Shining a light on two young martyrs
Events
Students from Catholic schools and young members of Adelaide’s African Catholic community illuminated St Francis Xavier’s Cathedral at the St Kizito and St Charles Lwanga and Companions Mass on June 8.
Archbishop Patrick O’Regan presided at the Mass after celebrating Pentecost Sunday at 11am Mass where he also launched the journey towards Adelaide’s 2026 Synod.
Joining more than 300 worshippers at the African Community’s Mass in the afternoon, Archbishop O’Regan referred to the current jubilee year with its motto of Pilgrims of Hope.
“The first Christians of Africa were pilgrims of hope. And you, my brothers and sisters, are today’s pilgrims,” he told the packed congregation.
St Lwanga was 26 and St Kizito was only 13 when they were martyred almost 140 years ago in Uganda. As the patron saints of youth and primary school students respectively, they were the reason the children had come to pay their respects.
“A village sat at the foot of a hill (in Uganda) where the Christian converts would gather each evening to pray. A missionary had placed a simple wooden cross on the top of the hill,” Archbishop O’Regan recounted.
“At night, the Christians would light a small fire beneath the cross as they sang. It became a beacon for the village. One day, during the persecution, soldiers came to destroy the cross. They burned it and scattered the people. For many nights, the hill was dark.
“But then, one night, a small flame appeared again — a young boy had climbed the hill and lit a candle beneath where the cross had stood. Others joined him. The light returned and the faith grew stronger. That young boy, it is said, was Kizito.”
Students came from Thomas More College, St Francis De Sales College, St Aloysius College and St Gabriel’s Primary School, carrying colourful paper cut-outs representing the Pentecost flames that symbolise the Holy Spirit descending upon the apostles.
They were also invited to colour in a flame template and write about “when they have been brave like St Kizito”.
Bravery in its many differing forms was a theme of the Mass.
Kizito, Lwanga and about 20 other Christians, mostly in their late teens and early 20s, were burned to death by a local king for upholding their Christianity. Every year on their feast day, June 3, close to 3 million people attend the celebrations at the shrine to St Charles Lwanga and St Kizito and companions in Uganda.
The African Catholic Community’s St Kizito Youth Group decided to hold a local Mass in honour of the martyrs for the first time last year and following its success, the community plans to make it an annual event.
