A brilliant Oxford scholar, he returned to the Catholic faith, became a Jesuit priest, and secretly came back to persecuted England to minister. He was arrested, tortured, and executed at Tyburn in London.
Life
Saint Edmund Campion was born in London in 1540. He won fame as a brilliant scholar at Oxford and even spoke before Queen Elizabeth I. He was at first ordained a deacon in the Church of England, but after much struggle he returned to the Catholic faith.
He went to the Continent, joined the Jesuits and was ordained a priest, and in 1580 he secretly returned to England, where the Catholic faith was outlawed, to celebrate the sacraments and preach. Arrested in 1581, he was tortured, condemned for treason and executed at Tyburn in London on December 1 of that year. He was canonized in 1970 as one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales.
Spirituality
Campion's spirituality is a courageous conscience devoted to truth. He gave up scholarly honor and advancement to follow the truth he believed. He did not hate his enemies, and he went to his death praying for the queen and his country.
Reflection
Campion set aside a path to success to follow his conscience and faith. Between the easy way and the right way, which am I choosing today?