Were these truly martyrs?

 By Cliff Mugasha

Worldwide, the Catholic Church marks June 3, as the feast of St. Charles Lwanga and companions, the martyrs of Uganda.  St. Charles Lwanga is singled out because of his leading role as a catechist and animator of the martyrs.

The day is celebrated in memory of 22 Christians who were killed in the late 19th Century on the orders of Kabaka Mwanga of Buganda, allegedly for choosing Christianity.

The 22 ‘martyrs’ were beatified on June 6, 1920, by Pope Benedict XV, and on October 18, 1964, in the presence of global Bishops gathered in Rome for the Second Vatican Council, Pope Paul VI canonised them. The event is commemorated at Uganda Martyr’s shrine in Namugongo, where pilgrims travel to celebrate the martyrs’ heroism.

In the Catholic Church, the martyrs are venerated for their heroism in professing and witnessing their faith and they have an intercessional role to those who are still struggling in life’s journey to join them triumphantly at the end of their earthly lives.

As a student of history, I always raise several questions about the significance of this day. But before I go into whether the day is significant or not, we need to understand meaning of the term ‘martyr’.

Stephen Patterson, in his book ‘Beyond the Passion (2004)’, defines a martyr as a person who suffers death or endures great suffering on behalf of any belief, principle or cause. The online encyclopedia also defines a martyr as somebody who suffers persecution and death for advocating, refusing to renounce, and/or refusing to advocate a belief or cause, usually a religious one.

During the early Christian centuries, especially during the era of Christianisation, the term acquired the extended meaning of a believer who is called to witness for their religious belief, and on account of this witness, endures suffering or death.

Now back to whether we should venerate the Uganda martyrs or not. To help us answer that question, we need to deeply comprehend why Kabaka Mwanga took such a ‘radical’ decision to kill the Christian converts. History has it that the Church Missionary Society in London had sent Protestant missionaries in 1877 to Africa, followed two years later by the French Catholic White Fathers.

These two ideological rivals competed with each other and the East African Coastal Muslim traders for converts and influence. By the mid-1880s, many members of the Buganda kingdom had converted and become proxies for the religious and imperialistic force of the British.

Christianity was largely associated with political power, therefore, Kabaka Mwanga II, upon his ascent to the throne, attempted to destroy the foreign influences he felt threatened the Buganda state.

He believed the new faith, with its protagonists was directly or indirectly challenging the power structures of Buganda.  He strongly believed the external forces were using the Christian converts to overthrow him by undermining his hegemony.

In fact the leaders of the traditional religion advised King Mwanga to eliminate what they called rebellious elements in the kingdom who refused to obey the King’s orders.

The first person to be killed was Bishop Hannington an Anglican bishop, who came from the east in 1885. There was a belief in Buganda that the one who would overthrow the Kabaka of Buganda would come from the east.

In an effort to re-establish the status-quo, Kabaka Mwanga began to persecute the Christians and many of them were burnt to death on June 3, 1886. At the end of the persecution, at least 45 Christians had been killed.

Another theory argues that the Kabaka, being an absolute monarch, his decisions were not challenged by anybody in his kingdom. Joining Christianity meant a commitment to break away from the old life style, make and adopt new alliances, and adjust to new moral and religious standards, adherence and allegiance.

In his efforts to curb the Christian influence and try to regain the traditional and customary powers and authorities over his subjects, Mwanga summoned his chiefs to discuss the ‘disobedience’ of his dissenting subjects.

Satisfied with the subservience of his chiefs, Mwanga gave orders for all the disobedient subjects to be assembled for execution.

He felt, with good cause, that the powers and authority his predecessors had enjoyed were dwindling and had disintegrated under the influence of the missionaries and their converts.

The new flock of believers, therefore, was regarded as ‘rebels’ who had transferred their loyalty to new religious systems. Overall, the beatification of the Christian converts as martyrs was unfounded, if we are to follow their acts and definition of the term ‘martyrs’. As a country, there is no historical warrant, precedent, nor precept in venerating them.

Their conversion to Christianity was a political security of sympathy to the Christian missionaries as against the Kabaka in Buganda’s leadership. This indirectly undermined the Kabaka’s authority and respect.

Whereas Mwanga’s ruling style fell far short of the charisma and political astuteness, his late father (Mutesa I) had demonstrated in dealing with the foreigners, events of the time indicated that his traditional power base was being eroded.

Acceptance of the traditional religion and Kabaka’s power in antiquity was an obligation incumbent on all citizens; failure to deify him was equivalent to treason and not martyrdom as the protagonists of Christianity would want us to believe.

The writer is social worker and social critic