Monday – 9th Week of Ordinary Time B – Saints Charles Lwanga and Companion Martyrs
Saint Charles Lwanga (1860-1887) was a young African martyr who was killed during the persecution of Christians in Uganda by King Mwanga II. Charles was a page at the royal court and was known for his kindness, humility, and devotion to his faith. He was martyred along with 21 companions, including 20 young men who were burned at the stake or beheaded for their refusal to renounce their faith. Saint Charles and his brothers were brutally executed for not renouncing their faith and conceding to the malicious and despicable sin of unnatural impurity. The king, deceived and inspired by Satan to try to force these children and young men to submit to his lustful decrees, through he was all-powerful, that no one could resist him, and little did he know he was but a pawn in the gruesome hands of the master-deceiver.