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  <h1 class='Shead1'>Vatican Stamp Notes</h1>
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<center>
  <h2 class='Shead'>Charles Lwanga and Companions:<br>The Ugandian Martyrs</h2><br>
      James C. Hamilton<br>Updated by Lou Giorgetti<br><br></center>

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<img height='250' src='http://vaticanstamps.org/VPS/images/296/404.jpg'>
<img height='250' src='http://vaticanstamps.org/VPS/images/296/405.jpg'>
<img height='250' src='http://vaticanstamps.org/VPS/images/296/406.jpg'><br>
<img height='250' src='http://vaticanstamps.org/VPS/images/296/407.jpg'>
<img height='250' src='http://vaticanstamps.org/VPS/images/296/408.jpg'>
<img height='250' src='http://vaticanstamps.org/VPS/images/296/409.jpg'><br>
<b>Canonization of the Ugandan Martyrs<br> (Charles Lwanga is Depicted on the ₤20 Stamp) <br>Scott 404-409 (1965)</b></center>
<br>
The Liturgical Calendar has June 3 as the Feast of Saint Charles Lwanga and Companions, sometimes referred to as the "Ugandan Martyrs".  Each year on this date celebrations are normally held in the African country of Uganda to remember these saints.  However, on May 18 the annual Martyrs’ Day commemorations were cancelled due to concerns regarding the ongoing Ebola outbreak in the neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo.  Ugandan President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni made the announcement following consultations with public health officials and religious leaders.
<br><br>
The story of the Ugandan Martyrs reminds us that Christian persecution and martyrdom existed not only in the Roman Empire two thousand years ago, but continues to this day.  Look no further than the ongoing religious persecutions of Christians in Nigeria, also on the African continent.  The Ugandan Martyrs include 22 Africans who were martyred between 1884 and 1887 for their faith by the ruler of Buganda, Mwanga II (1884-1888, 1889-1897).  The martyrs included both Roman Catholics and Anglicans.  The martyrdom occurred during an era when the Catholic White Fathers and the London Missionary Society began missionary activities in Central Africa. 
<br><br>
Charles Lwanga was in charge of royal pages, several of whom he baptized as well as catechized.  Some of the pages were subject to the king’s pederasty.  Because of the catechizing attempts, the pages were assembled, led to Namungongo, a distance of 37 miles, where they were wrapped in reed mats and burned alive.  Among the group was Joseph Mukasa who was beheaded for criticizing the kabaka (king) for debauchery and for the murder of an Anglican missionary in 1885.
<br><br>
David Attwater writes that the
<blockquote>
<i>"passion of these young Africans…reads like some narrative of martyrdom in the first Christian centuries, especially by the cheerfulness by which they went to their death. When asked if they wished to remain Christian, they replied ‘Unto Death'."</i>
</blockquote>
Buganda was one of the regional territories that make up modern-day Uganda.  It was declared a British protectorate in 1884 but Mwanga II revolted in 1897. He fled to German West Africa and was deposed in absentia. He was then relocated to the Seychelles where he later became an Anglican Christian. 
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<img height='250' src='http://vaticanstamps.org/VPS/images/296/473.jpg'>
<img height='250' src='http://vaticanstamps.org/VPS/images/296/474.jpg'>
<img height='250' src='http://vaticanstamps.org/VPS/images/296/475.jpg'><br>
<b>Visit of Pope Paul VI to Uganda<br>
Scott 473-475 (1969)</b></center>
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The Martyrs’ Anniversary was proclaimed a holiday in modern-day Uganda in 1975.  Prior to that, in 1969, Pope Paul VI visited Uganda and the Ugandan Martyrs shrine at Munyonyo, celebrating Mass at the site. Charles Lwanga and Companions are often referred to as ‘the martyrs of Black Africa.’
<br><br>
The country of Uganda has been included in three stamp issues from Vatican City.  In addition to the six-stamp set shown at the top of the page, issued in 1965 to mark the canonization of the Ugandan Martyrs on October 18, 1964, a three-stamp set was issued to commemorate Pope Paul VI's trip to Uganda.  Also, one of the stamps from the 1994 set to remember the papal voyages of Pope John Paul II in 1993 features his trip to Africa, which included a stop in Uganda in February.
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<img height='350' src='https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/ba/Munyonyo_Martyrs_Shrine_at_night.jpg'><br>
<b>Munyonyo Martyrs Shrine, Uganda<br>
Photo by Wulman83<br>
From Wikimedia Commons, used under the terms of the Creative<br>
Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license</b></center>
<br><br>
<b>REFERENCES:</b><br>
<li>Christopher Kisekka, Vatican News.va, May 18, 2026, <a href='https://www.vaticannews.va/en/africa/news/2026-05/uganda-postpones-martyrs-day-celebrations-amid-ebola-outbreak-c.html'>Uganda postpones Martyrs’ Day celebrations amid Ebola outbreak concerns</a><br>
<li>Donald Attwater and Catherine Rachel John, <b>The Penguin Dictionary of Saints</b><br>
<li>David Farmer, <b>Oxford Dictionary of Saints.</b><br>
<li> Anonymous, <i>Vatican Notes</i>, Volume 16, Number 6, page 13, 1965, <a href='http://vaticanstamps.org/vaticannotes/idisplay2.php?p=080-13&r=0'>Canonization of the 22 Martyrs of the Uganda</a><br>
<li>Michael Lamothe, <i> Vatican Notes</i>, Volume 60, Number 354, pp.10-18, 2012, <a href='http://vaticanstamps.org/vaticannotes/idisplay.php?p=60-354-10-11&r=0'>Pilgrim Pope: The Travels of Pope Paul VI, Part III</a><br>
<li>Wikipedia, <a href='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uganda_Martyrs'>Uganda Martyrs</a><br>
<li>Vatican Philatelic Society website, www.vaticanstamps.org, Stamp Database Search
<br><br>

<!__Stamp link:   Scott 404-409 (1965)

Article link: “Pilgrim Pope, The Travels of Pope Paul VI,’ Part III, Vatican Notes, Vol. 60, No. 354, 4th Quarter, 2012, pp. 10-18.
Pilgrim Pope, The Travels of Pope Paul VI,’ Part III
References:  Donald Attwater and Catherine Rachel John, Penguin Dictionary of Saints, David Farmer, Oxford Dictionary of Saints. 
-->

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