Uganda Martyrs Day

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Uganda Martyrs Day: President urges Christians to lead by example in fostering peace

June 4, 2024 Catholic News Agency 1
Believers gather at the Namugongo Shrine in Uganda for this year’s Martyrs’ Day Pilgrimage on June 3, 2024, where the country’s president, Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, urged them to be at the forefront of fostering peace in the East African region. Museveni lauded Christians and other believers in the country for “embracing unity” and fostering religious tolerance. / Credit: ACI Africa

Kampala, Uganda, Jun 4, 2024 / 12:25 pm (CNA).

Uganda President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni urged believers gathered at the Namugongo Shrine in Kampala, Uganda, for this year’s Martyrs’ Day Pilgrimage on Monday to be at the forefront of fostering peace in the East African region.

The Namugongo Shrine is the site where St. Charles Lwanga and his companions, including pages at the royal court, were burned alive on the order of Kabaka (King) Mwanga II of the Buganda kingdom between Nov. 15, 1885, and Jan. 27, 1887.

Speaking after the Eucharistic celebration for the event celebrated annually on June 3, Museveni lauded Christians and other believers in the country who have embraced unity and rallied under their religious leaders to foster unity and religious tolerance.

“A Christian must be an example to other people. A Christian must lead by example in fighting for peace,” the Ugandan president said during the event, which was hosted by the Diocese of Nebbi.

Museveni urged Christians to give reconciliation and dialogue a chance, saying: “Our countries have a challenge of peace, and a lack of peace many times is caused by unresolved issues.”

Priests, religious, and laypeople from across Africa gather at the Namugongo Shrine in Uganda for this year’s Martyrs’ Day Pilgrimage on June 3, 2024, where Ugandan president Yoweri Kaguta Museveni urged them to be at the forefront of fostering peace in the East African region. Museveni lauded Christians and other believers in the country for "embracing unity" and fostering religious tolerance. Credit: ACI Africa
Priests, religious, and laypeople from across Africa gather at the Namugongo Shrine in Uganda for this year’s Martyrs’ Day Pilgrimage on June 3, 2024, where Ugandan president Yoweri Kaguta Museveni urged them to be at the forefront of fostering peace in the East African region. Museveni lauded Christians and other believers in the country for “embracing unity” and fostering religious tolerance. Credit: ACI Africa

He lamented that rather than fostering peace and unity, many in the region, including some Christians, resort to guns and violence to solve issues.

“Therefore, I besiege all believers to do all that is necessary to bring peace in our East African countries,” Museveni said. “It is only after fostering peace in our region that we should now embark on eradicating poverty.”

In his speech, the president also acknowledged with appreciation the collaboration of religious leaders and the government of the East African country in curbing religious and tribal divisions.

“I want to thank the believers in Uganda and their religious leaders… this is because, before the 1960s and even after, Ugandans were divided according to tribes and religion,” he said. “This was part of the chaos that engulfed Uganda.”

Museveni chastised those who have sowed division, decrying what he described as “hypocrisy among religious leaders in the country,” saying: “You who claim to be religious are more unreligious than those who are irreligious, and you were dividing our people.”

But he also added: “I want to thank Ugandans very much because they embraced the call for unity that we are still enjoying up to now.”

Believers gather at the Namugongo Shrine for this year’s Martyrs’ Day Pilgrimage on June 3, 2024, where the country's president, Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, urged them to be at the forefront of fostering peace in the East African region. Museveni lauded Christians and other believers in the country for "embracing unity" and fostering religious tolerance. Credit: ACI Africa
Believers gather at the Namugongo Shrine for this year’s Martyrs’ Day Pilgrimage on June 3, 2024, where the country’s president, Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, urged them to be at the forefront of fostering peace in the East African region. Museveni lauded Christians and other believers in the country for “embracing unity” and fostering religious tolerance. Credit: ACI Africa

The Ugandan president further lauded the Nebbi Diocese for organizing this year’s pilgrimage, which he described as “enriching.”

He also acknowledged the presence of Mary Nyerere, who he said always attends the pilgrimage at Namugongo to pray for the beatification and canonization of her spouse, Servant of God Julius Kambarage Nyerere, who was former prime minister and then president of what is now Tanzania. 

Pope Benedict XVI declared Nyerere a servant of God on May 13, 2005.

“I want to thank Mary Nyerere for coming here every moment we have this pilgrimage to pray for the beatification of Julius Nyerere,” Museveni said. “I am a witness to the good work of Julius Nyerere.”

Museveni, who has led Uganda since 1986, urged all those gathered at the event to emulate the late Tanzanian president for his heroic virtues.

Priests, religious, and laypeople gather at the Namugongo Shrine for this year’s Martyrs’ Day Pilgrimage on June 3, 2024, where the country's president, Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, urged them to be at the forefront of fostering peace in the East African region. Credit: ACI Africa
Priests, religious, and laypeople gather at the Namugongo Shrine for this year’s Martyrs’ Day Pilgrimage on June 3, 2024, where the country’s president, Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, urged them to be at the forefront of fostering peace in the East African region. Credit: ACI Africa

Ugandan Martyrs’ Day dates back to the first decade of Christian presence in the East African nation when 45 men between the ages of 14 and 50 were killed because of their faith between 1885 and 1887.

Among the 45 were 22 Catholics who were beatified in 1920 and canonized in 1964. These martyrs continue to inspire the Catholic faith in Uganda and around the world. 

This article was first published by ACI Africa, CNA’s news partner in Africa, and has been adapted by CNA.

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Kenyan pilgrims begin more than 200-mile walk to mark Ugandan Martyrs Day

May 25, 2024 Catholic News Agency 3
Pilgrims on their way to Ugandan Martyrs’ Day on May 21, 2024. / Credit: St. Joseph’s Cathedral of Kakamega Diocese

ACI Africa, May 25, 2024 / 08:00 am (CNA).

One of Africa’s — and the world’s — largest religious gatherings will take place on June 3 in Kampala, Uganda, and one group from Kenya has already begun its more than 200-mile pilgrimage to arrive for the yearly event. 

Ugandan Martyrs Day this year will draw anywhere from 500,000 to millions of Catholics and other Christians from across the continent of Africa.

Pilgrims from the Nzoia Deanery of the Diocese of Kakamega are traveling to Uganda’s Namugongo Shrine, where the event takes place, bringing with them various prayer intentions — among them, “praying that more people may embrace, in faith and fidelity, the call of God in their respective lives,” according to ACI Africa, CNA’s news partner in Africa. 

Blessed and sent off on Tuesday, May 21, by Father Columban Odhiambo, the parish priest of St. Joseph the Worker Kongoni Parish in the Kakamega Diocese, the pilgrims will cover 18-25 miles each day.

Pilgrims to Uganda Martyrs' Day 2024 from Nzoia Deanery of the Catholic Diocese of Kakamega in Kenya, with the parish priest of St. Joseph the Worker Kongoni Parish, Father Columban Odhiambo, on May 21, 2024. Credit: St. Joseph the Worker Kongoni Parish/Kakamega Diocese
Pilgrims to Uganda Martyrs’ Day 2024 from Nzoia Deanery of the Catholic Diocese of Kakamega in Kenya, with the parish priest of St. Joseph the Worker Kongoni Parish, Father Columban Odhiambo, on May 21, 2024. Credit: St. Joseph the Worker Kongoni Parish/Kakamega Diocese

In an interview with ACI Africa, Odhiambo said the intention to pray for the growth of vocations to the priesthood, religious life, and marriage was inspired by a May 11 priestly ordination, which the Kenyan Deanery hosted at St. Mark’s Nzoia Parish in the Kakamega Diocese. Nine deacons were ordained priests — seven for the diocese and two for the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin (OFM Cap).

The long pilgrimage to Namugongo, Odhiambo said, “is simply a spiritual journey. The pilgrims have personal intentions, and some have been given intentions by their parishes” to be included in their collective prayer intention.

The Kenyan pilgrims, who are being accompanied by two priests, had an opportunity to participate in the sacrament of confession and Mass before embarking on their spiritual journey to Namugongo. Along the way, they will meet dozens of other faithful walking from the Kakamega Diocese and, together, about 150 of them “will sing, pray the rosary, pray the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, and will go to confession,” Odhiambo told ACI Africa.

The priest said the deanery’s pilgrimage group of 19 is the largest number so far to make the pilgrimage. “Last year, we only had three,” he said.

A blessing of pilgrims who are on their way to Uganda Martyrs' Day, May 21, 2024. Credit: St. Joseph the Worker Kongoni Parish/Kakamega Diocese
A blessing of pilgrims who are on their way to Uganda Martyrs’ Day, May 21, 2024. Credit: St. Joseph the Worker Kongoni Parish/Kakamega Diocese

The Namugongo Shrine in Uganda is one of the most popular sites on the northeast edge of the Archdiocese of Kampala. It is the site where St. Charles Lwanga and his companions were burned alive by the order of King Mwanga II of the Buganda kingdom. 

The Ugandan Martyrs’ Day dates back to the first decade of Christian presence in the East African nation when 45 men between the ages of 14 and 50 years old were killed between Jan. 31, 1885, and Jan. 27, 1887, because they would not renounce their faith.

Twenty-two of the martyrs were beatified in 1920 and canonized in 1964.

This article was originally published by ACI Africa, CNA’s news partner in Africa, and has been adapted by CNA.

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