Readings:
Psalm 138
Hebrews 10:32-39
Matthew 24:9-14Preface of Holy Week
[Common of a Martyr]
[Of the Holy Cross]
[On the Anniversary of the Occasion of a Disaster]
O God, by whose providence the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church: Grant that we who remember before thee the blessed martyrs of Uganda, may, like them, be steadfast in our faith in Jesus Christ, to whom they gave obedience even unto death, and by their sacrifice brought forth a plentiful harvest; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
PRAYER (contemporary language)
O God, by whose providence the blood of the martyrs is the
seed of the church: Grant that we who remember before you the blessed
martyrs of Uganda, may, like them, be steadfast in our faith in Jesus
Christ, to whom they gave obedience even unto death, and by their sacrifice
brought forth a plentiful harvest; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who
lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
This commemoration appears in Lesser Feasts & Fasts 2018 with revised lessons.
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Last updated: 6 April 2019
THE MARTYRS OF UGANDA
(3 JUNE 1886)
On
3 June 1886, thirty-two young men, pages of the court of King Mwanga of
Buganda, were burned to death at Namugongo for their refusal to renounce
Christianity. In the following months many other Christians throughout the
country died by spear or fire for their faith.
These martyrdoms totally changed the dynamic of Christian growth in Uganda. Introduced by a handful of Anglican and Roman missionaries after 1877, the Christian faith had been preached only to the immediate members of the court, by order of King Mutesa. His successor, Mwanga, became increasingly angry as he realized that the first converts put loyalty to Christ above the traditional loyalty to the king. Martyrdoms began in 1885. Mwanga first forbade anyone to go near a Christian mission on pain of death, but finding himself unable to cool the ardor of the converts, resolved to wipe out Christianity.
The
Namugongo martyrdoms produced a result entirely opposite to Mwanga's intentions.
The example of these martyrs, who walked to their deaths singing hymns
and praying for their enemies, so inspired many of the bystanders that
they began to seek instruction from the remaining Christians. Within a
few years the original handful of converts had multiplied many times and
spread far beyond the court. The martyrs had left the indelible impression
that Christianity was truly African, not simply a white man's religion.
Most of the missionary work was carried out by Africans rather than by
white missionaries, and Christianity spread steadily. Uganda now has the
largest percentage of professed Christians of any nation in Africa.
Several years ago I heard an African clergyman, born of pagan parents, tell of his conversion. He said:
One afternoon I was bicycling along a road and met a young man about my own age bicycling in the opposite direction. He promptly turned about and began to ride beside me and to talk. He spoke with great enthusiasm about Jesus, whom I had never heard of before, and how He had destroyed the power of death and evil by dying and rising again, and how He was God become man to reconcile man with God. I heard what my companion had to say, and before we parted I had accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. Now, the young man who preached the Good News of Jesus Christ to me that afternoon had himself heard of Jesus for the first time that morning.
Renewed persecution of Christians in the 1970's by the military dictatorship of Idi Amin proved the vitality of the example of the Namugongo martyrs. Among the thousands of new martyrs, both Anglican and Roman, was Janani Luwum, Archbishop of the (Anglican) Church of Uganda.
by James Kiefer
Additional information is available on the Buganda History page