THE
P RTAL
June 2011
the respect of his people, Mwanga ordered the arrest
of the Christian pages at his court. The leader among
them was Charles Lwanga, a tall athletic young man
who was much admired for his sporting skills. He had
been acting as a teacher and catechist to the younger
boys when they were unable to get to the mission
station for religious instruction.
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national feast-day by both Catholics and Anglicans. In
1964 Pope Paul VI canonised the Catholic Ugandan
Martyrs in a ceremony in Rome, where for the first
time African drums were heard in St Peter’s Square. In
his words, he specifically also mentioned with honour
the Anglican martyrs.
In the 1960s, the message of the Ugandan martyrs
The crisis came one afternoon when, after a seemed modern and attractive: they were African,
disappointing day’s hunting, Mwanga called for a young just at a time when many African nations were
page, M