A recent webinar organised by the Missionaries of Africa in Rome examined the impact of the canonisation of the Uganda Martyrs on the Church’s mission. Fr Wijnand Huijs MHM was one of the speakers giving a deeply personal testimony.
Uganda Martyrs and the Impact of their Canonisation on the Church Mission in Africa
A Perspective from a Mill Hill Missionary: Fr. Wijnand Huijs
“The tyrant dies and his rule is over, the martyr dies and his rule begins.”
Søren Kierkegaard
This quote suggests that tyrants, who exercise oppressive and dictatorial control, lose power and influence upon their death. However, martyrs, who sacrifice themselves for a cause or belief, gain significance and become a symbol for others to rally behind, even after their death. The Uganda Martyrs and their impact on the Church Mission in Africa have proved to be a powerful illustration of this quote, especially since their Canonisation in 1964
Allow me first to narrate the impact the Uganda Martyrs had on me even before the Canonisation:
It is 1955. 120 young boys are gathered in the chapel of the minor seminary of the Mill Hill missionaries in Tilburg, The Netherlands. I am among them, I have just become 13.We are praying for missionaries far away in dark Africa asking a certain Blessed Charles Lwanga to intercede for them. Blessed Charles Lwanga and Companions, Martyrs of Uganda. I wonder who they are. After the prayers an impressive long-bearded missionary comes to the front and narrates to us the story. I listen attentively. The story in the jungles of Africa about a brave youth, Charles Lwanga and a young boy, Kizito, about my age, being tortured, burned alive, giving up their lives for Christ and Christian values. The story touches me deeply. It makes a lasting impact on me.
It is 1964. I am in the first year of Theology at St Joseph’s College of Mill Hill London. There is great excitement among us future missionaries when we hear how in Rome, in St. Peter’s Basilica in the presence of 2000 bishops who are attending Vatican II council, Pope Paul VI declares the 22 Martyrs of Uganda, Saints of the universal Catholic Church, the first Sub-Saharan Africans ever to be declared Saints. Outbursts of joy, thunderous sounds of drums, ululations and clapping fills the Basilica. We feel very proud and our hearts start longing for the day that we too can be send to spread the Good News in faraway Africa. The first time that original African music composed by the famous musician, Joseph Kyagambiddwa, is sung accompanied by local African instruments. A liturgical first in Rome. It is also the first time that women are part of a choir that sang in St. Peter’s Basilica.
It is 1968, shortly before my ordination, I meet bishop Billington, bishop emeritus of Kampala Diocese who had recently returned to his country of origin, England. He tells me very clearly: ‘’When you go to Uganda, learn to play the second fiddle, to take the second place. The time of playing the first fiddle is over.”
It is 1969, 25th Jan. I arrive in Uganda. Bishop Willigers appoints me to the Cathedral Parish in Jinja, Two months later I am asked to go to Kyebando, the birthplace of St.Matia Mulumba in order to learn Luganda and to join Fr. Thomas Kasadha as a curate. He is the first Musoga priest and here I have a beautiful chance to learn to play the second fiddle. I feel proud that I am the first European Missionary in the diocese of Jinja to become a curate to an African P.P. He teaches me the first song in Luganda: “Essanyu linzita, n’ebigambo binnemye eby’okwogera.” Freely translated: Joy overwhelms me, No words can express how I feel.
This was the joy that I felt when a few months later, in July 1969 Pope Paul VI visited Uganda, the first time in history that a Pope set foot on Sub-Saharan African soil. As a young missionary I felt very privileged to witness the sheer joy and pride of the people of Uganda who felt so honoured by the visit of the very Pope who had canonised the Ugandan Martyrs five years earlier. In Namugongo I saw the Pope kissing the spot where Charles Lwanga was killed and where he consecrated the altar of the Shrine under construction. It was during a gathering in Rubaga Cathedral, Kampala, that Pope Paul VI spoke the historical words: “The Church is well and truly planted on this blessed soil. By now, you, Africans, are missionaries to yourselves, in other words, you Africans must now continue upon this continent the building up of the church.”
These words were challenging words but at the same time an affirmation by the Pope of the great potential of the church in Uganda and it gave the missionaries who had planted the church, a deep sense of gratitude and joy..
The visit of Pope John Paul II to Uganda in 1993 was another proof of the importance of the Ugandan Martyrs in the Mission of the Church. The meeting with the Youth in Nakivubo Stadium in which I participated with the big Kamuli Youth Brass band was very touching and impressive. When suddenly electricity fell out and the whole stadium turned pitch dark, panic erupted among the security guards. The Pope however remained calm. Within minutes the youth who had brought candles, lighted them and in no time the big stadium was lit up with a sea of small flames accompanied by thousands of voices shouting and singing: John Paul Two, we love You. The Pope then used the occasion to challenge the youth to emulate the example of the Uganda Martyrs: ‘’Take this same light to the people out there so that through your good works and example they may see the goodness of our God.”
In 2015, when I was in the U K., Pope Francis visited Uganda and became the third Pope to come and honour the Uganda Martyrs. The theme of the visit: “You will be my witnesses” was again challenging. The Pope commented on the theme when he said: “Follow the Martyrs’ example of faith to be missionaries at home by taking care of the elderly, the poor, the widowed and the abandoned” A clear challenge to let the Martyrs’ example impact the daily life and bear fruit.
When talking about the impact of the Canonisation on the Church Mission in Africa I like to refer to the cooperation or may I call it “fraternity” between the Missionaries of Africa and the Mill Hill Missionaries since the beginning of their missionary commitment in Africa, particularly in Uganda. Some years after the arrival in Uganda, on 17th February 1879, of the first Missionaries of Africa, Père Lourdel and Br. Amans from France, a misunderstanding arose between them and the Protestant missionaries from Britain who had arrived two years earlier. The misunderstanding had strong national overtones which led to the Catholics being called the Bafransa, the French, and the Protestants being called the Bangereza, the British. In order to clear this misunderstanding Bishop Livinhac in 1894, the then Superior General of the Missionaries of Africa, who had first-hand experience of the misunderstanding in Uganda, approached the Superior General of the Mill Hill missionaries in London, Cardinal Vaughan requesting him to send British Catholic missionaries to Uganda in order to dispel the myth that Catholics were French and Protestants British.
In 1895 the first British Mill-Hill missionaries arrived in Zanzibar where the Missionaries of Africa welcomed them heartily and gave them support and encouragement to start the long journey into the interior. A few months later when they arrived in Rubaga, Kampala they were again offered great hospitality by the Missionaries of Africa.
Since I arrived in Uganda in 1969, I personally experienced this fraternity, especially during Amin’s regime when we, Mill Hill missionaries, had no house in Kampala. It was in Lourdel House, Nsambya, Kampala that we found refuge and experienced great hospitality, where we felt safe and enjoyed good company and good food.
In 1976, May, I travelled with 100 children from Kamuli Parish, Busoga, to Old Kampala Parish to participate in the liturgy on the occasion of the 90th Anniversary of the execution of St. Matia Mulumba. The Basoga children were very proud to sing, read and pray on the very spot their Musoga Martyr was executed. Bishop Willigers, bishop of Jinja was the main celebrant
In February 1979 I attended the Celebration of the Centenary of the arrival of the first Catholic Missionaries to Uganda, Père Lourdel and Brother Amans. The Celebration took place in Namugongo. It was a time of great tension and insecurity. Despite all this tension and heavy security checking thousands of people attended, putting their trust in the Uganda Martyrs.
From 2000-2007 I was privileged to be parish priest of St. Charles Lwanga Parish Mbikko in Lugazi Diocese where I witnessed the faith people had in their patron saint and where every year, days before June 3, pilgrims from North and Eastern corners from Uganda, but also all the way from Kenya and other parts, would come and spend the night, resting but also praying and singing, young and old. It was very touching for me to experience the great love they had for the Martyrs and how it united them.
It was in 1955, nearly 70 years ago, that I first felt the impact the Uganda Martyrs had on me. I look back with deep gratitude and feel privileged to have seen with my own eyes how the impact of their Canonisation has grown and deepened over the years, not only in Uganda but worldwide. However challenges have also grown and I pray that the Uganda Martyrs may intercede for us so that we may face these challenges with courage and Christian conviction.
Saints Charles Lwanga, Matia Mulumba and Companions pray for us!
