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Pilgrims on the steps from the main outdoor altar leading up to the statue of Mary at Kiwamirembe, Our Lady Queen of Peace, Uganda. -
Statue of Our Lady Queen of Peace at the heart of the Kiwamirembe Catholic Shrine. -
A diorama depicts the suffering of Jesus in the garden at Gethsemane at Kiwamirembe, Our Lady Queen of Peace Shrine. -
Visitors arrive at Kiwamirembe, Queen of Peace Shrine, near Kampala, Uganda. -
Our Lady Queen of Peace Kiwamirembe Catholic Shrine is built at the top of this hill. Hilltops were customarily the places of important pre-Christian shrines in Uganda. -
This sign relates the schedule for the overnight vigil for pilgrims at Kiwamirembe, Queen of Peace Shrine. -
A Legion of Mary member prays at Kiwamirembe, Queen of Peace Shrine, near Kampala, Uganda. -
Worshippers of the grounds of Our Lady Queen of Peace Kiwamirembe Shrine, near Kampala, Uganda. -
In prayer before a statue of Our Lady at Our Lady Queen of Peace Kiwamirembe Shrine, near Kampala, Uganda. -
Legion of Mary members at Kiwamirembe, Queen of Peace Shrine. -
Pilgrims at Kiwamirembe, Queen of Peace Shrine, Uganda. -
Visitors near one of the Stations of the Cross, Kiwamirembe, Queen of Peace Shrine, Uganda. -
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Prayers at the grave of Msgr. Lawrence Mbegwa, a founder of Kiwamirembe. -
Christmas decorations at the Kiwamirembe shrine.
Nestled among tea plantations outside Kampala, the hilltop shrine of Kiwamirembe had its roots as a site of prayer for peace during Uganda’s devastating civil wars, and was finally launched in 1989 as a place for spiritual refuge, healing, and thanksgiving for deliverance from the wars. Kiwamirembe means “giver of peace.”
A statue resembling Our Lady of Fatima stands behind glass in a small enclosure at the peak of the shrine, surrounded just below by an altar and by a sea of plastic chairs for Mass attendees. Next to it is a small brick building with a tabernacle, but the Marian shrine seems to be the focus of attention. The grounds below contain a variety of devotional sites related to Jesus’ suffering and passion, such as a diorama of Jesus in prayer at Gethsemane, Mount Calvary, stations of the cross, and even a simple version of the Scala Santa steps from Pilate’s palace.1
The shrine draws pilgrims throughout the year, for overnight vigils, daily Masses, and Good Friday Passion walks. While the themes and devotions at the shrine are all very traditional – European-style Marian images, rosaries, stations of the cross – with little designed to cultivate a visually African religious aesthetic, music at the liturgies includes a good deal of drumming, rhythm and movement.
For pilgrims to the overnight vigil, a sign offers the following schedule: 9 p.m. rosary then quiet prayer; 3 a.m. Divine Mercy rosary, then general rosary; 5 a.m. bathing, then morning prayer; 7 a.m. Mass and departure.
Two nearby areas on hilltops are said to also still serve under cover of darkness as African traditional shrines.
- 1Located in Rome across from the Basilica of St. John Lateran, the Scala Sancta is a set of 28 steps that were said to have been brought back from Pontius Pilate’s palace, and hence to be the steps Jesus climbed on his way to his condemnation. Pilgrims often climb these on their knees.
