The conversion of natives was met with hostility by Kabaka Mwanga II, King of Buganda, who saw the Christian religion as jeopardizing his authority.
Catholic converts and those affiliated with the White Fathers were often arrested and put to death for their beliefs, their remains strewed across the land as a warning to anyone considering conversion.
This persecution and violence climaxed in the killing of the Uganda Martyrs, when 22 Catholic converts were burned alive at Namugongo.
Mill Hill Missionaries mainly evangelized in Eastern Uganda, while the Verona Fathers converted people in the North.
[5] The Catholic Church celebrates on June 3 the feast of the Uganda Martyrs — Saint Charles Lwanga and his companions — who were killed by King Mwanga II between 1885 and 1887.