Janani Jakaliya Luwum (c. 1922 – 17 February 1977) was the

archbishop In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdi ...

of the

Church of Uganda The Church of Uganda is a member province of the Anglican Communion. Currently there are 37 dioceses which make up the Church of Uganda, each headed by a bishop. Each diocese is divided into archdeaconries, each headed by a senior priest known a ...

from 1974 to 1977 and one of the most influential leaders of the modern church in Africa. He was arrested in February 1977 and died shortly after. Although the official account describes a car crash, it is generally accepted that he was murdered on the orders of then-President

Idi Amin Idi Amin Dada Oumee (, ; 16 August 2003) was a Ugandan military officer and politician who served as the third president of Uganda from 1971 to 1979. He ruled as a military dictator and is considered one of the most brutal despots in modern w ...

. Since 2015 Uganda has a public holiday on 16 February, to celebrate the life of Janani Luwum.

Early life

Luwum was born in the village of Mucwini in the

Kitgum District Kitgum District is a district in Northern Uganda. It is named after its major town of Kitgum, where the district headquarters is located. It has suffered many deaths and social disruption resulting from the 20-year civil war within the region duri ...

to Acholi parents. He attended Gulu High School and Boroboro Teacher Training College, after which he taught at a primary school. Luwum converted to Christianity in 1948, and in 1949 he went to Buwalasi Theological College.

Career

In 1950 he was attached to St. Philip's Church in Gulu. He was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform va ...

deacon A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian churches, such as the Catholic Churc ...

in 1953, and the following year he was ordained a priest. He served in the Upper Nile

Diocese In Ecclesiastical polity, church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided Roman province, pro ...

of Uganda and later in the Diocese of Mbale. In 1969 he was

consecrated Consecration is the solemn dedication to a special purpose or service. The word ''consecration'' literally means "association with the sacred". Persons, places, or things can be consecrated, and the term is used in various ways by different grou ...

Bishop of the Diocese of Northern Uganda at Gulu. After five years he was appointed Archbishop of the Metropolitan Province of Uganda,

Rwanda Rwanda (; rw, u Rwanda ), officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of Central Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator ...

Burundi Burundi (, ), officially the Republic of Burundi ( rn, Repuburika y’Uburundi ; Swahili language, Swahili: ''Jamuhuri ya Burundi''; French language, French: ''République du Burundi'' ), is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley at the ...

, and Boga (in

Zaire Zaire (, ), officially the Republic of Zaire (french: République du Zaïre, link=no, ), was a Congolese state from 1971 to 1997 in Central Africa that was previously and is now again known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Zaire was, ...

), becoming the second African to hold this position.

Arrest and death

Archbishop Luwum was a leading voice in criticising the excesses of the Idi Amin regime that assumed power in 1971. In 1977, Archbishop Luwum delivered a note of protest to dictator Idi Amin against the policies of arbitrary killings and unexplained disappearances. Shortly afterwards the archbishop and other leading churchmen were accused of

treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...

. On 16 February 1977, Luwum was arrested together with two cabinet ministers,

Erinayo Wilson Oryema Erinayo Wilson Oryema CPM (1 January 1917 – 16 February 1977) was Uganda's first African Inspector General of Police (1964–1971), Minister of Land, Mineral, and Water Resources (1971–1974) and Minister of Land, Housing and Physical Planni ...

and

Charles Oboth Ofumbi Arphaxad Charles Kole Oboth Ofumbi (July 1932 – 16 February 1977) was a Ugandan Minister, serving as Interior Minister at the time of his death in 1977. A member of the Jopadhola group, he had several children with his wife Elizabeth. His ancestr ...

. The same day Idi Amin convened a rally in

Kampala Kampala (, ) is the capital and largest city of Uganda. The city proper has a population of 1,680,000 and is divided into the five political divisions of Kampala Central Division, Kawempe Division, Makindye Division, Nakawa Division, and Ruba ...

with the three accused present. A few other "suspects" were paraded forth to read out "confessions" implicating the three men. The archbishop was accused of being an agent of the exiled former president Milton Obote, and for planning to stage a coup. The next day,

Radio Uganda Uganda Broadcasting Corporation (UBC) is the public broadcaster network of Uganda. It was founded as a result of the "Uganda Broadcasting Corporation Act, 2004", which merged the operations of Uganda Television (UTV) and Radio Uganda. It started ...

announced that the three had been killed when the car transporting them to an interrogation centre had collided with another vehicle. The accident,

reported, had occurred when the victims had tried to overpower the driver in an attempt to escape. When Luwum's body was released to his relatives, it was riddled with bullets.

Henry Kyemba Henry Kisaja Magumba Kyemba (simply known as Henry Kyemba likely born 1937-1939) is a Ugandan retired political figure who held several high positions and finally became Minister of Health during Uganda's rule by Idi Amin. He served in that post ...

, minister of health in Amin's government, later wrote in his book ''A State of Blood'', that "The bodies were bullet-riddled. The archbishop had been shot through the mouth and at least three bullets in the chest. The ministers had been shot in a similar way but one only in the chest and not through the mouth. Oryema had a bullet wound through the leg." According to the later testimony of witnesses, the victims had been taken to an army barracks, where they were bullied, beaten and finally shot. ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

'' magazine said "Some reports even had it that Amin himself had pulled the trigger, but Amin angrily denied the charge, and there were no first-hand witnesses". According to

Vice President of Uganda The vice president of Uganda is the second-highest executive official in the Ugandan government. The vice president is appointed by the president. Vice presidents of Uganda References Works cited * * See also *President of Uganda *Pri ...

Mustafa Adrisi and a

Human rights commission A human rights commission, also known as a human relations commission, is a body set up to investigate, promote or protect human rights. The term may refer to international, national or subnational bodies set up for this purpose, such as nationa ...

, Amin's right-hand man Isaac Maliyamungu carried out the murder of Luwum and his colleagues.

Legacy

Janani Luwum was survived by his widow, Mary Lawinyo Luwum and nine children. He was buried at his home village of Mucwini in the

. Archbishop Luwum is recognized as 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 ...

by the

Anglican Communion The Anglican Communion is the third largest Christian communion after the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches. Founded in 1867 in London, the communion has more than 85 million members within the Church of England and other ...

and his statue is among the Twentieth Century Martyrs on the front of

Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an historic, mainly Gothic church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the United ...

in London. He is honored on the liturgical calendars of the Anglican Church of Australia,

Anglican Church of Canada The Anglican Church of Canada (ACC or ACoC) is the Ecclesiastical province#Anglican Communion, province of the Anglican Communion in Canada. The official French-language name is ''l'Église anglicane du Canada''. In 2017, the Anglican Church co ...

Scottish Episcopal Church The Scottish Episcopal Church ( gd, Eaglais Easbaigeach na h-Alba; sco, Scots Episcopal(ian) Kirk) is the ecclesiastical province of the Anglican Communion in Scotland. A continuation of the Church of Scotland as intended by King James VI, and ...

, and

Church in Wales The Church in Wales ( cy, Yr Eglwys yng Nghymru) is an Anglicanism, Anglican church in Wales, composed of six dioceses. The Archbishop of Wales does not have a fixed archiepiscopal see, but serves concurrently as one of the six diocesan bishop ...

on 3 June. He is honored on the liturgical calendars of the

Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia The Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia ( mi, Te Hāhi Mihinare ki Aotearoa ki Niu Tīreni, ki Ngā Moutere o te Moana Nui a Kiwa; formerly the Church of the Province of New Zealand) is a province of the Anglican Communion serv ...

Episcopal Anglican Church of Brazil The Anglican Episcopal Church of Brazil ( pt, Igreja Episcopal Anglicana do Brasil – IEAB) is the 19th province of the Anglican Communion, covering the country of Brazil. It is composed of nine dioceses and one missionary district, each hea ...

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...

and the Episcopal Church of the United States on 17 February.

References

External links

The Greatest Ugandan Ever! Part 2
from collection: Biographical sketches of memorable Christians of the past, by James Kiefer
"Not even an archbishop was spared"
''The Weekly Observer'', 16 February 2006 (N.B. Link destination requires video software installation)
The Archbishop Janani Luwum Trust UK
{{DEFAULTSORT:Luwum, Janani 1922 births 1977 deaths 20th-century Anglican archbishops 20th-century Protestant martyrs Acholi people Anglican saints Anglican archbishops of Uganda Deaths by firearm in Uganda Extrajudicial killings Gulu District Male murder victims People from Kitgum District People murdered in Uganda Ugandan murder victims Bulwalasi Theological College alumni Anglican bishops of Northern Uganda