St. Charles Lwanga and Companions
A young royal page burned alive with his companions, the Martyrs of Uganda, for their faith and purity.
- Born
- c. 1860, Uganda
- Died
- 1886 (martyred)
- Canonized
- 1964 by Pope Paul VI (1964-10-18)
- Patronage
- Uganda, African youth, converts
St. Charles Lwanga was a young man of the kingdom of Buganda, in present-day Uganda, born around 1860. He served at the court of King Mwanga II, where he was instructed in the Catholic faith by the Missionaries of Africa (the "White Fathers") and baptized in November 1885. When the king murdered the court's Catholic leader, Joseph Mukasa, for protesting the killing of an Anglican missionary, Charles succeeded him as head of the royal pages and as the quiet leader of the court's young Christians. King Mwanga's hostility toward Christianity was sharpened by the pages' refusal, on account of their faith, to submit to his immoral demands. Charles protected the boys in his charge and continued to instruct and baptize catechumens, including the young Kizito. In May 1886 the king demanded that the Christian pages renounce their faith. They refused. Charles and his companions were bound and forced on a brutal march to Namugongo, where on June 3, 1886, the feast of the Ascension, they were wrapped in reed mats and burned alive. Charles, kept apart to be executed by the chief of the royal executioners, is remembered for encouraging the others and enduring the slow fire with astonishing calm. In all, twenty-two Catholic martyrs — pages, soldiers, and officials, aged roughly thirteen to fifty — died for the faith in Uganda between 1885 and 1887, alongside a number of Anglican Christians who perished in the same persecution. Far from destroying the young Church, their witness caused it to flourish; the Church in Uganda and across Africa traces much of its vitality to their sacrifice. The Uganda Martyrs were beatified by Pope Benedict XV in 1920 and canonized by Pope St. Paul VI on October 18, 1964, during the Second Vatican Council — the first canonized martyrs of sub-Saharan Africa. Their feast is celebrated on June 3, and the Basilica of the Uganda Martyrs at Namugongo draws vast crowds of pilgrims each year, especially on Martyrs' Day. St. Charles Lwanga is honored as a patron of African youth, converts, and catechists.