To many of us the name of the Ugandan Martyr Charles Lwanga is unfamiliar. But, he is well-known and revered in much of tropical Africa as a patron saint of young people.
Uganda only began to be evangelized in the early to
mid-1800s by the Society of Missionaries of Africa, known as the White Fathers
because of the white cassock they wore.
Charles Lwanga was one of the early native Ugandan converts.
Charles was a servant in the royal court of the Ugandan king, King Mwanga, who
ruled in the south eastern part of the country. Mwanga was a violent ruler and a
pedophile who forced himself on the young boys and young men who served him. Due
to the preaching of St. Charles Lwanga, many of the boys had converted to
Christianity, and refused the advances of the King. This infuriated the King. So,
he gathered up the Christian, and demanded that they renounce Christ. When they
refused, he had them killed. King Mwanga thought that killing Christians would
break our resolve. But the faith was strengthened.
Charles, who had already made many converts, was arrested
and killed, along with many of those who refused to renounce the faith. They
were marched for two days to their place of martyrdom, starved, beaten,
stripped, bound, and burned to death on the 3rd day of June, 1886.
Charles’ death shook the country, and instead of throwing
other Christians into panic, in inspired many unconverted Ugandans to become
Christian.
The story of the Ugandan martyrs is striking similar to our
reading from 2 Maccabees, no? There too, young men were faced with a choice:
compromise with evil, or suffer and die. There too, a cruel ruler thinks he can
crush fidelity to God by torture and fear. And there too, the persecutor is
wrong. The faithful do not break. They endure.
The brothers in Maccabees speak openly of resurrection: “The
King of the world will raise us up to live again forever” The martyrs know
that tyrants can wound the body, but they cannot conquer the soul that belongs
to God.
Most of us will not be asked to die for Christ in flames.
But we will be asked to suffer for him in smaller ways: to resist temptation,
to reject impurity, to endure ridicule, to remain faithful to God amid the
pressures of the culture. The martyrs remind us that courage is possible,
because eternal life is real.
“Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and
utter every kind of evil against you falsely because of me. Rejoice and be
glad, for your reward will be great in heaven” says the Lord in the Gospel.
Heavenly reward. Courage for Christ is pleasing to God for it imitates the
Courage of Christ who himself suffered for our sake.
The martyrs remind us of our calling to witness to Christ even in the face of
the hatred of the world. Some will continue to hate us, but others will
convert, like Charles himself. Today, Catholics make up about 37% of the
population of Uganda: 17 million Catholics who can trace their faith back to
the courageous witness of the St. Charles Lwanga and his martyred companions.
May St. Charles Lwanga assist us in our call to witness to Christ with Courage,
to bring the Gospel like Charles into the areas of the world plagued by evil,
so that souls may find the presence of God, and know his help and his promises
to those who love Christ for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.
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