NAMUGONGO CATHOLIC SHRINE
Go there and contact
About ten kilometres northeast of the city centre, this shrine is one of the most important Catholic pilgrimage sites in the world. The mahogany altar of the basilica is believed to have been erected on the exact spot where Charles Lwanga, one of Uganda's twenty-two Catholic martyrs (canonized in 1964), was burned alive on June 3, 1886. Twelve other Roman Catholics and thirteen Anglicans were also burned at the Namugongo site on the same day. The sanctuary was officially opened on 3 June 1975. In addition to the basilica, an artificial lake - over which footbridges and a kiosk with an altar have been designed - and a martyrs' path, describing the martyrdom of the martyrs, make up the complex. The celebration of the "Day of the Martyrs of Uganda" on 3 June sees several million pilgrims from Uganda, neighbouring countries and even other continents flock to and around the holy place. If you drive on the roads in the days leading up to the commemoration, you will see a swarm of pilgrims, sometimes barefoot and carrying crosses, converging on Kampala. For your information, a second Catholic shrine exists in Munyonyo, not far from Lake Victoria, where Kabaka Mwanga decided to kill Catholics, most of them pages at his court, on May 25, 1886 (two co-religionists were executed the following day, while the others began their fatal march to their place of execution, Namugongo).
