Portal:Catholic Church/Patron Archive/June 3 2007

Carl Lwanga and his companions

Carl Lwanga (or Charles Lwanga) (1865 – June 3, 1886) was a Ugandan Roman Catholic catechist martyred for his faith and revered as a saint in the Catholic Church. He was born in the kingdom of Buganda in the southern part of modern Uganda, and served as a page in the court of King Mwanga II.

Mwanga began to insist Christian converts abandon their new faith, and executed many Catholic and Anglicans between 1885 and 1887; many of them were officials in the court of the king or otherwise very close to him, including Lwanga. After a massacre of Anglicans in 1885 the court's resident Catholic priest, Joseph Mukasa, reproached the king for the deed. Mwanga had Mukasa beheaded and arrested all of his followers. Lwanga took up Mukasa's duties, and secretly baptized those of his pupils who had only been catechumens. Carl Lwanga and 21 other Catholics were burned alive on June 3, 1886. According to the Catholic Church, one of the reasons the ire of the king was particularly inflamed against the Christians was because they refused to accede to demands to participate in homosexual acts.

Carl Lwanga and his companions in death were canonized in 1964 by Pope Paul VI. Although the Anglicans were not canonized (as non-Catholics, this would have been impossible), their martyrdom was recognized by the Pope.
Attributes: on stake with his companions
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