Achilleus Kiwanuka, also known as Achileo Kiwanuka or Achilles Kiwanuka (1869 – June 3, 1886), was a

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territor ...

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

martyr A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an externa ...

revered as a

saint In religious belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of Q-D-Š, holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and Christian denomination, denominat ...

in the Catholic Church.

Life

Kiwanuka was born at Lulagala in Ssingo County and was a member of the Lugave clan of the

Muganda The Ganda people, or Baganda (endonym: ''Baganda''; singular ''Muganda''), are a Bantu ethnic group native to Buganda, a subnational kingdom within Uganda. Traditionally composed of 52 clans (although since a 1993 survey, only 46 are officiall ...

tribe. His father was an efficient deputy County Chief for a long time. At the age of fifteen Kiwanuka was chosen to serve as a page and messenger at audience hall in the court of King

Mwanga II Danieri Basammula-Ekkere Mwanga II Mukasa (1868 – 8 May 1903)D. A. Low''Fabrication of Empire: The British and the Uganda Kingdoms, 1890-1902'' Cambridge University Press, 2009, p. 210, note 196. was Kabaka of Buganda from 1884 until 1888 and fro ...

Buganda Buganda is a Bantu peoples, Bantu kingdom within Uganda. The kingdom of the Baganda, Baganda people, Buganda is the largest of the traditional kingdoms in present-day East Africa, consisting of Buganda's Districts of Uganda, Central Region, inclu ...

, and converted to the Christian faith under the missionary group known as the

Missionaries of Africa , image = Cardinal Lavigerie.jpg , caption = Charles Lavigerie , abbreviation = M.Afr. , nickname = White Fathers , formation = , founder = Archbishop Charles-Martial Allem ...

. He was baptized by Pere Simeon Lourdel on the night of 16 November 1885, receiving the name Achilles. King

Muteesa I Muteesa (variably spelled Mutesa or Mutessa) may refer to: * Muteesa I of Buganda, the 30th Kabaka of Buganda who reigned between 1856 and 1884. * Muteesa II of Buganda, the 36th Kabaka of Buganda who reigned between 1939 and 1969. He also wa ...

had welcomed the missionaries and had played off the Catholics, Anglicans, and the Moslem traders, seeming to favor first one, then another, for political gain. His son,

succeeded his father in 1884 at the age of sixteen and came to view the Christians as a threat, as it was under their influence the royal pages resisted his advances. Recent German incursions on the coast also made him suspicious of outsiders. Furious that anyone would dare to oppose him, he expelled missionaries and ordered the death of Anglican bishop

James Hannington James Hannington (3 September 1847 – 29 October 1885) was an English Anglican missionary and martyr. He was the first Anglican bishop of East Africa. Early life Hannington was born on 3 September 1847 at Hurstpierpoint in Sussex, England, ...

Joseph Mukasa Balikuddembe Joseph Mukasa Balikuddembe (1860 – 15 November 1885) was a Ugandan Catholic martyr and the majordomo at the court of Mwanga II of Buganda, recognized as a saint by the Catholic Church. The Missionaries of Our Lady of Africa came to Uganda in 18 ...

was a court official and leader among the Christians, who spoke out against the killing of Hannington. The king saw this as insubordinate and ordered Balikuddembe killed. King Mwanga insisted that Christian converts abandon their new faith and executed many Anglicans and Catholics who did not. Kiwanuka was seventeen years old when he was burned alive for his faith at Namugongo on June 3, 1886; he and his companions became known as the

Martyrs of Uganda The Uganda Martyrs are a group of 22 Catholic and 23 Anglican converts to Christianity in the historical kingdom of Buganda, now part of Uganda, who were executed between 31 January 1885 and 27 January 1887. They were killed on orders of Mwang ...

. They were canonized as saints in 1964 by

Pope Paul VI Pope Paul VI ( la, Paulus VI; it, Paolo VI; born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini, ; 26 September 18976 August 1978) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City, Vatican City State from 21 June 1963 to his ...

. Kiwanuka's

feast day The calendar of saints is the traditional Christian method of organizing a liturgical year by associating each day with one or more saints and referring to the day as the feast day or feast of said saint. The word "feast" in this context d ...

is celebrated on June 3.

References

External links

Achileo Kiwanuka
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kewanuka, Achilleus 1869 births 1886 deaths 19th-century executions by Uganda 19th-century Roman Catholic martyrs 19th-century Christian saints Roman Catholic child saints Canonizations by Pope Paul VI Converts to Roman Catholicism from pagan religions Executed children People executed by Buganda Executed Ugandan people Ugandan Roman Catholic saints People executed by Uganda by burning