disciples of Christ are his witnesses. The Greek word for witness is “martyr”. Most of us are called to be witnesses for the Lord Jesus Christ by the way in which we live a daily life of faith and work, setting good examples for others, and showing others the love for God and neighbours. But some in different corners of the earth may be called to follow the Lord to the very end of the way of the Cross, to willingly give their lives in loyalty to Him. From its earliest days, the Church understood this death as the complete and final act of witnessing. The term “martyr” thus refers to one who witnesses for the Lord Jesus Christ by dying for His Holy Name.
The martyrs compel us to discern between fruits and gifts of the Holy Spirit. Fruits of the Spirit have to do with life and eternity. Gifts are given to individuals by the Spirit for the benefit of the community and can possibly lead one to be puffed up (see 1 Cor 12). The martyrs welcomed God’s Spirit to dwell in them, had communion with the Holy Spirit, became spiritually strong, and felt the power and strength of God within them. The martyrs were primarily concerned with Fruits of the Spirit rather than gifts, to bear powerful witness to Christ, overcoming fear and becoming a strong influence on others.
It is no surprise that artists would portray the martyrs as having a special place in the heart of God. In the most famous Christian icon – Andrei Rublev’s Trinity – the artist has taken special care to leave an opening right below the table of sacrifice as a place where the bones of the martyrs are kept.
In the language of T.S. Eliot, a martyr causes us to both mourn and rejoice. We mourn both the loss of the person who has died and the violence of those who killed him or her but at the same time we rejoice that another soul is numbered amongst the saints. Then too, our mourning and rejoicing are inseparable because a martyr is an instrument of God, born of God’s love for His people, so that his martyrdom is always by God’s design. Losing his will in God’s will, the martyr desires nothing for himself, not even the glory of being a martyr. Borrowing an image verbalized by Jesuit Daniel Berrigan, a martyr is a saint whose accurate knowledge of Christ passes over instantaneously to love and becomes a single living ferment – a leaven to give life to a people bent low by oppression and despair.
These were amongst the early lessons we learned as we went in search of the spirit of the Ugandan Martyrs.
The background
The onset of Christianity brought by the Anglican and Catholic missionaries marked not only a turning point in the religious life of the people of Buganda, but it set the stage for social and political changes in the kingdom and the region at large. As always, the acceptance of Christianity would mark a new beginning in the history of Buganda. A gradual revolution would transform all aspects of the people’s lives. As always too, new changes were acceptable to some and not to others. The death of Mutesa I in 1884 just a few years after the arrival of the missionaries, saw the ascension to the throne of Mwanga II, a youth who did not appreciate the foreigners quite as much as his father did. Even though Mutesa never embraced the Christian faith and died a traditionalist, he let his subjects of all ranks to join any creed of their choice from amongst the missionaries competing to influence his court – the Moslem Arabs, the French Catholics or the English Protestants. The king would not be circumcised, so he was denounced by the Moslems; and he would not be baptized, so he could continue practising polygamy. But the converts to Christianity from amongst the rank and file in the royal court who took up the new faith with much excitement were able and willing to denounce much of their traditional religious behaviour and to abandon it as something quite incompatible with a faith in Christ. In that context, embracing the Christian faith entailed a breaking away from an old life style, forming new alliances, and adopting a different set of moral and religious standards, adherence and allegiance. It was easy for non-believers to regard the Christian converts as “rebels” and “traitors” who now swore allegiance to a new religious system and abandoned their royalty to the old tribal traditions. This was hardly amusing to the youthful Mwanga who, on top of everything else, was said to have immoral sexual habits and was in fact a paedophile. As the teachers of Christian faith taught the young court pages to shun immorality, Mwanga became infuriated by the insolence even in his subservient servants. He was determined to rid his kingdom of the new teaching and its followers.
In January, 1885, Mwanga ordered the execution of the first three Christian martyrs (Protestants). Then, in October that year, he had the Anglican Bishop James Hannington killed for allegedly attempting to come into Buganda not by the normal route and thus amounted to coming into the kingdom “through the back door” – an action interpreted as synonymous with evil intentions. When Joseph Mukasa Balikuddembe, a senior advisor to the king and a Catholic convert, pointed out that the king erred in ordering Hannington’s death without giving him a chance to defend himself as was customary, he infuriated Mwanga who had him beheaded on 15 November 1885. Mukasa became the first Catholic martyr. Records have it that he assured his executioner that “a Christian who gives his life for God has no reason to fear death… Tell Mwanga that he has condemned me unjustly, but I forgive him with all my heart.” In this, Mukasa echoed Jesus’ spirit of martyrdom, for in the midst of terror and violence, the Lord chose the path of non-violence and forgiveness. And so we bear in mind that the Christian Biblical martyrdom differs entirely from the so-called martyrdom of the modern day terrorists: the former is life-giving and transforming; the latter is life-taking and destructive as it goes on and on to wantonly and heartlessly destroy and destroy.
Between December of 1885 and May of 1886 many more converts would be wantonly murdered. Then, in May 1886, Mwanga gathered all the pages in front of his residence. “Let all those who do not pray stay here by my side,” he shouted. “Those who pray” he commanded to stand before a fence on his left. Charles Lwanga, who replaced Mukasa as head of the pages, led the way, followed by the other Christian pages, Catholic and Anglican. The youngest, Kizito, was only fourteen. Mwanga sentenced the group to be burnt alive. Thirty-two Christians were executed at Namugongo on June 3, 1886 for their refusal to renounce Christianity, marking the climax of Mwanga’s persecution campaign. That happened to be the feast day of the Ascension of the Lord. In all, forty-five Christians – Catholics and Protestants – were known to have died in martyrdom, not counting the unreported cases. They were variously burned alive, beheaded, speared to death, or dismembered and left to die slow deaths, sometimes eaten by wild animals. Courageously, the neophytes chose their faith.
The counter-cultural dimension of Christian witness
The martyrs of Uganda were young, yet they vehemently refused to be seduced by the values of the royal court. They took a stand for God’s law, even when it meant defying the king, and knowing that it would lead to certain death. Turning down the opportunity to save their own lives, they would not give in to the king’s lusts. Rejecting the earthly security that could have been theirs had they complied with the king’s wishes, they insisted on their faith in Christ. They show us that faith is of critical importance in sustaining us in times of trial and temptation. The Uganda Martyrs are revered for their faith, their courage, and their counter-cultural witness to Christ.
There is a great lesson for Christian parenting here, as it demonstrates the critical importance of instilling godliness in our children. If they learn to honour God and put Him first, they, like the Ugandan Martyrs, will stand firm against the seductive values of godlessness anywhere they find themselves in the contemporary culture.
The Christian witness is indeed counter-cultural. So there is a great lesson for faith-examination here as well – like the parable of the sower, the story of the Uganda Martyrs invites us to examine our commitment to the Lord. People in the right frame of mind do not choose death. The Ugandan Martyrs did not choose death. They chose life and faith in Christ, even if it meant they had to die for it. These Ugandan Martyrs – young in faith as in age – have demonstrated a life of faith that is simple and yet luminous. They remained joyful because they were trusting in God, even in the face of a gruesome death. And in death, they fired up a new zeal in the faith not just for Uganda and Africa, but for the whole Church. By their life and death, they teach us the crucial lesson of preparing oneself to be the “rich soil” for God’s word.
Blood of martyrs, seed of faith
The blood of the martyrs proved to be a profound seed of faith. Rather than deter the growth of Christianity, the martyrdom of these early African believers stood at the origin of new growth instead. Why are these men so important to the Ugandans and to Africans all over the world? It is the “spirit” that they had which was important, which was contagious, which would not die, which sparked new flames. As Pope John Paul II pointed out during his visit to their shrine, their sacrifice was the seed that “helped to draw Uganda and all of Africa to Christ.”
We followed that spirit, and we saw that all the martyrs were lay people, most were in their teens and twenties, and their spirit was so overwhelming. It would totally change the dynamic of Christian growth in Uganda and the whole continent. Despite their youths, they would become truly the “founding fathers” of the modern African church with all its display of vigour. Their martyrdom produced a result entirely opposite to Mwanga’s intentions of silencing Christianity for good. Their deaths yielded the spark that ignited the flame of Christianity in modern Africa. Now, Christianity was no longer a “white man’s religion”. The Ugandan Martyrs were local trailblazers. They had taken on board the faith of Christ, and bequeathed to the rest of the country and the continent of Africa the conviction that they were able and willing to die for their faith. Now, Christian faith was truly African.
The example of these martyrs who, forced to witness the painful deaths of their colleagues, and walked to their deaths singing hymns and praying for their enemies, so inspired many of the bystanders that they went on to become enquirers after the faith and began seeking religious instructions. Within a few years, the number multiplied from the original handful of converts to many times over and spread far beyond the royal court.
Speaking on the feast day of St Claire recently, Pope Benedict XVI said it is the saints who change the world, and affirmed that they are the “great benefactors of humanity.” This is true of the Ugandan Martyrs.
The 22 Ugandan Catholic Martyrs
The 22 African Roman Catholic martyrs were collectively beatified by Pope Benedict XV in 1920 and canonized by Pope Paul VI on October 18, 1964, during the Second Vatican Council. Their feast day is June 3 on which day a sea of pilgrims make their annual pilgrimage to the Namugongo National Shrine of the Ugandan Martyrs.
This painting narrates the story of twenty-two young men and boys in Ugandan tribal dress, standing in front of a backdrop of upraised spears or tall flames. It depicts a scene of serenity despite the atrocities done to them. Staring torturous death in the face, the expressions on their faces are of peace, trust, and even joy. One is holding a palm branch, some are praying with folded hands, and others are raising a cross or clasping a rosary.
Of the twenty-two Catholic martyrs, two of them are easy to remember.
First, is St Charles Lwanga, chief of royal pages in the king Mwanga’s palace, baptised on 15 November, 1885, the day St Joseph Mukasa Balikuddembe was beheaded and burnt. After the death of Mukasa, Lwanga became the head of Christians. He died on Thursday 3rd June 1886 (on ascension day) at the age of about 25. As he was being burnt, Charles said to Ssenkoole, his executioner, “It is as if you are pouring water on me. Please repent and become a Christian like me”. Lwanga is the patron of youth and Catholic action.
Second, is St Kizito who, at 14, was the youngest of all the Martyrs. Fellow pages had credited him for his love and determination to follow Christ. Kizito was a catechumen at the time and Lwanga, sensing the danger of death, baptized Kizito on 26 May 1886. He is the patron of children and Primary Schools.
On his visit to Namugongo on 7 February 1993, Pope John Paul II said:
- “This is the place where Christ’s light shone on your land with a particular splendour. This was the place of darkness, Namugongo, where Christ’s light shone bright in the great fire which consumed Saint Charles Lwanga and his companions. May the light of that holocaust never cease to shine in Africa!”
Copyright © Dr. Jeffrey & Angie Goh, October 2010. All rights reserved.
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