When the Missionaries of Africa (White Fathers) came to Uganda in 1879, Joseph Mukasa Balikuddembe was enrolled as a catechumen in the following year. Two or so years later, in 1882 the Catholic missionaries were forced, for security reasons, to abandon the Ugandan mission and live temporarily at the southern end of Lake Victoria up to 1885. In their absence, Joseph Mukasa quickly became the leader and teacher of the Catholic royal pages, caring for their physical, spiritual, and moral welfare.

Martyr Joseph Mukasa Balikudembe

Balikuddembe was born in Mawokota County, bordering Lake Victoria in the kingdom of Buganda. His father, Kajwayo, was a member of the kayozi or Giant Rat clan and his mother was a cousin of Mazinga, one of Kajwayo’s eight wives and a Munyoro by tribe.

Mukasa was brought up by Mazinga, but at the age of six was sent to live in the household of a man named Kabadzi. In about 1874, when he was fourteen, Mukasa was presented to the king (kabaka) Mutesa I to be one of his many pages.

When Mwanga became king, Joseph Mukasa who had served under Kabaka Mutesa 1 as one of the pages was reappointed to the royal service and remained the king’s personal attendant. He was also made majordomo of the royal household and was given permission by the king to administer reproof to him, if he thought him guilty of unbecoming conduct. But then he began to estrange Mwanga by protecting the pages in his care from the king’s alleged homosexual practices, urging him to put away his charms, and openly organizing catechism classes at court.

This, later when exacerbated by the friction that was caused between Mukasa and the king over the ruthless murder of Bishop Hannington led to the execution of the martyr.

To be executed, Mukasa was taken to a spot near the Nakivubo River, between Mengo and Nakasero hills. Here he forgave the king and his other enemies, before being knifed and his body burned to ashes on a pyre.

Joseph Mukasa Balikuddembe, the Catholic proto-martyr of Uganda, was declared “Blessed” by Pope Benedict XV in 1920 together with twenty-one fellow martyrs. Pope Paul VI proclaimed them canonized saints in 1964.

See more on Uganda Martyrs Wikipedia

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