by
Fr. Joseph Mukasa Muwonge
 |
Left is the photo showing the pilgrims surrounding the altar where Mass is celebrated at Namugongo.
Right is the section of pilgrims on the right side of the altar |
It is exactly 133 years since the
Holocaust that brings us together ululating and jubilating at the very place where
Charles Lwanga and his companions demonstrated a special charism. We are also
marking 140 years of the Catholic faith in Uganda.
Charles Lwanga was burnt to death, alive,
exactly where the Altar of the basilica stands. It was consecrated by St. Pope
Paul VI on August 2, 1969.
After
Lwanga realised his mission of witnessing Christ, his companions then left for
the other execution site, one of the thirteen execution sites of the Buganda
kingdom then. The Martyrs were burnt to
death at five of these sites.
According to the Baganda, this form of
capital punishment was considered least degrading to the condemned persons.
Twelve Roman Catholics were martyred
along with 13 Anglicans in the same fires of Namugongo. The Catholics were: Kizito 14, Luke
Baanabakintu 30, James Buuzaabalyawo 26, Gyaviiira Musoke 17, Ambrose Kibuuka
18 and Anatoli Kiriggwajjo 20.
Others were Achilles Kiwanuka 17, Mbaaga
Tuzinde 17, Mugagga Lubowa 16, Mukasa Kiriwawanvu 25, Adulphus Ludigo
Tibeeyalirwa 24 and Bruno Sserunkuuma 30.
It is worth noting that on that fateful
day at Namugongo; more than one hundred people were killed at the very spot
where the martyrs gave up their lives for the glory of God.
We also know of a one Wasswa who, still
at Munyonyo in the meeting in which Kabaka Mwanga condemned the martyrs to
death, did not join Karoli Lwanga and companions; he is sad to have renounced
his faith but that later he made up his mind, joined his friends and was burnt
to death alive in Namugongo on June 3, 1886.
During the Beatification and Canonisation
process of the Martyrs, Rome inquired whether anybody had heard him say that he
had returned to Christianity. Rome regarded his coming back as mere hearsay.
That is how Wasswa was left out of the Canonisation.
But who knows! Wasswa could be in heaven
with his friends. After all, not everybody in heaven will be canonised.
After seven days and nights at Kito,
also known as Namugongo-Kito, where the chief executioner resided, and where
the victims were kept in chains, the victims were in the morning of June 3,
1886 lined up ready to go to Namugongo execution site.
A number of executions had taken place
at Namugongo but the Martyrdom was out of the ordinary. Even under normal
circumstances, a human sacrifice site cannot be the place for dancing, singing
and merry-making. Dare engage in such and you will be labeled a witch.
But faith, which made the Martyrs at such an
age synonymous with luxury, glory and personal agrandisement to give up their
sweet mortal lives for the eternal life to come, works in ways far beyond human
comprehension. It is the same faith that transforms execution sites into places
of spiritual upliftment and physical healing.
In his book African Holocaust (1962), Faupel aptly paints the execution,
allowing his readers to participate in the strength of the martyrs at a very
trying moment, and the wrath of the executioners that combine to bring forth
the ululation, dancing, singing and spiritual upliftment that we witness and rejoice
in.
“On the evening of their seventh at
Namugongo, the pulse of Mukaajanga’s drum sounded through the village and
penetrated to the huts in which the captives were chained… and the
executioner’s assistants, answering the summons, gathered round his quarters,
shouting, yelling and howling in a frenzy of anticipation.”
Denis Kamyuka, who survived the
holocaust, recounted the experience saying that they however did sleep as
during the preceding nights.
“Each time we woke up, we recited our
prayers. The OUR FATHER… and HAIL MARY… were continually on our lips.”
Faupel further paints the events of 3rd
June 1886: “Early in the morning of Ascension Thursday, 3rd June
1886, the executioners, their faces smeared with soot swooped upon the huts in
which their victims had been chained.
On their heads were fantastic wigs
fashioned from the tails of small animals and birds’ feathers and, to complete
their attire, they wore the skins of leopards or other animals around their
waists, strings of amulets round their necks and bangles of bells on their
ankles.”
Another author, Ddiba, also paints for
us the final moments of the martyrs before their execution. In his book Eddiini mu Uganda (Religion in Uganda)
he illustrates how Mukaajanga and his assistants spent the eve of the
execution.
“Mukaajanga and his assistants, drumming
and dancing, were singing during the night of the 2nd of June 1886:
Enda z’abazadde enkya zinaakaaba
Enda z’abazadde enkya zinaawoloma
Enda z’abazadde enkya ganaayiika.”
A loose translation of the song
goes: Tomorrow parents will cry; Tomorrow
parents will yell, Tomorrow the world will face it rough.
After that drama the martyrs –in- the-
making left for the execution site, encouraging one another.
Judging from Kamyuka’s narration, it was
probably between the Namugongo fathers’ presbytery and Uganda Martyrs’
Secondary School that the condemned met the assistant chief executioner who hit
on each one’s head. That was the custom and the intention was to impede the
victim’s ghost from haunting the executioner.
It was at this spot that Ssenkoole
picked out Charles Lwanga saying Lwanga was his choice. This was so because
Ssenkoole had a grudge with Lwanga resulting from the former’s refusal to work
under Lwanga in the course of excavating the Kabaka’s lake in Ndeeba-Lubaga
towards the end of 1884
Lwanga, not yet even baptised, offered
to head the noble exercise. The Kabaka was so exercised that he ordered that
every male youth and every capable man participates in the excavation.
Ssenkoole refused to abide by the Kabaka’s order.
On many occasions, Lwanga tried to
convince Ssenkoole to respect the Kabaka’s order but he remained adamant to the
extent of saying that he, Ssenkoole 40, could not work under Lwanga a boy. As a
result, a meeting was convened and Ssenkoole was found guilty. He was fined a
goat and calabashes of local brew.
Although he paid the fine, he retained
the grudge. He was so eager to take revenge on Lwanga that he just could not
leave him move any further. This is how Lwanga came to be killed separately.
Separated from his companions, Lwanga
had this to say: “Brothers, I have stayed here! Bye! We shall meet in heaven!”
“Well, stay! We shall soon meet in
heaven,” they responded.
As Lwanga’s companions continued with
their journey, after a valley, probably where the lake is and where we
celebrate Mass, they came to a mutuba tree on which they hung their rugs in
which the executioners had dressed them in while still at Mukaajanga’s
courtyard in Kito. The bark cloth is
made from the mutuba tree.
In Luganda, lubugo means bark cloth. If they are many they are called mbugo. The tree, on which the bark
cloths were hung, derived its name from this. It was called SSEZIBUGO literary
meaning, master of bark cloths.
While the martyrs were not at all shaken
by what they had been subjected to, it is interesting to learn that Bruno
Sserunkuuma was being bothered by the fact that Ssenkoole had not hit on the
heads of some of his companions. He feared that they could be forced to abandon
their faith and thus miss the opportunity of meeting the Almighty God!
Our ancestors in faith, the martyrs,
challenge us on a number of occasions and in a number of ways. For instance,
why do we forget the motto of our country: For God and My Country? What is our
contribution to making Uganda a better place, prosperous and safe for everyone?
There are a lot of celebrations and
limelight that we enjoy today simply because the Martyrs accepted to suffer for
the greater glory of God. We need to emulate the Martyrs.
For instance, have you ever taken time
to ask yourself why, of all countries Saint Pope Paul VI decided to come to
Uganda in 1969?Two other Popes followed suite: St. Pope John Paul II in
February 1993 and Pope Francis in 2015.
While in Lubaga Cathedral on 31st
July 1969, Saint Pope Paul VI inaugurated SECAM- Symposium of Episcopal Conferences
of Africa and Madagascar. It was here that the Pope commissioned Africans to be
missionaries to Africa.
SECAM is back in Uganda in July this
year, to celebrate 50 years of its existence.
Between 1885 and 1887 the then Buganda
kingdom was characterised by wailing and blood-letting as the martyrdom raged
on. While the relatives, friends and
parents were devastated, the victims died praying and happy to witness Christ.
It was nothing other than the grace of
God that enabled these young men to stand firm and accept to give up their
lives! More so, after just six and seven years of instruction in the Catholic
faith by foreigners who were at the same time struggling to learn the language
and the culture of the catechumen.
Indeed great things happen when God mixes with man!
The Martyrs shed their blood at
different places. Some witnessed Christ in Munyonyo, Kyamula and Old Kampala.
Others were martyred in Kiyinda-Mityana, Lubaawo and Nakivubo on various dates
but united in witnessing Christ.
Jildo Irwa and Daudi Okello were
martyred 30 years later. While Irwa was born in 1902, Daudi Okello was born in
1900.
One hundred and thirty-three years
later, we continue to experience the same challenges and tribulations as our
ancestors in faith, the Martyrs of Uganda.
Nevertheless, we still have hope that one day we shall overcome. That is
why today on 3rd June, 2019 it is singing, dancing and ululations at
Namugongo and other places of martyrdom spread across the country.
Editor: Fr. Joseph Mukasa Muwonge is the Promoter of the Devotion to
the Uganda Martyrs- Kampala Archdiocese.
