The Munyonyo Martyrs’ Shrine is a

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

shrine and

Minor Basilica In the Catholic Church, a basilica is a designation given by the Pope to a church building. Basilicas are distinguished for ceremonial purposes from other churches. The building need not be a basilica in the architectural sense (a rectangular ...

dedicated to the Ugandan Martyrs.

Location

The church is located at

Munyonyo Munyonyo is an area on the northern shores of Lake Victoria and part of the metropolitan area of Kampala, in Makindye Division. Location Munyonyo is bordered by Lake Victoria to the south, Bulingugwe Island to the southeast, Ggaba to the eas ...

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 ...

, in Central Uganda. Munyonyo is located approximately , by road, south of the central business district of

, Uganda's capital and largest city in that East African country.

Overview

Munyonyo Martyrs Shrine is the martyrdom place of leaders in Royal enclave; St. Andrew Kaggwa and St. Denis Ssebugwawo - Uganda Martyrs killed by King Mwanga II on 26 May 1886 canonized 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 State from 21 June 1963 to his death in Augus ...

in 1964. It is also a place where in 1886 Saint Charles Lwanga - leader of Christian community in Uganda baptized St. Kizito, St. Mbaga, St. Gyavira and St. Muggaga. King Mwanga

History

It was at

where King Mwanga took the fateful decision to begin putting Christians to death. The blood of Ugandan's martyrs was shed on the soil around Munyonyo. The first three Christians to render their lives for Christ's sake after the King's decision did so on 26 May 1886 – they were: St. Denis Ssebugwawo, St. Andrew Kaggwa and St. Pontiano Ngondwe. Martyrdom of St

, all of the King's Christian pageboys were captured and sentenced to death at

Namugongo Namugongo is a township in the Central Region of Uganda. Location Namugongo is in Kyaliwajjala Ward, in Kira Municipality, Wakiso District, approximately north-east of Uganda's capital Kampala. The township is bordered by Nsasa to the north, ...

(the Kingdom's designated place for execution). The prisoners were grievously bound to each other, and were made to walk their life's final journey escorted by merciless soldiers; theirs was a brutal and soul-inspiring last pilgrimage. On the way to Namugongo, at a lonely spot by the side of a road in Kyamula, Pontiano was martyred – he was the third Ugandan whose love of Christ outshone his desire for life itself. That same day in Munyonyo, servant of God, Fr. Symeon Lourdel (Mapeera) was desperately seeking an audience with the King Mwanga in order to intervene for condemned Christians. However, he was not permitted to see King. Having intuited the grave and imminent danger which was about to befall Uganda's Christian community, as night fell on 25 May 1886, Charles Lwanga (the leader of Uganda's Christian community) secretly baptised four catechumens at Munyonyo: St. Kizito, St. Mbaga, St. Gyavira and St. Muggaga The very morning, King Mwanga brought his whole court before him and separated the Christians from the rest saying, "those who do not pray stand by me, those who do pray stand over there". He proceeded to ask the fifteen boys and young men standing apart whether they were Christian and, if they were, whether they intended to remain so. When they answered "Yes" with strength and courage, Mwanga condemned them all to death. After a short imprisonment, the future martyrs subsequently walked, staggered and were often dragged over a number of days until they finally reached the martyrdom site in

(3 June 1886).

Recent events

In 2014, Uganda celebrated 50 years since the

Uganda Martyrs 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 ...

were canonized and elevated to

Sainthood In religious belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and denomination. In Catholic, Eastern Orth ...

on 18 October 1964. Uganda Martyrs Shrine in Munyonyo is a thanksgiving monument for their canonization. Official groundbreaking was on 3 May 2015 by Papal Nuncio to Uganda; Archbishop Michael A. Blume and Cardinal

Emmanuel Wamala Emmanuel Wamala (born 15 December 1926) is a Ugandan cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church, and former Archbishop of Kampala from 1990 to 2006. He is currently serving as the Cardinal-Priest of Sant'Ugo, appointed in 1994. Priesthood Wamala ...

. Redevelopment includes construction of new church shrine, museum, offices and martyrdom spots of the saints. Since October 2013, shrine is administrated by a

Franciscan , image = FrancescoCoA PioM.svg , image_size = 200px , caption = A cross, Christ's arm and Saint Francis's arm, a universal symbol of the Franciscans , abbreviation = OFM , predecessor = , ...

religious order of Greyfriars -

Conventual Franciscans The Order of Friars Minor Conventual (OFM Conv) is a male religious fraternity in the Roman Catholic Church that is a branch of the Franciscans. The friars in OFM CONV are also known as Conventual Franciscans, or Minorites. Dating back to ...

Pope Francis Pope Francis ( la, Franciscus; it, Francesco; es, link=, Francisco; born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 17 December 1936) is the head of the Catholic Church. He has been the bishop of Rome and sovereign of the Vatican City State since 13 March 2013. ...

visited and blessed the cornerstone of the Shrine on 27 November 2015 during his journey to Africa. The construction of the new church was completed in 2016 and the shrine was consecrated on 28 October 2017 by Cardinal

Fernando Filoni Fernando Filoni (born 15 April 1946) is a cardinal prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who serves as Grand Master of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre. He was Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples from 2011 to 2 ...

. On 19 July 2019, The

Holy See The Holy See ( lat, Sancta Sedes, ; it, Santa Sede ), also called the See of Rome, Petrine See or Apostolic See, is the jurisdiction of the Pope in his role as the bishop of Rome. It includes the apostolic episcopal see of the Diocese of R ...

granted the church the title and dignity of a

. The decree was signed by Cardinal

Robert Sarah Robert Sarah (; born 15 June 1945) is a Guinean prelate of the Catholic Church. A cardinal since 20 November 2010, he was prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments from 23 November 2014 to 20 Februar ...

, Prefect of the

Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments it, Dicastero per il Culto Divino e la Disciplina dei Sacramenti , type = Dicastery , seal = Coat of arms Holy See.svg , seal_size = 100px , seal_caption = Coat of arms of the Holy See , logo = , p ...

in behalf of

References

External links