The Uganda Martyrs are a group of 22 Catholic and 23 Anglican converts to Christianity in the kingdom of Buganda, now part of Uganda, who were executed between 31 January 1885 and 27 January 1887.[2][3]

Uganda Martyrs

1962 illustration by Albert Wider.
Died
1885–87, Uganda
Martyred by
Mwanga II
Venerated in
Catholic Church
Anglican Communion
Lutheranism
Feast
3 June[1]
Notable martyrs
Charles Lwanga
Kizito
Andrew Kaggwa
They were killed on orders of Mwanga II, the Kabaka (King) of Buganda. The deaths took place at a time when there was a three-way religious struggle for political influence at the Buganda royal court. The episode also occurred against the backdrop of the "Scramble for Africa" – the invasion, occupation, division, colonization and annexation of African territory by European powers.[4] A few years after, the English Church Missionary Society used the deaths to enlist wider public support for the British acquisition of Uganda for the Empire.[5] The Catholic Church beatified the 22 Catholic Uganda martyrs of its faith in 1920 and they were canonized in 1964 by Pope Paul VI at the St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.