Commemoration of All Martyrs
November 2
The Lord be with you
During New Testament days, the word “saint” simply referred to any Christian. After Christianity became legal, and then became the main religion in the West, the word began to take on the more restricted meaning generally associated with it today. It is in the spirit of the original use of the word “saint” that the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod celebrates All Saints’ Day on November 1. Those who belong to traditions that maintain the more limited view of who is a saint, still wish to recognize that all us “average” Christians also go to heaven. To do this they celebrate the Commemoration of the Faithful Departed on November 2. What this does for those who use the Biblical understanding of the word “saint” is eliminate a general day to recognize the remarkable class of individuals who are “above average” in living out their faith in Christ.
While it is true that there is not enough room on a calendar to remember all the “above average” Christians of the past with a special day for each, nonetheless it seems a shame to me that they are generally overlooked. I especially feel this way about those who have given their lives for their faith in Jesus (that is, martyrs). So I’m starting a personal commemoration day, “All Martyrs.” My focus will be on martyrs over the last couple of centuries, as they are probably the most overlooked.
The Martyrs of Uganda
Scarcely seven years after the arrival of the first Christian missionaries in Uganda, one hundred Christians, Catholic and Protestant, were brutally murdered. Joseph Mkasa Balikuddembe was beheaded after having rebuked King Mwanga of the Baganda for his debauchery and for the murder of the Anglican missionary bishop James Hannington on October 29, 1885 (remembered on that date in the calendar in the Book of Common Prayer). Eight months later there was a literal holocaust, a burnt offering, at Namugongo, when on June 3, 1886, thirty-two men and boys from thirteen to thirty years of age, many of them young pages in the court of King Mwanga of Buganda, were burned to death for their refusal to renounce Christianity. Their leader, Charles Lwanga, is remembered by name in the commemoration on the Roman calendar: “Charles Lwanga and companions, martyrs.”
In the months that followed, many other Christians died by fire or spear because of their faith. The king’s attempt to exterminate Christianity was turned upside down by the example of the martyrs who went to their death singing hymns and praying for their enemies and so inspired many who saw these things to understand that Christianity was truly African and not simply a white religion and to seek instruction in the Christian faith. Led mostly by Africans, the original band of converts multiplied many times and spread far beyond the court.
A Reading from an account of the June 3 martyrdom by Denis Kamyuka, one of the three survivors
We arrived at the place of execution, a mile and a quarter from the residence of Mukajanga [the chief executioner], and sat down in a group. We kept saying to one another, “Here we are, at Heaven’s gates. In the twinkling of an eye, we shall see Jesus.” The poor pagans laughed at us, saying, “Hark at their ravings! Don’t they fear the flames? Do they think we are preparing a treat for them?”
Then Mukajanga gave each of us a small gourdful of plantain wine (mwenge), it being the custom of the Baganda to give plantain wine to everyone who is about to be put to death. James uzabaliawo, (probably in memory of his Master’s refused to drink.
This final rite completed, Mukajanga dedicated us to his pagan deities and addressed us with a number of mock-farewells. Then he gave the order to tie us up.
We were stretched on reeds held together with fiber thongs, our hands tied firmly behind our backs, and our legs strapped together. The edges of the red covers were folded over our bodies, and we were rolled in them so as to make movement impossible. Whilst one group of executioners was busy tying us up in this way, others built the pyre from the piles of firewood which had been collected. Then lifting the human faggots they had prepared, they laid them on the pyre. When they came to Sebuta, Werabe and myself, they tied us up perfunctorily, but instead of throwing us on the heap of firewood … they placed us to one side.
When all the victims had been laid on the pyre, the executioners brought more wood, which they piled on top of them. While this was being done, I heard the Christians, each reciting the prayers which came to his mind at that supreme moment. …
When Mukajanga saw that all was ready, he signaled to his men to station themselves all round the pyre, and then gave theorder, “Light it at every point.” The flames blazed up like a burning house and, as they rose, I heard coming from the pyre the murmur of the Christians’ voices as they died invoking God.
From the moment of our arrest, I never saw one of them show any lack of courage. The pyre was lit towards noon.
J.F. Faupel, African Holocaust: The Story of the Ugandan Martyrs 194-97
Prayer: O God, you make the blood of the martyrs the seed of the church: Grant that we who remember before you the blessed martyrs of Uganda, who opened in the heart of Africa the new and living way of your Son Jesus Christ, may, like them, persevere unfalteringly in the faith for which they died; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.
Blessings in Christ
Pastor