An historical exhibition on the 60th anniversary of the Uganda Martyrs’ canonisation
organised by the Uganda Martyrs University under the title: God and Caesar.
Opening 14 September 2024
Closing 31 October
This special exhibition in offing marks the 60th anniversary of the canonization of the Uganda Martyrs. To celebrate the occasion, we have arranged a momentary return of the most consequential relics of the Martyrs to return to Uganda. This great event is a matter of continental importance, for the Uganda Martyrs are the first black people to be canonized by the Catholic church in modern times. For us in Uganda, this return of the first-class relics to their native land is a cause for joy, for the Uganda Martyrs are our own people, sons of our soil and fathers of our faith. For us in Africa, the return of the Uganda Martyrs’ mortal remains affirms our people’s central role in the making of the Christian faith.
The lives and deaths of our Holy Uganda Martyrs vividly re-educate us about the meaning-loaded Gospel precept to “Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God” (Matthew 22, 21).
In the words of a prolific Mill Hill Missionary, Rev. J.P. Thoonen, these Uganda Martyrs
“[h]aving been trained from childhood to unswerving fidelity and allegiance to the sacred office of the king, whose trusted servants they were proud to be, [they] rose unhesitatingly to that perfect loyalty which gives to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s” (Thoonen MHM 1941, p. 7).
For more than half a century these consequential signs of our church’s heroic history have lain in Rome, where they were taken during the decades-long process by which the church made these young Ugandans into saints. Charles Lwanga, Mathias Mulumba and 20 of their compatriots were martyred in and around Namugongo between 1885 and 1887. Quite soon after their deaths the church began collecting evidence to support their canonization. Dozens or hundreds of men and women who had known the martyrs gave evidence to support the cause, and the relics of the dead men, which had been salvaged after the infernos had died down, were gathered up and sent to Rome. There they have laid ever since. The martyrs themselves were beatified in June 1920 and canonized in October 1964; but their relics have remained in the custody of the Missionaries of Africa.
Among the miraculous first-class relics on show is a jaw-bone of Charles Lwanga, leader of the Christian group in Mwanga’s court, who was separately incinerated from the feet upward in a fire at Namugongo. There is also a cross made from the muvule tree to which Saint Mathias Mulumba’s body was dismembered at both knees and elbows dying in agony. And there are the chains of iron that bound the feet of Saints Balikudembe and Muggaga as they were brought, unprotesting, from Mengo to the scene of their martyrdom.
Today, in going to receive these first-class miraculous relics arriving from Rome, we witness the afterlives of the Uganda Martyrs taking a pride of place in the memory of Christianisation in this land and faraway lands. As Thoonen MHM (1941, p. 9) further puts it,
We see them [Uganda Martyrs] showing their discipline, their dignified bearing, their thirst for knowledge, their good humour, their ready wit, their delicate sense of justice and goodness, their spirit of proselytism. We see them astonishingly free from inconstancy, caprice, untruthfulness, dishonesty, vanity and immorality, with which Africans are so readily credited. We see the African at his best, the African searching for the pearl of great price and, having found it, selling joyfully all he has, even life itself, in order to buy it.
These important relics recall the heroism and valour of the martyrs’ faith. They are physical evidence of the constancy of their Christianity. They bear the very imprint of their bodily torment. They are a testimony that speaks to us, across the centuries, about the horrifying history by which our faith was established in this land.
Annotated descriptions of the returning loaned relics
Cross of St Mattias Mulumba Kalemba
Born in Busoga, Mulumba was enslaved in his youth. By the early 1880s he had risen to become the head assistant to the county chief of Ssingo in Buganda. He was baptised into the Catholic Church on Pentecost Sunday, 28th May 1882. He was martyred in May 1886 at a place in Old Kampala. His executioners cut off his arms and legs, then roasted his skin on a fire before his eyes. He is said to have died unprotesting, with the name of God on his lips.
Courtesy of Missionaries of Africa, Rome
The chains that tied St Balikuddembe
Martyred on 15 November 1885, Balikuddembe was the first of the Catholic Martyr to be killed.
Courtesy of Missionaries of Africa, Rome
Crucifix given to St Kizito by St Lwanga
Kizito Omuto was the youngest person slain during the time of persecution. He was baptized together with Gyaviira, Mugagga and Mbaaga at Munyonyo by Charles Lwanga, the leader of the Christian community in Mwanga’s court, during the night leading to the day of their condemnation to death (25-26th May); and burned alive on 3 June 1886 at Namugongo. He is the Patron Saint of children.
Courtesy of Missionaries of Africa, Rome
First printed catechism booklet, Luganda and French, 1881
This catechism booklet was used by pioneer missionaries to teach the first converts, among whom were the future martyrs. It included an alphabet, the creed, and the Hail Mary.
Courtesy of Missionaries of Africa, Kampala
Rosary and Pen of Bp. Léon Livinhac
Bishop Livinhac was Vicar Apostolic of Victoria Nyanza. He was at Nalukolongo near Lubaga, in Mengo in May 1886, at the time the Uganda Martyrs were immolated. In 1890 he was made Superior General of the Missionaries of Africa (White Fathers).
Courtesy of Missionaries of Africa, Kampala
Surviving jawbone of Saint Charles Lwanga
Courtesy of Missionaries of Africa, Rome
Surviving femur of Saint Mattia Mulumba
Courtesy of Missionaries of Africa, Rome
