Saint Charles Lwanga and Companions

Catholic missionaries, the White Fathers, reached the kingdom of Buganda in 1879, and many young men at the royal court embraced the faith. King Mwanga II turned against the Christians, angered by their refusal to take part in his immoral demands. Charles Lwanga, head of the royal pages, protected the boys in his care and secretly baptized several of them the night before they were arrested.

On June 3, 1886, Charles and others were burned alive at Namugongo; the youngest Catholic martyr, Kizito, was about fourteen. Between 1885 and 1887 at least 22 Catholics and many Anglicans were killed. Pope Benedict XV beatified the Catholic martyrs in 1920, and Pope Paul VI canonized them on October 18, 1964, during the Second Vatican Council. They were the first saints of sub-Saharan Africa in modern times.

Every June 3 more than a million pilgrims, many walking for weeks from Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania and beyond, gather at the shrine of Namugongo, built where the martyrs died. It is one of the largest pilgrimages in Africa.

Charles Lwanga is the patron of African Catholic youth, and many parishes in the US and Latin America with African communities celebrate the day with song and dance.