There is a palpable sense of excitement among Catholics as first-class relics of the Uganda Martyrs are now being exhibited at Uganda Martyrs University – Lubaga Campus. From the late afternoon of Saturday September 14th, 2024 when this exhibition was publicly launched, those interested are moving around exhibition rooms, captivated by the stories associated with the exhibits.
Among the first-class relics are bone-fragments of St. Charles (Karooli) Lwanga and St. Matthias Mulumba. The display may appear modest and is open to the public free of charge, which might make some assume it is a simple, low-key event. However, the journey to bring these sacred relics to Uganda was grueling. It was a complex process that unfolded over several months, demanding considerable resources, expertise, and unwavering commitment.
Leading this monumental task is Dr. David Tshimba of Uganda Martyrs University, supported by key figures like Professor Derek Peterson of the University of Michigan, Rev. Fr. Anthony Musuubire, the Kampala Archdiocese Archivist, and Rev. Fr. Richard Nnyombi of the Missionaries of Africa. Their collective effort was pivotal in navigating the intricate logistical and bureaucratic obstacles involved in acquiring and transporting these precious relics for a temporary return to Uganda.
The exhibits on this show were sourced from multiple locations including the Dicastery for Communications at the Holy See, the Curia Generalizia (Headquarters) of the Missionaries of Africa in Rome, the Kampala Archdiocesan Museum, and the Uganda National Museum.
“The first-class relics and other rarely seen artistic impressions of the Uganda Martyrs that were obtained from the Missionaries of Africa headquarters had lain in Rome since the 1940s when the dossier of the canonization of the Uganda Martyrs was re-opened, kept out of view for decades under stringent security some two floors underground, due to their precious nature,” Dr. Tshimba said.
Taking us behind the scenes, Dr. Tshimba explained that the exhibition was initially conceived to commemorate the Diamond Jubilee of the Uganda Martyrs’ canonization. In May 2023, they conducted a dry run by organizing an exhibition also focused on the Uganda Martyrs.
“We [the Centre for African Studies at Uganda Martyrs University] in collaboration with the Archdiocese of Kampala, the Uganda Broadcasting Corporation and the University of Michigan, opened to the public an exhibition show under the theme of ‘Church and State’. The curated story then foregrounded the unease relation between faith and politics at the founding moment of independent Uganda through the presidency of Idi Amin,” he added.
Dr. Tshimba noted that Rev. Fr. Nnyombi, who was then stationed at the historic Nabulagala Parish, provided remote assistance to the team at UMU in creating the curation script for the exhibition. After receiving a positive response from the public, they felt encouraged to prepare for the grand Historical Exhibition centered on the Uganda Martyrs, themed “God and Caesar.”
From June 2023, the team of curators devised a multi-stakeholder partnership with key custodians of the Uganda Martyrs’ religious and political story to secure the needed exhibits to curate the complicated story. The stakeholders included Missionaries of Africa, Mill Hill Missionaries, the Holy See, Buganda Kingdom, and the Uganda Episcopal Conference at large.
During the maiden tour of the ‘God and Caesar Exhibition’, Dr. Tshimba explained the tedious process of obtaining the temporary lease of the first-order relics under the custody of Missionaries of Africa, noting that one of the significant challenges was negotiating the duration of their stay in Uganda.
Initially, as he explained, the Missionaries of Africa were amenable to a loan period of only a few days. After extensive back-and-forth correspondences, a possibility for a week-long loan was open, but still the exhibitors requested more time given the cardinal importance of the event and the mobilisation therefrom.
In the end, the custodians of these precious remains of the Uganda Martyrs gracefully agreed to the temporary loan spanning the entire period of the exhibition, from mid-September till the end of October 2024.
Eight-Month Quest for Access to the Holy See Archives
In addition to the materials from the Missionaries of Africa, the exhibition does feature several audiovisual materials related to the canonization process, including rare audio, photos and video footage of the canonization ceremony held in the Vatican on 18 October 1964. These materials were primarily sourced from the Dicastery for Communications within the Roman Curia, on a gracious license spelling out terms of use and acknowledgement.
“The correspondence with the custodians of archives at the Vatican Dicastery for Communication was perhaps the most long-winding of all,” said Tshimba. He added that; “It took the gracious assistance of Chief Archivist Pietro Cocco, between October 2023 and April 2024, to take us through the legal-bureaucratic procedures of securing the needed license from the Secretariat of State at the Holy See to get access to the rarely seen 25 photographs shot on that special Mission Sunday of 18 October 1964 together with the audio recordings of the Pope’s homily and the oratorio composed and performed by Joseph Kyagambiddwa’s African choir,”
At the Vatican, Dr. Tshimba said he had to apply for special permission to access and review the Uganda Martyrs beatification and canonization papers domiciled in the Apostolic Pontifical Archives, and the canonization proceedings contained, which illuminated internal debates.
For example, there had been discussions about canonizing of only two of the 22 Catholic martyrs, but Archbishop Joseph Kiwanuka’s resolute stance resulted in the canonization of all. This detail underscores Kiwanuka’s dedication and continues to emerge from ongoing research.
“In the Apostolic Pontifical Archives, researchers are granted a maximum of three months per annum, based on prior online booking offered on a first-come-first-serve basis. I was exceptionally doubly fortunate to be granted access to consult these invaluable archival materials on a short-notice during my stay in Rome in November 2023 and for a period exceeding the usual three months till June 2024,” Dr. Tshimba said.
He explained that to access the archive, only a pencil and blank sheets of papers are permitted in the Archives’ reading rooms for note-taking; no other recording devices can be allowed. Being opened for consultation according to papal reigns, access to these archival files to date only extend to the end of the pontificature of Pope Pius XII who died in 1958.
Tshimba added: “As such, I could only access the Uganda Martyrs beatification papers, for papers relating to their canonization are still out of bounds for researchers. It would take exceptional prerogative from the reigning Pope himself to permit access to the files not yet declared open for researchers’ consultation.”
However, he added that still, the beatification files were incredibly rich in content. For instance, therein he came across the rare correspondence between Cardinal Charles Lavigerie and Pope Leo XIII over Canon procedures for initiating the cause of canonization of the Uganda Martyrs. “I also came across an intra-congregational series of correspondences among White Fathers’ Equatorial Africa Mission leaders over the collection of witnesses and numbers of martyrs’ candidate for beatification,” Dr. Tshimba explains.
The public has only been able to peep into such documents through the works of Sister Marie-André of the Sacred Heart from the Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of Africa (White Sisters), who published a book in French titled Les Martyrs de l’Ouganda, translated as “Uganda: The Land of Martyrs.”
In her book, Sister Marie-André referenced these protected archives and described how the “glorious news” of the young converts’ killings was communicated to Pope Leo XIII, who felt genuine sorrow. Nevertheless, he believed that the blood of these Martyrs would serve as the seed for future Christians.
The Exhibition
To set the stage for the martyrdom story, the exhibition’s first room curates important socio-political and religious aspects of Buganda Kingdom in the nineteenth century. In this room, the exhibition’s curators obtained drawings depicting pre-Christian Buganda, illustrating spatial organization as recollected by Buganda Katikkiro Apolo Kaggwa at the dawn of the 20th century.
Dr. Tshimba added that these maps alone were secured from the Cambridge Museum in England at a fee of approximately 7.5 million shillings for reproduction rights and usage. This was made possible thanks to the funding support from the University of Michigan.
Among other exhibits on public display are chains that tied the feet of St Joseph Mukasa Balikuddembe, the first crucifix introduced to Uganda by the missionaries, and a wooden cross carved from the very muvule tree where St Matia Mulumba was tied, dismembered and left to die in sheer agony.
The exhibition also showcases the first-ever printed booklet in Uganda (1881) – a catechism collection – along with the first fountain pen and rosary belonging to Bishop Léon Livinhac, the pioneering pastor of the Catholic Church in Uganda.
Other significant items on show include various key documents and letters. Perhaps most notable of all is a letter written by Fr. Simén Lourdel commonly known as Mapeera the day after the Uganda Martyrs were immolated at Namugongo. Many of these documents required prior translation for their proper curation, as they were primarily written in French.
Other key documents consisted of the pontifical declarations of ‘beatification’ and ‘canonization’ of the Uganda Martyrs, respectively decreed by Pope Benedict XV in June 1920 and Pope Paul VI in October 1964, both of which authored in Latin.
The Government’s Role
The exhibits for this significant historical exhibition, particularly the first-class relics of the Uganda Martyrs displayed to the public for the first time since their canonization, required crucial security guarantees from the Ugandan state.
Dr. Tshimba emphasized that much of their effort was supported by security agencies, especially personnel from the Directorate of Defence, Intelligence and Security, as well as the Civil Aviation Authority, who contributed their support and resources for the successful launch and smooth operation of this unprecedented exhibition.