CAMPION, Edmund, Blessed. - Jesuit, martyr, b. in London on 25 Jan. 1539, d. there on 1 Dec. 1581. A student at Oxford, he won universal admiration for his gifts of intellect and eloquence, praised also by Queen Elizabeth on one of her visits to the University. Although from a Catholic family, he had the weakness to subscribe in 1564 to the oath by which he acknowledged the queen's spiritual supremacy and to let himself be ordaineddeacon of the Anglican church. Stung, however, by remorse, he soon went to Ireland, living there as a Catholic, then to Douai, in France, at the English seminary, where he abjured, took his degree in theology and was ordained subdeacon, and finally to Rome, where he entered the Society of Jesus (1573). Sent to the Jesuit college at Prague, he was ordained priest there (1578). When the mission of England was opened, he was sent there with Fr. Persons (1580) to strengthen the Catholics in the faith and win back the apostates, and he succeeded admirably by word and pen.
A declaration of his, circulated in manuscript, in which he asked the councillors of London for three public disputants, spread alarm among the Protestants. C. reaffirmed it with the pamphlet Ten reasons (Cosmopoli [London] 1581), refuting every sophism of the Protestants and defending Catholic doctrine. His adversaries gave him no more respite, until they had him in their hands. Betrayed and condemned as a conspirator against the queen, he was hanged and quartered at Tyburn. The cult was confirmed by Leo XIII on 9 Dec. 1886; feast on 1 Dec.
Bibliography6 worksSommervogel, II, coll. 586-97; B. Camm. Lives of the English Martyrs, II, London 1905, pp. 226-357; J. Y. Simpson, E. C., 2nd ed., ibid. 190
BIBL.: Sommervogel, II, coll. 586-97; B. Camm. Lives of the English Martyrs, II, London 1905, pp. 226-357; J. Y. Simpson, E. C., 2nd ed., ibid. 1907; G. Spillmann, Gesch. der Katholikenverfolgung in England, 1555-1681, II, 3rd ed., Freiburg im Br. 1910, p. 280 ff.; R. Challoner, Memoirs of missionary priests, ed. by F. H. Pollen, London 1924, pp. 19-30; C. Testore, I martiri gesuiti d'Inghilterra e di Svezia, Isola del Liri 1934, pp. 115-77.
Testore, Celestino. “Campion, edmund, beato.” In Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. III, coll. 474–475. Città del Vaticano: Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1949. https://azioneromana.com/article/campion-edmund-beato.
MLA
Testore, Celestino. “Campion, edmund, beato.” Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. III, Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1949, coll. 474–475. Azione Romana, https://azioneromana.com/article/campion-edmund-beato.
BibTeX
@incollection{ec3_campion_edmund_beato,
author = {Testore, Celestino},
title = {Campion, edmund, beato},
booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica},
volume = {III},
pages = {474--475},
note = {Cited by column},
publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico},
address = {Città del Vaticano},
year = {1949},
url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/campion-edmund-beato}
}
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