The King was
astounded at the young man’s courage, 2 Maccabees7:1-14
The Uganda Martyrs, 3
June
The 24 canonised martyrs of Uganda remind us of the stories of
the martyrs of old. The same tortures ere repeated: some were cut to pieces,
others devoured by dogs, others decapitated and thirteen were burned alive in
reed baskets.
They were of different ages: Matthias Kalemba was fifty,
Kizito was thirteen; most were between sixteen and twenty four. The main
accusation was that they were “men of prayer”.
Also the king was enraged that they refused to give in to his sexual
advances. Kizito drew the admiration of his brothers by his courage and joy.
For the most part they had been recently baptised and four were still
catechumens when Charles Lwanga baptised them before their ordeal began.
More than 100 Catholic and Anglican martyrs died between
November 1885 and January 1887 and the most notorious event was the deaths on
the pyre at Nymugonga on June 3, 1886. The growth of the church in Uganda is a
testimony to the permanent efficacy of their offering of their lives for Christ
our Lord. Today, as always, the blood of the martyrs is the seed of Christians.
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