St. Edmund Campion: From Favorite of Queen Elizabeth I to Wanted Outlaw
Part Two of the Forty Martyrs series
Many were familiar with the first saint in this series about the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales, St. Thomas More. It’s likely that far fewer today know about a Jesuit priest named Edmund Campion who was martyred for the Faith during that same era. That’s a shame, because he was a man devoted to both God and his country who deserves to be remembered.
Edmund Campion was born in London on January 24, 1540, the son of a printer and bookseller; he was from an early age a brilliant writer and speaker, and at 17 years old he became an Oxford Fellow. He earned his master’s degree in 1564, and in 1566 he was among a handful of students chosen to lead a public debate attended by Queen Elizabeth I. He so impressed the queen that shortly afterward he received the patronage of both William Cecil (Elizabeth’s Secretary of State and chief adviser) and the Earl of Leicester (whom many at the time believed would eventually become Elizabeth’s husband).
Campion had been ordained a deacon in the Anglican Church in 1564, and with his newfound popularity at Court he seemed destined for a successful career in the Church of England. By the time of Elizabeth’s visit to Oxford in 1566, however, he was already starting to move away…
