Feast of Saint Charles Lwanga and his companions, martyrs
(d. 1885/7)
Many Christians, Catholic and Protestant, were killed by the Ugandan king Mwanga. Some of them were servants in the king’s palace or even his personal attendants. Charles Lwanga and his twenty-one companions (the youngest, Kizito, was only 13) were executed for being Christians, for rebuking the king for his debauchery and his murder of an Anglican missionary, for “praying from a book,” and for refusing to allow themselves to be ritually sodomised by the king. They died between 1885 and 1887. Most of them were burned alive in a group after being tortured.
Within a year of their deaths, the number of catechumens in the country quadrupled. St Charles Lwanga is the patron of Catholic Action and of black African youth, and the Ugandan martyrs’ feast day is a public holiday in Uganda.
Saint Charles Lwanga and his companions feast day is June 3rd.
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The devil fears hearts on fire with love of God.”
Saint Catherine of Siena
Each generation is converted by the saint who contradicts it most.”
G.K. Chesterton
Saint Charles Lwanga and companions, martyrs, pray for us.
Be not afraid! And may the peace of Christ be with you and your loved ones today and always. Holy Family pray for us. Amen.
