Carl Lwanga

Infobox Saint
name=Saint Carl Lwanga
birth_date=1860 or 1865
death_date=June 3 1886
feast_day=June 3
venerated_in=Roman Catholic Church


imagesize=
caption=Carl Lwanga and his companions
birth_place=Buganda, Uganda
death_place=Namugongo, Uganda
titles=Martyr
beatified_date=1920
beatified_place=
beatified_by=Pope Benedict XV
canonized_date=October 18 1964
canonized_place=
canonized_by=Pope Paul VI
attributes=
patronage=African Catholic Youth Action, converts, torture victims
major_shrine=Basilica Church of the Uganda Martyrs, Namugongo
suppressed_date=
issues=

Carl Lwanga (also known as Charles Lwanga or Karoli Lwanga) (1860 [ [http://www.ugandamartyrsshrine.org.ug/index.php?ID=101 Charles Lwanga's profile from UgandaMartyrsShrine.org] Retrieved on 2008-08-17.] [ [http://www.dacb.org/stories/uganda/lwanga_charles.html Charles Lwanga's profile from Dictionary of African Christian Biography] . Retrieved on 2008-08-29.] or 1865–June 3, 1886) was a Ugandan Catholic catechist martyred for his faith and revered as a saint in the Roman Catholic Church. He was born in the kingdom of Buganda in the southern part of modern Uganda, and served as a page in the court of King Mwanga II.

King Mwanga began to insist Christian converts abandon their new faith, and executed many Anglicans and Roman Catholics between 1885 and 1887; many of them were officials in the court of the king or otherwise very close to him, including Lwanga. After a massacre of Anglicans in 1885 the court's resident Catholic priest, Joseph Mukasa, reproached the king for the deed. Mwanga had Mukasa beheaded and arrested all of his followers. Lwanga took up Mukasa's duties, and secretly baptized those of his pupils who had only been catechumens on May 26, 1886. Carl Lwanga and 11 other Catholics were burnt alive on June 3 (another Catholic, Mbaga Tuzinde, was clubbed to death for refusing to renounce Christianity, and his body was thrown into the furnace to be burned along with Lwanga and 11 others [ [http://www.ugandamartyrsshrine.org.ug/index.php?ID=117 Mbaga Tuzinde's profile from UgandaMartyrsShrine.org] Retrieved on 2008-08-17.] ). One of the reported reasons the ire of the king was particularly inflamed against the Christians was because they refused to accede to demands to participate in homosexual acts. ["Breviarium Romanum", Office of Ss. Matthias Murumba, Charles Lwanga and Companions, Lesson v.]

Carl Lwanga and his companions in death were canonized in 1964 by Pope Paul VI. [cite web |url= http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/saintc13.htm|title= Charles Lwanga|accessdate=2007-12-04 |work= Patron Saints Index] Although the Anglicans were not canonized, they were called "worthy of mention" for enduring "death for the name of Christ" [ [http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/paul_vi/homilies/documents/hf_p-vi_hom_19641018_martiri-uganda_lt.html Vatican Archive] ] .

External links

* [http://www.americancatholic.org/features/SaintofDay/default.asp?id=1403 Charles Lwanga and Companions]
* [http://wau.org/archives/article/the_uganda_martyrs/ The Uganda Martyrs from the August 2008 issue of "The Word Among Us" magazine]
* [http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSmid=46918087&GRid=29118251& Charles Lwanga's memorial page on Find A Grave]

References