Uganda Martyr Anatoli Kiriggwajjo

Anatole Kiriggwajjo was a Munyoro from Kyaka in Toro and is known to have been in the service of Kisomose, a former Chancellor of Muteesa, who was deposed after arousing the enmity of the Queen Mother by his rejection of her amorous advances.

Uganda Martyr Anatoli Kiriggwajjo

Kisomose had already been degraded and relegated to a small sub-chieftainship before the arrival of Speke and Grant in 1862, so it must have been much later that, possibly with an eye to regaining the royal favour, he presented to the Kabaka his Munyoro slave-boy, Kiriggwajjo.

Muteesa employed the lad in his own private apartments until the end of his reign, and it was during this period of service that Kiriggwajjo first put himself under instruction. After the departure of the priests, he continued his study of the Catholic religion under the guidance of Joseph Mukasa and John Mary Muzeeyi.

Meanwhile he had been on familiar and friendly terms with the young Prince Mwanga, by whom he was recalled to serve in the court of the audience hall, although he did not again take up residence in the royal enclosure. Later, the young Kabaka singled him out for promotion to a post of importance at court but, as this position exposed the holder to considerable moral danger. One day the king called up Anatoli Kiriggwajjo and entrusted him with a special and big responsibility of caring for the king’s wives in their different and various needs.

These women were fond of using tactful sexual ensnares to win men and indulge the men into sexual encounters with them. Though turning down such an appointment would put Kiriggwajjo in danger of facing death, he firmly turned down the appointment at the risk of losing his life.

His refusal offended the young Kabaka although Mwanga never made much of it at the time. Nonetheless it kept on rankling in his mind and contributed to the death of the Munyoro page later.

Later Mwanga without any just cause sent for Kiriggwajjo whom he committed to prison, where his fellow Christians would shortly join him. 
From prison, Anatoli Kiriggwajjo, a young man of about 20 years of age, was joined to his fellow Christians on their last journey to Namugongo where they were burnt to death on Thursday 3rd June 1886 (Ascension Day).

See more on Uganda Martyrs Wikipedia

 

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