St. Charles Lwanga, Ora Pro Nobis
You hear about the controversy at Canada’s Western University? A reader told me about it. The university put out some posters for Pride. Such as:
And this one:
Turns out that the lesbian Muslim ladies smooching pissed off the local Muslim community, which raised hell. Western took that poster down, over the protests of LGBTs. Read all about it here. So at least we know a bit more how the Oppression Hierarchy shakes out at Western University. Leftists can’t get their oppression narratives, um, straight. Say what you want about Muslims, they will not put up with this stuff. In Britain a few years back, it was Muslim parents, not Christian ones, who went public to protest the LGBT indoctrination of their kids in schools. They have the courage that we lack.
So it goes with the new civic religion. It’s really quite something to walk around the Austrian capital during the High Holy Month of Pride. We are everywhere reminded of who are real rulers of our civilization are. For example, this uplifting scene I came across on my walk home today:
It ain’t Budapest, I tell you what.
Today, a Catholic reader wrote:
Today on the Roman calendar is the feast of St. Charles Lwanga and Companions, African Christians martyred in the late 19th century for defying a local potentate’s desire to rape little boys.I heard of him years ago when I read then-Cardinal Ratzinger’s letter cautioning Catholic politicians to oppose homosexual marriage in civil laws. I noticed that the letter stated it was issued on St. Charles Lwanga’s feast. I hadn’t heard of him and so read a little about his astonishing martyrdom. He was burned slowly to death but evidently said nary a word until, at the very end, he cried out “God!” (I asked a good priest whether the letter’s being issued on his feast day was a coincidence. He laughed and said, Oh no.)A link to Bishop Barron’s discussion of the fruits of his martyrdom for Africa:Ratzinger’s letter: https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20030731_homosexual-unions_en.htmlIn any event, he seems an appropriate Saint for Pride Month.St. Charles Lwanga, Ora Pro Nobis!
The persecution started in 1885 after [King] Mwanga, a ritual pedophile, ordered a massacre of Anglican missionaries, including Bishop James Hannington who was the leader of the Anglican community. Joseph Mukasa Balikuddembe, the Catholic major-domo of the court and a lay catechist, reproached the king for the killings, against which he had counseled him. Mwanga had Balikuddembe beheaded and arrested all of his followers on 15 November 1885. The king then ordered that Lwanga, who was chief page at that time, take up Balikuddembe’s duties. That same day, Lwanga and other pages under his protection sought baptism as Catholics by a missionary priest of the White Fathers; some hundred catechumens were baptized. Lwanga often protected boys in his charge from the king’s sexual advances.
On 25 May 1886, Mwanga ordered a general assembly of the court while they were settled at Munyonyo, where he condemned two of the pages to death. The following morning, Lwanga secretly baptized those of his charges who were still only catechumens. Later that day, the king called a court assembly in which he interrogated all present to see if any would renounce Christianity. Led by Lwanga, the royal pages declared their fidelity to their religion, upon which the king condemned them to death, directing that they be marched to the traditional place of execution. Three of the prisoners, Pontian Ngondwe, Athanasius Bazzekuketta, and Gonzaga Gonza, were murdered on the march there.
When preparations were completed and the day had come for the execution on 3 June 1886, Lwanga was separated from the others by the Guardian of the Sacred Flame for private execution, in keeping with custom. As he was being burnt, Lwanga said to the Guardian, “It is as if you are pouring water on me. Please repent and become a Christian like me.”
Twelve Catholic boys and men and nine Anglicans were then burnt alive. Another Catholic, Mbaga Tuzinde, was clubbed to death for refusing to renounce Christianity, and his body was thrown into the furnace to be burned along with those of Lwanga and the others. The ire of the king was particularly inflamed against the Christians because they refused to participate in sexual acts with him. Lwanga, in particular, had protected the pages.
Here, from Father Zuhlsdorf’s blog, is a photograph of the Ugandan martyrs, including St. Charles Lwanga (Number 13):
Pope St. Paul VI said of St. Charles and his companions:
“These African martyrs inaugurate a new age… Africa is the new country of Christ. A clear witness of this fact is the direct simplicity and unshakeable fidelity of these young African Christians.”
May their memory be eternal. A suitable saint for this month, indeed. Holy Charles Lwanga, pray for us, spiritually dying from pride.
