Some relics, including the bones of two Ugandan martyrs executed about 140 years ago for refusing to relinquish their Christian faith, have been returned to the East African country.
In 1885 and 1886, the King of Buganda (Now part of Uganda) ordered the killing of 22 Roman Catholics and 23 Anglicans because he was apprehensive about the growing influence of Christianity.
The Ugandan Martyrs suffered gruesome deaths as some were either burned alive or killed with spears or knives. The remains of the two martyrs were sent to Rome while others were kept in Uganda.
“This is a landmark event over 100 years after they were (taken) by the European missionaries,” Uganda’s junior foreign minister, Henry Okello Oryem, told AFP.
The relics include an unspecified bone of Charles Lwanga, Matia Mulumba’s jawbone, the chains used to bind them, and the cross made from the trees where they were tied up.
The relics will be displayed for one month from September 14 to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the date Pope Paul VI made the Catholics saints in October 1964.
The spot where the executions took place in Namugongo, a suburb of the Ugandan capital Kampala has been converted to a shrine.
Namugongo serves as a significant Christian pilgrimage destination, attracting numerous faithful visitors from across Africa and around the world on June 3 to commemorate the killings that occurred in 1886.
Among the martyrs were men who had previously served as pages to the Buganda king, Kabaka Mwanga II.
Following their execution, some of the remains were not recovered as wild animals had consumed them.