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CHARLES LWANGA AND COMPANIONS, MARTYRS
Owing to religious hatred, many faithful Christians were killed in Uganda by King Mwanga during the years 1885-87. Some of them had enjoyed the good graces of the king at his court, and some were even related to him. Among them, Charles Lwanga and his twenty-one companions, adhering steadfastly to the Catholic faith, were put to death, some by sword, others by burning, because they would not accede to the king's unreasonable demands.
From a homily at the canonization of the martyrs of Uganda
by Pope Paul VI (1897-1978)
Source: The Vatican website: Biography of Pope Paul VI
The glory of the martyrs - a sign of rebirth
The African martyrs add another page to the martyrology - the Church's roll of honor - an occasion both of mourning and of joy. This is a page worthy in every way to be added to the annals of that Africa of earlier times which we, living in this era and begin men of little faith, never expected to be repeated.
In earlier times there occurred those famous deeds, so moving to the spirit, of the martyrs of Scilli, of Carthage, and of that "white robed army" of Utica commemorated by Saint Augustine and Prudentius; of the martyrs of Egypt so highly praised by Saint John Chrysostom, and of the martyrs of the 'Vandal persecution. Who would have thought that in our days we should have witnessed events as heroic and glorious?
How could have predicted to the famous African confessors and martyrs such as Cyprian, Felicity, Perpetua and - the greatest of all - Augustine, that we would one day add names so dear to us as Charles Lwanga and Matthias Mulumba Kalemba and their twenty companions? Nor must we forget those members of the Anglican Church who also died for the name of Christ.
These African martyrs herald the dawn of a new age. If only the mind of man might be directed not toward persecutions and religious conflicts but toward a rebirth of Christianity and civilization!
Africa has been washed by the blood of these latest martyrs, the first of this new age (and, God willing, let them be the last, although such a holocaust is precious indeed). Africa is reborn free and independent.
The infamous crime by which these young men were put to death was so unspeakable and so expressive of the times. It shows us clearly that a new people needs a moral foundation, needs new spiritual customs firmly planted, and to be handed down to posterity. Symbolically, this crime also reveals that a simple and rough way of life - enriched by many fine human qualities yet enslaved by its own weakness and corruption - must give way to a more civilized life wherein the higher expressions of the mind and better social conditions prevail.Source: The Liturgy of the Hours - Office of Readings
Pope Paul VI was born of an upper class family in 1897 at Consecio (Lombardy) and given the name Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini. His father was a lawyer turned editor and a courageous promoter of social action. Giovanni received his early education from the Jesuits and entered the seminary in 1916. He was ordained a priest in 1920. He studied cannon law at the Gregorian University and the University of Rome and was assigned to the office of the Secretariat of State where he remained for the next thirty years. During World War II he was responsible for organizing extensive relief work and the care of political refugees. At the Conclave in 1958 his name was frequently mentioned and at Pope John's first consistory he was one of 23 prelates named cardinal.
His response to the call for the Vatican II Council was immediate and was appointed to the Central Preparatory Commission and also to the Technical Organizational Commission. On the death of Pope John XXIII he was elected Pope to succeed him on June 21 1963.
In 1965 he established the Synod of Bishops called for by the Council fathers. Celibacy, removed from the debate of the fourth session of the Council was made the subject of an encyclical on June 24, 1967. The regulation of birth was treated in his last encyclical Humanae vitae on July 24, 1968. The controversies over these two pronouncements tended to overshadow the last years of his pontificate.
Those who knew him best described him as a brilliant man, deeply spiritual, humble, reserved and gentle, a man of "infinite courtesy." One of the most traveled popes in history and the first to visit five continents, he was called "The Pilgrim Pope." His successful conclusion of Vatican II has left its mark on thehistory of the Church. His encyclicals show a remarkable awareness of many serious problems arising in the Church and facing the world; problems whose consequences have since come to light.
Pope Paul VI died on August 6, 1978 on the feast of the Transfiguration. He asked that his funeral be simple with no monument over his grave.