The Sultana of Africa
Lodonga · Uganda · Our Lady of Africa
Uganda, land of martyrs
Uganda has one of the most vibrant Catholic communities in Africa. In 1886, King Mwanga II ordered 22 young Africans who refused to bet on their Christian faith: Mártires de Uganda, canonized by Paul VI in 1964. They were the first African martyrs of the modern age. They died in charge of the Virgin Mary.
Lodonga and the Sultana of Africa
Lodonga It is a small population in the far north-west of Uganda, in the Arua district, near the border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo and South Sudan. The shrine of Our Lady of Africa - popularly called "the Sultana of Africa"- was founded by the Combonian missionaries in the 1950s.
The title of "Sultana" reflects the African conception of Mary's royalty: not the Western royalty of palace and protocol, but the royalty of traditional Africa - presence, power, protection -. The Virgin "Sultana" is the one who reigns over the heart of her children and protects them as a queen to her subjects.
A sanctuary in a conflict zone
The north-west of Uganda was for decades one of the areas most affected by the armed conflict: Joseph Kony's LRA abducted thousands of children as soldiers. The Shrine of Lodonga was a refuge in the midst of chaos. In the worst years of LRA violence (1990-2006), people came to pray to the Sultana for protection for their children.
The devotion to Our Lady of Africa in Uganda has grown since the years of violence. In the words of the faithful, the Sultana is "the one that takes care of children when mothers cannot."
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