Saints Charles Lwanga and 12 companions

Charles Lwanga was born in 1865 in the kingdom of Buganda, which is today the central part of Uganda. He was converted to Catholicism by the Missionaries of Africa and became head of the pages at the court of King Mwanga II. Christian missionaries had arrived under the previous king, Mutesa I, and had been tolerated. With Mwanga II things changed. The persecution began in 1885, and the king also had the Anglican bishop James Hannington killed. The trigger, though, was something else, and it has to be called what it is: the king demanded the boys of his court, and the Christian pages — Catholics and Anglicans together — refused. Charles Lwanga, who was responsible for them, protected them and stood by them. The king made them choose. They were taken to Namugongo and burned alive on June 3, 1886. Charles was twenty-one; the youngest, Kizito, was fourteen. They died singing, say the testimonies gathered shortly afterward. Paul VI proclaimed them saints in 1964, the first group of saints from sub-Saharan Africa. When he went to Namugongo in 1969, he was the first pope to set foot in Africa. Today June 3 is a national holiday in Uganda, and hundreds of thousands of people walk to Namugongo, Catholics and Anglicans, to remember boys who came from both sides. If your name is Charles, today is your name day — though many wait for the fourth of November.