Basilica of the Martyrs of Uganda (Namugongo)

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Exterior view of the Basilica of the Martyrs of Uganda

The Basilica of the Martyrs of Uganda is a Roman Catholic church in the pilgrimage site of Namugongo, northeast of Kampala , Uganda . The church belonging to the Archdiocese of Kampala is dedicated to the martyrs of Uganda and has the title of a minor basilica .

Martyr's place

Namugongo used to be the execution site of the Buganda Kingdom for serious offenses. In 1886 14 of the 22 Uganda martyrs around Saint Karl Lwanga were burned alive here on the orders of King Mwanga because they had refused to renounce their Christian faith. On June 6, 1920 Pope Benedict XV spoke . the Uganda martyrs blessed , on October 8, 1964 they were saved by Pope Paul VI. canonized . He honored the martyrs on August 2, 1969 with a pilgrimage, the first visit by a Pope to the African continent. The Anglican Church also counts 23 martyrs from the same period here.

basilica

Chancel of the basilica

In 1935, the Mill Hill missionaries established a Catholic congregation with a small parish church at the Martyrs' Site. In its place, today's sanctuary was built according to plans by the Swiss architect Justus Dahinden . The executive civil engineer was the Swiss office of Stucki + Hofacker. The rotunda with a diameter of 30 meters and 22 columns is shaped like an African hut. The wooden doors show the story of the martyrs. With its pews arranged in a circle, the church offers space for around 1000 believers. Construction began in 1967 and was completed and officially opened in 1975 in the presence of the Pope's envoy Sergio Cardinal Pignedoli . When Pope John Paul II made a pilgrimage to Namugongo on February 7, 1993 during his six-day visit to Uganda, he raised the sanctuary to the rank of minor basilica.

On his trip to Africa in 2015, Pope Francis celebrated a mass here.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Visit of the shrine of Namugongo. August 2, 1969. Retrieved January 8, 2016 .
  2. ^ Heinrich Hofacker: Contemporary witnesses in prestressed concrete. 2013, Stämpfli publications, p. 85
  3. ^ Basilica of the Uganda Martyrs at gcatholic.org
  4. ^ Pope Francis celebrates mass for Ugandan martyrs. domradio.de, November 28, 2015, accessed January 8, 2016 .

Web links

Commons : Basilica of the Martyrs of Uganda  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 0 ° 23 ′ 7.7 ″  N , 32 ° 39 ′ 5.2 ″  E