NAIROBI, 4 June 2026 — This article by Donozio Muheki, a Mill Hill student at the Nairobi Formation Centre, looks at the courage and faith of the Ugandan Martyrs and why their witness still matters today. It recalls the history of the young Christians who chose to remain faithful even in the face of death. This year’s Feast of the Ugandan Martyrs, celebrated yesterday, was marked in a low-key way because of health restrictions, unlike the usual observance that draws hundreds of pilgrims from different regions.
In the late nineteenth century, Buganda was a powerful and organised kingdom ruled by Kabaka Mwanga II who demanded absolute loyalty from his subjects. Around that time, Christian missionaries both Catholic and Anglican arrived in Buganda and began teaching and spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Some of the pages listened carefully to these teachings of the missionaries and accepted Christianity. What attracted them was not only the new religion itself but its moral vision: belief in one God, respect for human dignity, equality before God and a moral law higher than earthly power.
Gradually, tension grew within the palace. The young converts began to live differently. They prayed, learned the catechism and refused certain actions they believed to be immoral. Their new faith demanded loyalty to God above all else. The Kabaka viewed Christianity as a threat to his authority and traditional practices. The resistance of Kabaka’s pages was interpreted as disobedience and rebellion to the king. Kabaka Mwanga started planning to get rid of them and the persecution intensified after the execution of Joseph Mukasa Balikuddembe, a senior court official and catechist, who had challenged the king over his violent actions. Following this, the king ordered the arrest and execution of Christians in his court. Many were subjected to torture, forced matches and brutal deaths; including being burned alive at Namugongo on 3rd June 1886.At Namugongo, they were wrapped in reed mats and placed on a massive pyre. As the flames began to consume them, their voices didn’t cry out in terror. Instead, they rose in prayer and song, their final breath shouted the profession of faith. They died, not as victims, but as witnesses of the Good News of the Risen Lord. The word “martyr” itself means “witness”. Among them was Charles Lwanga, whose leadership and peace gave others strength. And Kizito, the boy whose youthful faith proved that holiness has no age limit. Their witness was so powerful that even some of the executioners, it is said, were moved by what they saw.
Their sacrifice was not the end of the story, but the beginning of a new one. On October 18th 1964, Pope Saint Paul VI canonized the twenty-two Catholic martyrs, proclaiming them the first saints of modern Sub-Saharan Africa. The Uganda Martyrs continue to speak powerfully to us that faith should be consciously chosen and courageously lived. The blood they shed became the seed of a vibrant, unshakeable Church. Every year on 3rd June the Church celebrates this heroic witness.
