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Saint Charles Lwanga
00:18:30
One of the 22 Ugandan martyrs, Saint Charles Lwanga has much to teach us about courage. Join Father Tegha Afuhwi Nji and Dr. Elizabeth Klein to learn the inspiring story of this young catechist who was not afraid to speak truth to power and who led others to do the same. Rev. Tegha Afuhwi Nji is an assistant professor of theology at the Augustine Institute Graduate School of Theology. Learn more at Augustine.edu.
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- [00:02]
A
You're listening to a podcast on Catholic Saints. This podcast is produced by the Augustine Institute, an apostolate helping Catholics understand, live and share their faith.
- [00:20]
B
Hello and welcome to Catholic Saints, the podcast about the lives of the saints and their legacy for the church and for us. I'm Dr. Elizabeth Klein, and I'm joined today by Father Taga Ng to talk about St. Charles Lwanga. Thanks for joining me, Father.
- [00:36]
C
You're welcome. It's my pleasure to join you, Elise.
- [00:39]
B
So Father Taga is also a faculty member here at the Aguess Institute. I'm the Most Reverend Dr. Tega. There's a lot of titles there, and we're so glad to have him. We're recording this in his first fall here with us at the Aguess Institute. So I thought I would ask him, what are you teaching this term and are you enjoying it?
- [00:59]
C
Yes, thank you, Liz. This semester I'm teaching the rule of faith. I co teach the rule of faith with Dr. Mooney, and I teach the mystery of God. In addition to that, I'm loving it. The students are fun to have in class, and I'm loving working with my colleagues and the Augustine Institute General. Everything is looking so beautiful.
- [01:19]
B
Great.
- [01:20]
C
Yes.
- [01:21]
B
So today we're talking about St. Charles Lwanga, whose feast day is June 3rd. So why don't you tell us a little bit about this scene?
- [01:30]
C
Yes. I remember once someone asked me, do you know St. Charles Luanga? I'm like, yes, I know St. Charles Luanga. Are you from the same place like Charles Luanga? I'm like, nope, I'm not from the same place like Charles Luanga. Actually, Charles Luanga is from Uganda, which is about 2, 4, oh 7 miles from where I come from in Cameroon. That's if you're traveling by land, if you're going by air is like a thousand four, four hundred and twenty two miles. And Chaslonga was born in the year 1860. Some scholars or some hygraphers will tell you that. 1865, I think it's more accurate to talk of 1860 because he died at the age of 26. If you do the math from 1860 to 1886, it tells us that he was born in 1860. He had very little formal education, or little to none, I would say, but eventually got working in the court of the Baganda Kingdom as a page, a servant, or a page who serves a king at the interest of the king, a messenger, as the case may be, and alongside other young boys of his age between the ages of 13 and 30 they worked as pages. And in the meantime, he was converted to Christianity through the missionary work of the White Fathers. These were missionaries who came to Uganda around the year 1879. The white fathers, some of them were French and other nationalities. He was baptized. Charles Longa was baptized after he witnessed the murder, the martyrdom of Joseph Mukasa, who is also one of the Ugandan martyrs, In the year 1885, just a year before he himself is going to follow the same path. And the circumstances surrounding the life and the eventual death or martyrdom of Charles lwanga are very interesting, and I would like to share just a few of them. Charles lwanga, as a young boy was very bold and courageous. Once he converted to the Catholic faith, he himself became kind of a catechist. He would teach other young boys and young girls the faith and encourage them to witness to their faith in very adverse and dire conditions. And at the time, one of the kings, at that time, King Mwanga, who was the king of the Baganda kingdom, was not a fan of Christians. And he was actually known to be preying on these young boys. He was a pedophile, so to speak. And he would prey on these young boys, make advances towards them. And Charles lwanga would stand up against him for these young boys, defending them and encouraging them not to forsake their Christian values which they had acquired, and also to be able to speak truth to power. And on some occasions, he actually killed two of these boys, sentenced the king Mwanga sentenced two of these young boys to death because they would not give in to his advances. And Charles Luanga secretly baptized them, which will lead to his own arrest.
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B
Okay.
- [04:33]
C
Yeah, he was arrested and imprisoned and tortured.
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B
I was just going to say, you can already see evidence of his character and the fact that witnessing a martyrdom led to his seeking of baptism.
- [04:43]
C
Yes, he was a catacombian at that time.
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B
I think for people who maybe have a little bit less courage, that would deter them from seeking baptism. But I think it's. It's just an amazing story because it reverberates so much with other periods of the history of the church. I study a lot of early Christian martyrs, and Tertullian famously said that martyrdom is the seed of the church, the seed of Christians. And it would seem that the opposite would be the case. But that that witness of faith to death inspired him and he follows the own path. It's pretty amazing.
- [05:16]
C
Yeah, it's very true, Liz, because you would think that seeing someone killed for what they believe in which is what you believe in, which will make you run away. But rather he embraced his faith and stood up for his faith. And when he was arrested, it's kind of interesting what happened. Towards the end of his life, he was sentenced to death. As was the case, about 21 other boys besides Charles lwanga, young boys suffered the same fate at the hands of this wicked or non Christian king. And not just the 21 Calig boys plus Charles longer 22, there were also 23 Anglican boys will suffer the same fate. But what is particular, and since we are speaking about Charles Lwanga, about his death, is he was going to be burned alive. That was a punishment the king meted out on him. And interestingly, he asked for permission to arrange the wood upon which he was going to be burned himself. And of course, they gave him the permission to do that. He arranged the wood. You know, it reminds me of the Akedah, the story of the binding of Isaac in Sarah.
- [06:27]
B
Yeah. Carry his own wood.
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C
Exactly. He arranged the wood upon which was going to be burnt. And he lay upon the wood and told them, I'm ready.
- [06:34]
B
Wow.
- [06:35]
C
Yeah. And they set fire on him. And while he was burning the fire, he was so calm and peaceful that everybody was amazed. And he hardly spoke. The only two times we are told by many commentators on his life that he spoke were these words. The first time he said, it feels like you are pouring water on me instead. So it's kind of. I mean, not in a mocking way. No. But he was like, it feels like you are pouring water on me instead. I will urge you to repent and to become a Christian like myself. Of course, those are similar words. And the other time was when he breathed his last. He just exclaimed the two words, oh, God. It tells you what drove his life and it tells you what made him go to that extent, what of giving his life because he believed in something greater. He believed in God.
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B
It's amazing, again, the connection with early Christian martyrdom or other martyrdom stories where they talk about martyrdom as a baptism of blood and that he would in some sense, I guess, mystically experience martyrdom as a second baptism, as a purification. And so often too, the martyrs, they're able to be martyrs because they're detached from the things of the world. And it's borne out in the fact that they're even detached from their own life. Quite often martyrs will preach when they're dying or will confess for the benefit of others or try to warn others at the moment of their death. They're so unconcerned with sort of what they're having to suffer because they've already put their hope somewhere else. But it's so amazing. It's hard for us to like that kind of heroism. It's intense.
- [08:18]
C
Yes, it is. It is. And that was on 3 June, which has become is feast day. And talking about baptism, you know, as a priest, often when we celebrate the feast of Martyrs, one of the things that strike me as a person is the fact that the feast days are often the days of their execution or their martyrdom. And the expression we often come across is their birthday into heaven. The new baptism, you know, not just baptism by water, like you said, baptism by blood. They are born into something new, and it's always a culmination of a long life. It's not the beginning of their Christian witness. For some, it may be. But someone like Luanga, what it shows you is this was a young boy at the age of 26 who has left the world, who has left Africa, the world alive. Such an example of what it means to be a faithful Christian. He culminated all his little, sometimes secret acts of witnessing in this public act, this public manifestation of faith, giving up his own life.
- [09:16]
B
Yeah, that's a really interesting perspective on the birthday as the beginning of their legacy, because obviously, you know, it means the birthday into heaven. But you're right that often martyrs in their own time and place live in obscurity. Maybe they're only known by. Known really well by a handful of people who are with them. You know, I think about some of my favorites. Perpetua and Felicity, who were just two women living random place in North Africa, become world famous, you know, after their sort of true birthday into heaven. And this sort of fame everywhere because of faith. It's very paradoxical because the martyr themself can't anticipate that. You know, it doesn't look good while it's happening.
- [09:57]
C
It does not. It does not.
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B
But to have the eyes of faith, to see that as the birth of something so much greater than yourself, is a very powerful witness. And of course, the word martyr, as many listeners to the podcast may know, means witness. That's what the word means. I think you can really, really see that. Do you. Are there any other thoughts you have kind of about his legacy or maybe his veneration in Africa?
- [10:20]
C
Yeah. Yeah. He was canonized by Paul the Sith on October 18, 1964, alongside 21 other matters. Like I mentioned, the 22 matters of Uganda they are called now. And there is a huge Huge, huge impact of these matters, not just in East Africa, not just in Uganda, but throughout Africa and throughout the world. I think even in the shrine of the Imkuli concession in Washington, D.C. yeah, there is a whole side altar there dedicated to Charles lwanga and the other Ugandan martyrs that tells you of the impact they have had across the world. And Paul the Cid himself, when he visited the shrine at Namongongo as the name of the village where the shrine is in 1969, a few years, about five years after the canonization, he was impressed by the faith of the African church, the Young Church of Africa, that's post colonial African church. And he said something very striking to me, which I think is worth remembering on this as we commemorate Charles Lwanga, this podcast, which was like they laid down their lives. That's Charles lwanga and his companions for the faith. And they teach us how real Christians should be. For Christians must be courageous, they must be strong. They must, as St. Peter the Apostle says, I quote the Holy Father, be firm in faith. He's drawn here from First Peter, chapter five, verse nine. And I think that's the greatest legacy which Charles lwanga and his companions have left us. There are so many parishes and schools and facilities and institutions which today involved invoke him as patron. And he's generally known in Africa, most of Africa and the world as patron for youths and calic action, and also as a patron of converts and victims of torture. So these are the different ways which he continues to impact the world. And like you mentioned, you know, just the word martyrdom itself tells us everything about their legacy. They become witnesses that Purdue, across all generations.
- [12:28]
B
That's wonderful that he has a patronage of the youth, because often, you know, you can get kind of cynical when you're older, or it can be harder to see really clearly the right from wrong or really where you've gone too far and you can't take that path because it's against your faith. And so to have such a wonderful example, someone so young, with a such a clear sense of his faith, a clear sense of right and wrong, it's really inspiring, both for people who are young and so often have those stronger convictions, but also for people who are older, to be. To be sort of shown that to be mature in faith is to be firm in faith, not to be mature in age. It's a really beautiful witness.
- [13:14]
C
Yeah, it is, it is. It just reminds me another thing, Liz, is the universality of the church shines forth in the life of these Matters, whether it's Perpetua Felicitas, whether it's Charles Luanga or it's even Maria Goretti, you know, all across the world we see one of the same things standing out in the life of these matters. Ignatius. Whether it's the fathers or the young boys and girls, as the case may be, they all show us that there is a room for each and every one of us to bear witness to our faith in whatever circumstance we find, define ourselves. It shows us the truthfulness of the faith we hold on to and its universality. Right and wrong does not change when you cross borders from one continent to another. And that's one of the things which I think we can learn from Chaswanga and these matters.
- [14:01]
B
And no matter what age you are or what age you live in or who you are, how old you are, you don't know when God is going to call you to bear heroic witness to your faith. And these people are very inspiring. So we've already kind of talked about maybe a few takeaways for listeners today, but maybe what's something that we can take to prayer or the practice of our everyday sort of Catholic life? From Charles Wanga.
- [14:24]
C
Yeah, I mean, I think about three things, but even before I get to that, if you indulge me a little bit, just something just came to mind. You know, talking about the martyrs and what they have left us in terms of their legacy, they become for us like mirrors. You know, when you look at the mirror reminds you of something. When you look at these matters, they remind you that the faith is real, the truth of the faith. They become like living catechisms, basically. And many of the saints have told us that live your life such that it could be the only gospel that someone reads. That's basically one of the things which I think these church langa and these matters show us. And when we reflect on their lives, for me personally, what do we take away? The first thing is courage. Courage in the face of the change, in the face of the world or the changing faces of the world. Having courage, especially as young people, to make decisions based, not out of peer pressure. Making decisions based on my convictions, based on my faith. And in connection to that, what I would say is we should have something we are ready to die for. No life is worth living if you have nothing you are ready to die for. Because when we have something we are ready to die for, then we have found that which we are ready to live for. I think that would be the punchline I would say to anyone when you look at Charles Luanga. Remember, there is something he was ready to die for and that gave him reason to live on in the face of all the hardship and the torture and imprisonment and everything he suffered. And when he came to it, he was willing to die for that for which he lived for. And that reminds me of what you mentioned earlier, that there are martyrdoms, a culmination of their life. You know, it's a public manifestation of that which they have lived out in secret. So that's the first thing, courage to live for that which we are ready to die for. And then the second thing is, you know, this is something which is hard, to be honest. Think of the moment Charles lwanga was giving up his spirit to the Lord, which reminds me of Stephen, basically. You know, think of that moment. He had a choice. He could either curse God, curse his oppressors and persecutors, or forgive them out of love for God. I think it's a deep lesson, a powerful lesson in forgiveness. We have little quarrels here and there and we bear grudges here and there, and we don't readily forgive and let go. So it's something which we often miss when it comes to the matters. What makes the matters is not just the fact that they were burnt or killed or pierced. No, it's not the disposition with which they embrace their death with a spirit of forgiveness, like Stephen, like their master, Jesus, Father, forgive them. They don't know what they are doing. They were able to forgive and to embrace their death with love for God.
- [17:09]
B
And that's really related to the first point you already made, that the martyrdom is an expression of their whole life. Because if you've lived your whole life out of love for God, and you've been sort of ordering everything towards love, then the martyrdom just becomes a final expression of that. And the forgiveness is natural if you have forgotten yourself for the sake of his laws, you know, as the Maccabean martyrs say.
- [17:32]
C
Exactly. Yeah.
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B
Well, thank you so much. This was a really wonderful conversation about Charles lwanga. I hope you come back again sometime, Father.
- [17:43]
C
All right, thank you. It's my pleasure. Glad to be with you.
- [17:46]
B
St. Charles Luanga, pray for us.
- [17:49]
A
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