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The saints

Sts Charles Lwanga and Companions

Young African converts who would not give up Christ, many of them very young.

Feast: 3 June · 19th century · Namugongo, Uganda

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The Basilica of the Uganda Martyrs at Namugongo: a tall cone of steel struts, shaped like a traditional African hut.

Lebu Ayiga, 2024. Wikimedia Commons, CC0.

Home / The saints / Sts Charles Lwanga and Companions

Namugongo, Uganda

In Uganda, young Christians gave their lives rather than give up Christ.1

Pope Francis, at their shrine in 2015, said they gave testimony of their faith even at the cost of their lives, many at such a young age.1

Among them was Charles Lwanga, who had been taught the faith and wanted to hand it on.

01Sts Charles Lwanga and Companions

Handing on the gift

Pope Francis recalled Sts Joseph Mkasa and Charles Lwanga, who after being catechized by others wanted to pass on the gift they had received.1

He also remembered the Anglican martyrs who died with them, a witness he called the ecumenism of blood.1

The Basilica of the Uganda Martyrs at Namugongo: a tall cone of steel struts, shaped like a traditional African hut.
The Basilica of the Uganda Martyrs at Namugongo. Lebu Ayiga, 2024. Wikimedia Commons, CC0.

Notes

  1. Pope Francis, Homily at the Shrine of the Uganda Martyrs, Namugongo, 28 November 2015. Holy See, official English text. vatican.va

The Catholic Encyclopedia (1913) is in the public domain; we quote the New Advent edition. Texts of the Holy See are quoted briefly from vatican.va. Scripture: Douay-Rheims, Challoner revision (public domain). Photographs: Wikimedia Commons, credited under each image; full list on the photo credits page.

Lines in the narrator’s voice, without a note, are our reflection, not a historical claim. Stone & Incense restates Church teaching in plain words; our wording is not an official Church text. Report an error.