Prime
45 martyrs and Namugongo
They were outlaws at the time they were executed more than a hundred years ago but the Uganda Martyrs have through the years become an inspiration for many Christian faithful across the globe.
Initially remembered and commemorated only the Catholics, today the celebrations cut across the Anglican and Catholic faiths and the government has officially recognised June 3, as a public holiday.
The national celebrations are always held at Namugongo, where most of the then new Christian converts were executed. Other martyrs were executed at Nabulagaala, Old Kampala, Mityana, Busega, among several places.
At today’s celebrations, Vice President Edward Kiwanuka Ssekandi and Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi are expected to be chief guests at the respective shrines.
For the galvanisastion of their congregations, the two faiths have devised rotational leadership of celebrations each year with different dioceses leading. Arua Archdiocese is leading the Catholic celebrations while Namirembe diocese is leading the Anglican one.
Having a universal leadership, the Catholic Church recognised her own martyrs as early as 1920 when Pope Benedict XV beautified the victims of Ssekabaka Mwanga’s wrath.
The martyrs had been killed by chief executioner Mukaajaanga between 1885 and 1889 for “crimes ranging from disobedience to treason.
Happy Martyrs Day
