I Love You, Saint Edmund

A few saints have changed my life in ways that words cannot express. Saint Francis, Saint Augustine, Aquinas, Brébeuf, Jogues, Pius X, Saint Joseph, and the Virgin Mary come to mind. However, there is something special about Saint Edmund that keeps him at the forefront of my mind and pulls on my heartstrings.

A few years ago, when I worked for the Fatima Centre, I was helping to clear out an old office building when the organization was downsizing and moving locations. Thousands of books had been accumulated over the years, and I was told to take as many as I liked, so I did. I drove home with my Dodge Caravan filled to the brim with boxes of old books, many of which I donated to my chapel and the academy run by our priests. However, I kept a dozen or so that caught my eye. Among them was a biography of Saint Edmund Campion written by Evelyn Waugh.

The book sat on my bookshelf for almost four years before I decided to crack it open and start reading. Truthfully, I did not know what to expect. I knew he was a Counter-Reformation saint and that he was English, but that was about it. Perhaps it was Waugh’s elegant style, but as soon as I started reading, I couldn’t put it down. Within a week or so, I was done reading, and I think about that book almost every day.

I would like to tell you about Saint Edmund, and I hope that you will consider acquiring a copy of his biography so you can fall in love with this great saint. Here is a link to find copies of it at a good price. A digital copy is available here.

Saint Edmund Campion was born on January 25, 1540, in London, England, to a Catholic family. However, he was born shortly after the Church of England had split from Rome, so he was not raised in the Catholic faith but in the Anglican Church. His father was a bookseller, and young Campion received his early education at Christ’s Hospital school. He later attended St. John’s College, Oxford, where he was known for his brilliance and became a junior fellow at the age of 17. His oratorical skills were notable, and he delivered a speech to Queen Elizabeth I during her visit to Oxford in 1566.

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In his youth, he did not demonstrate a notable fervour for religion and seemed more interested in the growing Humanist movement in vogue at Oxford. Now, the term humanism today is associated with irreligiosity and a commitment to secular studies. However, during the 16th century, the Humanist movement referred to a revival in academia of the study of ancient Greek and Roman literature. Saint Thomas More, for example, is looked to as one of the great figures of the Humanist Renaissance. Humanists wanted to “go back to the sources,” although not in the fraudulent manner that has been thrust upon us since Vatican II. Humanists at the time of Campion read the Church Fathers and other ancient authors in the original languages, which had not been common for some time. Campion thrived in this environment, which eventually led to his own conversion.

Campion initially took the Oath of Supremacy, which was required for scholars and teachers at Oxford, and was ordained as a deacon in the Anglican Church in 1568. However, he experienced a crisis of conscience and knew he could not remain an Anglican. However, he knew that becoming Catholic meant the death of his career and likely the death of his body, even if it meant the life of his soul. Initially, he left England in 1569 and went to Ireland, where Catholicism was tolerated, unlike mainland England, where it was not. He taught in Dublin for a short time at a newly established Jesuit school, and this period proved to be a transitionary moment on his journey to Rome.

Shortly after he went to Douai, France, where many English Catholics had gone to escape persecution. He was received into the Catholic Church in 1571. He continued his education there, earning a Bachelor of Divinity degree from the University of Douai in 1573, after which he travelled to Rome to join the Society of Jesus (Jesuits).

He was sent to Prague, where he studied as a Jesuit, and his immense intellect and rhetorical skills cemented him as a rising star in the Jesuits. At the time, the Jesuits were at the forefront of combating the Protestant heresy, and he always knew that it was a matter of time before he would be sent to England, which meant he would be sent to his death. One gets the impression when reading his biography that his time spent away from England was like being in an “in-between” place; that is, a place between life and death.

In 1578, Campion was informed that he would be sent to England. Just before his departure, a Salesian father who knew Campion well wrote above the door to Campion’s cell, “P. Edmundus Campianus Martyr.” Some days before this inscription appeared, another father painted the emblem of martyrdom, a garland of roses and lilies, on the wall at the head of Campion’s bed.

Can we even begin to fathom a faith and love for souls so deep as this in our age of ecumenism and modernism?

In 1580, Campion was sent back to England as part of the Jesuit mission to the country. His mission was to minister to the Catholics who were forbidden to practice their faith openly under Queen Elizabeth I’s Protestant regime. Campion avoided political involvement but was very active in preaching and hearing confessions in secret Catholic gatherings across England.

His time in England reached a climax when he wrote and published a pamphlet titled “Decem rationes” (“Ten Reasons”) arguing for Catholicism over Protestantism, which was distributed secretly in Oxford in June 1581, causing a significant stir. His activities led to his arrest that same year in July at Lyford Grange, Berkshire, after being betrayed. He was taken to the Tower of London, where, despite torture, he refused to recant his Catholic faith. While he was in prison, he was tortured and humiliated numerous times. In fact, he was forced to debate the most celebrated Anglican scholars in the country when he was physically and mentally decimated. He had been stretched on the rack so many times that he was unable to raise his right arm to swear that he would tell the truth during one of his cross-examinations. Despite the efforts of the Anglicans who attempted to beat the Catholicism out of him, he vanquished his debate opponents, which caused the English crown great embarrassment.

Campion was charged with high treason, convicted, and sentenced to death. On December 1, 1581, at the age of 41, he was hanged, drawn, and quartered at Tyburn, the same site that saw the martyrdoms of Saints John Fisher and Thomas More. His execution and martyrdom inspired many conversions to Catholicism. He was beatified by Pope Leo XIII in 1886 and canonized by Pope Paul VI in 1970 as one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales. His feast day is celebrated on December 1.

Aside from his obvious courage, what struck me about the life of Saint Edmund was that he not only died for the right to be Catholic but for the right to say Mass and for the faithful to receive the sacraments.

Ask yourself, which Mass did he say? He said the Tridentine Mass, which is to say, the Roman Rite of all time. Like us today, he lived in a time when the Mass of his forefathers was suppressed, and he gave his life so that you could attend that same Mass.

His willingness to go to the rack and the noose in defence of the Mass and Faith of all time should inspire us to withstand the present onslaught against Tradition, an onslaught hell-bent — literally — on shoving a liturgy down our throats modelled after and inspired by the same murderous Protestantism that spilled so much Catholic blood.

We will see a restoration of the True Roman Rite because I know that Saint Edmund’s death was not in vain.

It is not lost on me that Campion’s name sounds so much like Champion. May he be our champion in our fight for Tradition.

I love you, Saint Edmund. Please pray for us!

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