Adolphus Ludigo-Mkasa, also known as Adolofu Mukasa Ludigo (c. 1861 – June 3, 1886), Adolf Mukasa Ludigo was a

Uganda Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the ...

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

martyr A martyr (, ''mártys'', 'witness' Word stem, stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an external party. In ...

killed for his faith.

Life

Ludigo-Mkasa was a Munyoro from Misenyi Village in Myeri Katoosa Catholic parish in Kyenjonjo district. He was a son of late Bamwesekesa (father) and Kajoote Kahinju(mother). At a young age, he was abducted by Baganda raiders in around 1850 together with his mother Kajoote in Kyarwehikyo a few kilometres from the Katoosa Rocks and became a companion of

Charles Lwanga Charles Lwanga (Luganda: Kaloli Lwanga; 1 January 18603 June 1886) was a Ugandan Religious conversion, convert to the Catholic Church who was martyrdom, martyred with Uganda Martyrs, a group of his peers and is revered as a saint by both the Cat ...

at court. Ludigo-Mkasa was put in charge of the

Kabaka Kabaka is the title of the king of the Kingdom of Buganda.Stanley, H.M., 1899, Through the Dark Continent, London: G. Newnes, According to the traditions of the Baganda, they are ruled by two kings, one spiritual and the other secular. The s ...

’s gardens. His name was changed from Tibeyalirwa to Ludigo the Kabaka's palace after he studied christianity. Protestant missionaries began arriving in Buganda in 1877, followed two years later by the Catholic

Missionaries of Africa The White Fathers (), officially known as the Missionaries of Africa (), and abbreviated MAfr, are a Roman Catholic society of apostolic life of pontifical right (for men). They were founded in 1868 by Charles-Martial Allemand-Lavigerie, who was ...

. King Muteesa I welcomed the missionaries and played off the Catholics, Anglicans, and the Moslem traders, seeming to favor first one, then another, for political gain. The court was at Nabulagala, with a Catholic mission nearby at Kasubi. It was there that Ludigo-Mkasa began to take religious instruction around 1881. Young King

Mwanga II Danieri Basammula-Ekkere Mwanga II Mukasa (3 June 1868 – 8 May 1903)D. A. Low''Fabrication of Empire: The British and the Uganda Kingdoms, 1890-1902'' Cambridge University Press, 2009, p. 210, note 196. was the 31st Kabaka of Buganda who ruled ...

succeeded to the throne in 1884 at the age of about sixteen. He came to see the Christians as a threat, partly due to German incursions on the coast, and because the Christians encouraged the pages in his court to resist his advances. Adolphus received his baptism on November 17, 1885. King Mwanga demanded that Christian converts abandon their new faith and executed many Anglicans and Catholics who did not. Adolphus was one of many

Christians A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the world. The words '' Christ'' and ''C ...

put to death by the king between 1885 and 1887. He was burnt alive on the 3rd of June 1886 in Namugongo at the age of about twenty-five. His day of martyrdom, June 3, is remembered as the

feast day The calendar of saints is the traditional Christian method of organizing a liturgical year by associating each day with one or more saints and referring to the day as the feast day or feast of said saint. The word "feast" in this context does n ...

of the

Uganda Martyrs The Uganda Martyrs are a group of 22 Catholic Church, Catholic and 23 Anglicanism, Anglican converts to Christianity in the History of Buganda, kingdom of Buganda, now part of Uganda, who were executed between 31 January 1885 and 27 January 1887 ...

Family and relatives

Ludigo has relatives who include; Evangeline Kabaruli who was born on 04 September 1919 (a niece from his paternal uncle).

References

External links

Adolphus Ludigo-Mukasa bio

2015 NTV UGANDA: Looking back on the life of martyr Adolfo Ludigo

ECO ZONE VIDEO: Adolf Ludigo Shrine
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ludigo-Mukasa, Adolphus 1861 births 1886 deaths 19th-century Christian saints 19th-century executions by Uganda 19th-century Roman Catholic martyrs Converts to Roman Catholicism from pagan religions Executed Ugandan people People executed by Buganda People executed by Uganda by burning Ugandan Roman Catholic saints