Archbishop Janani Luwum was the first sitting Archbishop in the entire Anglican Communion to be martyred in office, since Archbishops of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer and William Laud were martyred in office in 1556 AD and 1645 AD, respectively.

In between those times the Ugandan Church was founded in the martyrdom of 32 young men.  On 3 June 1886, thirty-two young men, pages of the court of King Mwanga of Buganda, were burned to death at Namugongo for their refusal to renounce Christianity. In the following months many other Christians throughout the country died by spear or fire for their faith.

Archbishop Luwum was a leading voice in criticising the excesses of the Idi Amin regime that assumed power in 1971.  In 1977, Archbishop Luwum delivered a note of protest to Idi Amin against the policies of arbitrary killings and unexplained disappearances.  Shortly afterwards the archbishop and other leading churchmen were accused of treason.

On 16 February 1977, Luwum was arrested together with two cabinet ministers, Erinayo Wilson Oryema and Charles Oboth Ofumbi.  The same day Idi Amin convened a rally in Kampala with the three accused present.  A few other “suspects” were paraded forth to read out “confessions” implicating the three men.  The archbishop was accused of being an agent of the exiled former president Milton Obote, and for planning to stage a coup.  The next day, Radio Uganda announced that the three had been killed when the car transporting them to an interrogation centre had collided with another vehicle. The accident, Radio Uganda reported, had occurred when the victims had tried to overpower the driver in an attempt to escape.

When Luwum’s body was released to his relatives, it was riddled with bullets.

According to the later testimony of witnesses, the victims had been taken to an army barracks, where they were bullied, beaten and finally shot.

Janani Luwum is recognised as a martyr by the Church of England and the Anglican Communion and his death is commemorated on 17 February, his statue is among the Twentieth Century Martyrs on the front of Westminster Abbey in London.

Uganda declared February 16 Archbishop Janani Luwum Public Holiday

Footnote: in 1975 Janani Luwum came to Perth by the Invitation of Archbishop Geoffrey Sambell to participate in an Anglican Event called Celebration 75.  The picture above is of some framed animal skins that Luwum gifted to Sambell on the occasion of that visit to Perth and it is on display in the foyer of the offices of the present Archbishop of Perth.