Saint Charles Lwanga and his Companions, Martyrs – Readings

Commentary on 2 Maccabees 7:1-2,9-14; Matthew 5:1-12

The Gospel reading for today’s celebration comes from Matthew and contains the Beatitudes, which form the opening words of the Sermon on the Mount. The Sermon, in general, is an outline of how the individual Christian should live his life. The prominent place given to the Beatitudes indicates that they take the place of the Ten Commandments which hold a similar prominence in the Law of Moses.

The Commandments are expressed in legal terms of ‘Do’ and ‘Do not’ and are relatively straightforward and, to some extent, not too difficult to observe. In fact, those expressed negatively can theoretically be kept by doing nothing at all!

The Beatitudes are quite different. They are not a list of Do’s and Don’t’s, but are a list of values and attitudes which should be characteristic of a follower of Christ. They describe the kind of person the Christian should be. In fact, they can also be seen as a portrait of Christ himself.

And rather than listing activities that one should or should not do, they throw out a challenge, calling a person ever forward to a goal that can never be fully reached. They are also a recipe not just of good moral behaviour, but of happiness. Fortunate are those who can claim those qualities to be truly part of their lives and character.

We see Charles and his companions living out these qualities under very challenging circumstances. And certainly the last Beatitude applies to them:

Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven [i.e. in the sight of God], for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

The First Reading is the famous scene from the Second Book of the Maccabees where seven brothers are executed for refusing to renounce their Jewish faith by eating pork. In today’s passage, we hear the second son, who has had the hair and skin of his head removed, refusing to give in. Just before dying he cried out:

You accursed wretch, you dismiss us from this present life, but the King of the universe will raise us up to a renewal of everlasting life…

This is a very similar call to that made by the Ugandan martyrs before their death.

On the death of the third son in Maccabees:

…the king himself and those with him were astonished at the young man’s spirit, for he regarded his sufferings as nothing.

It was similar to the reaction of those who put Charles and his companions to death.

None of us will likely be asked to make such sacrifices in remaining faithful the call of Jesus in the Gospel, but the courage of these young men should help us in facing the much smaller challenges we are likely to face.

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Saint Charles Lwanga and his Companions, Martyrs

Note: In Ireland, because of the feast of St Kevin, this June 3 memorial for St Charles Lwanga and companions is celebrated on June 4.

Charles Lwanga at a very early age was sent to Buddu in the south west of Uganda to be brought up by Kaddu, whom some believe to be his biological father, but who may have been an uncle. Charles was a Ganda who belonged to the Bush-Buck clan. Members of this clan were traditionally banned from the royal court, so when Lwanga took service at court he passed as a member of the Colobus Monkey clan, to which his former master and patron belonged.

In 1878, Kaddu placed Lwanga (then aged about eighteen) in the service of Mawulugungu, the chief of Kirwanyi, mentioned by the explorer HM Stanley. The following year the chief was transferred to Ssingo County, accompanied by Lwanga. On a visit to the capital in 1880, Lwanga became interested in the teaching of the White Father missionaries and began taking instruction. When Mawugungu died in 1882, his court was dispersed and Lwanga joined a group of recently baptized Christians in Bulemezi County.

On the accession of King Mwanga in 1884, Lwanga entered the royal service. His personality was such that he was at once placed in charge of the royal pages in the great audience hall, immediately winning their confidence and affection. His immediate superior was Joseph Mukasa (Mkasa), chief steward of Mwanga’s court, a 25-year-old Catholic who was the leader of the small community of 200 Christians. He came to rely more and more completely on Lwanga for the instruction and guidance of the royal pages and for shielding them from the evil influences at court. King Mwanga was a violent ruler and a paedophile, who forced himself on the young boys and men who served in his court.

On 15 November, 1885, the day of Joseph Mukasa’s martyrdom, Lwanga and some other royal servants, whose lives were in danger because they were catechumens, went to the White Fathers’ Mission and were baptized by Fr Simeon Lourdel. The following day, the king assembled all the pages and demanded under pain of death that they confess their Christian allegiance. All of them, Catholic and Anglican, except for three, did so. Mwanga was baffled by the solidarity and constancy of the young Christians, but hesitated to carry out his threat to kill them all. On one occasion, Lwanga exclaimed that, far from helping the white men take over the kingdom, he was ready to lay down his life for the king.

After a fire in the royal palace on 22 February, 1886, Mwanga moved the court temporarily to his hunting lodge on the shore of Lake Victoria. Here Lwanga continued to protect the pages from the King’s sexual advances and to prepare them for possible martyrdom. By this time, Mwanga had obtained the consent of his chiefs for a massacre of the Christians. Meanwhile, Lwanga himself baptized five of the most promising catechumens.

On May 26, the pages entered the royal courtyard to receive judgement and were once again called upon to confess their faith. This they did, declaring that they were ready to die rather than deny it. Mwanga ordered them all, 16 Catholics and 10 Anglicans, to be burnt alive at Namugongo. The cruelly-bound prisoners passed the home of the White Fathers on their way to execution. Fr Lourdel almost fainted at the courage and joy these condemned converts, his friends, showed on their way to martyrdom. He noted how tightly they were bound, but more especially their calmness and even joyful disposition in the face of death.

The martyrs were taken to the execution place of Namugongo where they were kept in confinement for a week. Preparations for the execution pyre were not completed until June 2. During this time the martyrs prayed and sang together, while the missionaries, both Catholic and Anglican, paid fruitless visits to the king to appeal for the lives of their young converts.

On June 3, before killing the main body of prisoners, Charles Lwanga was put to death on a small pyre on the hill above the execution place. He was wrapped in a reed mat, with a slave yoke on his neck, but was allowed to arrange the pyre himself. To make him suffer more, the fire was first lit under his feet and legs. These were burnt to charred bones before the flames were allowed to reach the rest of his body. Taunted by the executioner, Charles replied: “You are burning me, but it is as if you are pouring water over my body.” He then remained quietly praying. Just before the end, he cried out in a loud voice Katonda! “My God!” After his death, the rest were incinerated further down the hill.

When the White Fathers were expelled from the country, the new Christians continued to practice their faith. Without priests, they kept the Catholic Church alive and growing in Uganda. When the White Fathers returned after King Mwanga’s death, they found 500 Christians and 1,000 catchumens waiting for them.

Charles Lwanga was beatified along with 21 other martyrs by Pope Benedict XV in 1920. All 22 were canonized by Pope Paul VI in 1964. In 1969, Paul VI laid the foundation stone of the Catholic shrine at Namugongo, Uganda on the place of Saint Charles Lwanga’s martyrdom. This shrine was dedicated on 3 June 1975, by a specially appointed papal legate, Cardinal Sergio Pignedoli.

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Saint Kevin, Abbot

Kevin (Coemghen or Caoimhin meaning ‘Fair-begotten’) is the Principal Patron of Dublin Archdiocese and is said to have been born in 498 into a family which belonged to the Dál Messe Corb, a noble Leinster people who lived in what is now West Wicklow. The story of his life is not felt to be reliable as there is little contemporary material available.

He is said to have been baptised by a St Crónán and educated by St Petroc, a Briton, during that saint’s stay in Ireland. He studied for the priesthood in Cell na Manach (Killnamanagh). After Bishop Lugidus ordained him priest he left Killnamanagh and set out to find his own hermitage. On arrival in Glendalough (Valley of Two Lakes), in County Wicklow, Kevin chose the area of the upper lake and settled on the south side of the foot of that lake in what is now known as St Kevin’s Bed, an artificial cave about 30 feet above the level of the lake and which was originally a Bronze Age tomb. Kevin lived the life of a hermit there with an extraordinary closeness to nature. His companions were the animals and birds all around him. He lived as a hermit for seven years wearing only animal skins, sleeping on stones and eating very sparingly.

Disciples were soon attracted to Kevin and a settlement was established enclosed by a wall, called Kevin’s Cell and Reefert Church, situated nearer the lakeshore. All this expansion probably would not have pleased Kevin who never really wanted to change his hermit’s life.

Subsequently he founded the famous monastery of Glendalough, the parent of several other monastic foundations. Eventually, Glendalough, with its seven churches, became one of the chief pilgrimage destinations in Ireland. In time it grew into a renowned seminary of saints and scholars.

By 540, Kevin’s fame as a teacher and holy man had spread far and wide. Many came to seek his help and guidance.

In 544, Kevin went to the Hill of Uisneach in Co. Westmeath to establish a league of brotherly friendship with other holy abbots—Sts Columba, Comgall, and Cannich. From there he proceeded to Clonmacnoise, where St Ciaran had died three days before. Having firmly established his community, he retired into solitude for four years and only returned to Glendalough at the earnest entreaty of his monks.

Until his death about 618, Kevin presided over his monastery in Glendalough, living his life by fasting, praying and teaching. Legend says he lived to the venerable age of 120.

So numerous were Kevin’s followers that Glendalough became a veritable city in the desert. Glendalough became an episcopal see, but is now incorporated with Dublin. And it is now a favourite visiting place for pilgrims and tourists. St Kevin is one of the patron saints of the Archdiocese of Dublin.

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