Saint KIZITO

Roman Catholic Saint. He was born at Waluleeta in Bulemeezi County in the kingdom of Buganda, Uganda, to his father Lukomera of the Mmamba clan and his mother Wangabira of the Civet Cat (Fumbe) clan. Kizito himself was of the Mmamba clan of the tribe of Muganda and was given over to a certain Kiggwe's son Nyika (who had been demoted to the petty chiefdom of Kajongolo and later restored to favor by King Mutesa I). Kizito became a page of the inner private courts of King Mwanga II, living in a time of the king and his father Mutesa when Christianity came into Uganda between 1877 and 1879. After Mutesa's death on October 19, 1884, Mwanga came to power at age 16 and demanded that Christians renounce their faith on pain of torture or death, and that his pages engage in pedophilic activities. Many pages, including Kizito, refused to engage in such activities and went into hiding with some Christian missionaries at a time of persecution. Pere Simeon Lourdel hid Kizito among the missionaries and promised to baptize the boy. On May 25, 1886, Kizito, strengthened by the teachings of Charles Lwanga and Denis Ssebuggwawo, refused to give in to the advances of Mwanga, and soon they and their fellow pages were discovered, arrested and put in jail. The next day (while Ssebuggwawo, Anderea Kaggwa, and Ponsiano Ngondwe were martyred), Kizito was baptized along with Gyavire, Mbaga Tuzinde, and Muggaga by his fellow page Lwanga during their imprisonment. The next morning, May 27, Kizito, Lwanga, and other pages were condemned to death, sent to Namugongo, and imprisoned there for a week, all the while encouraging each other to remain faithful until death. (According to Pere Lourdel, who tried to save the pages, Kizito was smiling and "laughing merrily at [the death sentence], as though it were a game.") On June 3 (the day of the Ascension of the Lord), Kizito and 11 others were wrapped in reed mats and laid on a furnace pyre, where they were burned alive; his final words were, "Goodbye, friends, we are on our way." He became the youngest Roman Catholic saint to be martyred, at the tender age of 14. Along with Lwanga and his companions, Kizito was beatified in 1920 by Pope Benedict XV and canonized on October 18, 1964, by Pope Paul VI. He is the patron saint of children and primary schools; his joint feast day with Lwanga and 20 others is June 3.