Biography
James Buuzaabalyaawo
About James Buuzaabalyaawo
James Buuzaabalyaawo was a Christian member of the royal household in Buganda and one of the Uganda Martyrs. Kampala Archdiocese places his birth at Ggoli Kiswa in Mawokota and records Kalumba as his childhood name. Its profile describes his instruction in Catholicism under Andrew Kaggwa and his service as a leader in the king’s band.
Accounts of his birth year differ. Kampala gives approximately 1861, while the Norwegian Catholic biography gives approximately 1857. The latter identifies him as a soldier and records his baptism in 1885. The disagreement leaves his precise age uncertain, although both sources identify the same martyr who died at Namugongo.
Meg Hunter-Kilmer’s account in Church Life Journal describes him as a page who became a guard and musician under Kaggwa. It also remembers him as an assistant catechist who tried to teach Christianity to Mwanga before Mwanga became king. In this account, his ready humor remained apparent even during the confrontation that led to his condemnation.
The archdiocesan profile records that Mwanga ordered his arrest for being a Christian in May 1886. He was taken to Namugongo and killed on June 3 that year. The Norwegian account gives the same date and place, placing his death among those of the other Christians executed there.
Paul VI canonized him with the Uganda Martyrs on October 18, 1964. Their Catholic commemoration is June 3. Kampala Archdiocese names James as patron of merchants and cooperatives, a specific devotional association preserved alongside the account of his service at court.
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