The Provincial Delegation in Uganda
Mother Province: Province of St. Anthony and Bl. James of Strepar in Poland (Cracow)
As early as 1989, there was talk in the Order about a possible mission in Uganda. In 2000, after a number of initiatives by various General Secretaries of the Missions, the Provincial Chapter of the Province of Cracow assumed responsibility for this mission. The General Definitory approved the plan at the end of the same year and the friars of the Province of Cracow founded a presence in the Diocese of Kasana Luweero, Uganda, ninety kilometers [56 miles] north of the capital Kampala.
Today, the Jurisdiction has twelve solemnly professed friars, sixteen simply professed friars and three friaries.
Kakooge: St. Jude the Apostle Friary and Parish
The friary was erected on March 25, 2003
The friars have been in Kakooge since 2001. They are in charge of the parish church there and fourteen chapels. They also provide spiritual assistance at a large elementary school founded by the Brothers of Christian Instruction. In 2009, the friars opened a hospital (Health Center) in an area affected by HIV and many other diseases. The hospital is managed in collaboration with the Little Sisters of St. Francis and has been of great help to the people. The friars also established a vocational school called the St. John Paul II Technical Institute. They have had a postulancy house in Kakooge since 2021.
Matugga: Immaculate Conception Friary and St. Francis of Assisi Parish
The friary was erected on December 8, 2012
The friars have been in Matugga since 2010. Matugga lies 30 kilometers [19 miles] from the capital. The friars are in charge of the parish church there and nine chapels. They also provide spiritual assistance at an elementary school built by Caritas Antoniana [a charitable institution]. They also promote charitable works in collaboration with youth and lay persons. The friars recently built a hospital within the parish boundaries, which is of great help to the local population.
Kampala – Munyonyo: St. Francis of Assisi Friary and Uganda Martyrs Shrine
The friary was erected on October 22, 2017
In 2017 the Archbishop of Kampala asked the friars to develop and promote the site where Saints Andrew Kaggwa (Patron Saint of Catechists), Denis Ssebugwawo (Patron Saint of Choirs) and Pontian Ngondwe (Patron Saint of Soldiers) were martyred in 1886, and where Charles Lwanga and companions began their trek towards martyrdom.
After the friars erected the Shrine of Munyonyo, its pastoral care was entrusted to the Order. In 2019, the shrine was elevated to a minor basilica through the consecration of His Eminence Cardinal Robert SARAH, then Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments. The friars here have been serving the local parishioners as well as the many pilgrims who come to this holy site, consecrated by the noble blood of the martyrs who died here. The friary was built next to the shrine and on January 8, 2023, a post-novitiate house for philosophy studies was erected.
Franciscan Missionary Center
General Secretariat for Mission Animation