Edmund Campion / Richard Simpson and Fr Peter Josephs

Foreword by Cardinal George Pell

St Edmund Campion, born in London in 1540, was an outstanding student and orator from his early years. After schooling at St Paul’s, and Christ Church, he entered St John’s College, Oxford, where he studied philosophy, theology and the classics.

As Master of Rhetoric at Oxford, he became legendary for his eloquence, talents and winning personality. Caught in the middle of the Elizabethan Reformation, he compromised his Catholic faith at University, took the Oath of Supremacy, and was ordained an Anglican deacon. After a change of heart and retreat into Ireland, he spent two years at Dr Allen’s seminary at Douay, and then went to Rome to enter the Society of Jesus in 1573. In 1580 he was commissioned by the Jesuit General to minister to the persecuted Catholics in England. He entered England in June 1580 and began a secret ministry, passing from home to home in thirteen counties, via an underground Catholic network. A nationwide man-hunt was begun for him, but he evaded his pursuers and secretly printed his book, Ten Reasons, which caused a sensation. Betrayed by a false Catholic, Campion was captured in July 1581, imprisoned in the Tower of London and tortured on the rack. On 1st December 1581, before an enormous crowd at Tyburn, he was fearlessly martyred by hanging, drawing and quartering.

Richard Simpson, born in 1820, studied at Oriel College, Oxford. He married in 1844 and was ordained an Anglican clergyman, but resigned the following year to become a Catholic in 1846. Over the years he contributed articles to The Rambler (whose editor he became) on philosophy, theology and the English martyrs. Among his several works, Edmund Campion is regarded as Simpson’s finest, and is a witness to his scholarship, intelligence and literary talents. He died in Rome in 1876

Fr Peter Joseph is a priest of the diocese of Wagga Wagga, Australia, and has a doctorate in theology from the Gregorian University. His thoroughly researched revision and enlargement of Simpson’s comprehensive biography makes this the definitive life of Saint Edmund Campion.

Read the review in AD2000 here.