you decline, this letter is my witness. God judge
between you and me, your blood be on yourself.
Farewell. From him that most desires your
salvation.

" EDMUND CAMPION."

(Nov. i, 1571.)

As a summary of arguments against the via
media, as an exposition of the hollowness of the
Anglican position, of the absolute, essential and
necessary antagonism between Anglicanism and
Catholicism, of the impossibility of salvation outside
the one Church, and of the consequent need for



292 BLESSED EDMUND CAMPION

all to join it, this letter is perhaps unsurpassed.
How far it told with Cheney, we know not. The last
traces of Catholicism were being expunged from
Elizabeth's religion. The Communion was no longer
to be put into the mouth but into the hands of the
communicant ; all ceremonies and gestures not
prescribed in the prayer-book were to cease ; people
were to communicate, not on the great feasts of
Easter or Christmas, but on Ash Wednesday and on
one of the two Sundays before Easter, Whit Sunday,
and Christmas. All altars were to be pulled down
and the altar-stones defaced, and put to some
common use. Prayers for the dead, the wearing
or the use of the rosary, the burning of candles
on the feast of the Purification, and the sign of
the Cross were alike strictly forbidden. All this
was enough to decide Cheney. Still Campion
says of him, in 1581, two years after the Bishop's
death, " a most miserable old man, evil entreated by
robbers without, who yet entered not his father's house"
It is possible that he was reconciled secretly ; in
any case he was mistrusted by the Protestants
in life and in death, for though he was buried in
Gloucester Cathedral, no monument or memorial
marked his remains.

At Douay Campion took the degree of Bachelor
of Divinity, in acts held on March the 2ist, and the
27th of November, 1572, and the 2ist of June, 1573,
and received minor orders and the sub-diaconate.

After nearly two years here, Campion felt drawn
to the Society of Jesus, and set forth in pilgrim's
garb for Rome. On the road he met an old Oxford



BLESSED EDMUND CAMPION 293

acquaintance, a Protestant, who had known him
" in great pomp and prosperity," and who remons-
trated with him on his absurd dress and mean mode
of life, as unworthy of an Englishman, and fit only
for a crazy fanatic. But Campion, says Persons,
" made such a speech of the contempt of this world,
and the eminent dignity of poverty, as greatly moved
the man and us also his acquaintance that remained
yet in Oxford when the report reached our ears."

Campion having reached Rome in the spring
of 1573, entered the Society in April, and there
being then no English Province, he was allotted to
that of Austria. After two months in Prague, he
spent one year's probation at Briinn, and then
returned to Prague to teach. His fervour in his
novitiate may be guessed from the following letters
addressed to his late companions at Briinn.

I.

" How much I love you in the bowels of Jesus
Christ, my dearest brothers, you may conclude from
this, that in spite of my daily occupations which
scarcely leave me time to breathe, I have decided
to steal time from the midst of my functions and
cares to write to you. How could I do otherwise
directly I heard of a sure messenger to Briinn ? How
could I help being set on fire at the remembrance
of that house, where there are so many burning
souls, fire in their mind, fire in their body, fire in their
words the fire which God came to send upon earth,
that it might always burn there ? O dear walls, that
once shut me up in your company ! Pleasant



294 BLESSED EDMUND CAMPION

recreation-room, where we once talked so holily !
Glorious kitchen, where the best friends . . . contend
for the saucepans in holy humility and charity
unfeigned ! How often do I picture to myself one
returning with his load from the farm, another from
the market ; one sweating stalwartly and merrily
under a sack of rubbish, another under some other
toil ! Believe me, my dearest brothers, that your
dust, your brooms, your chaff, your loads, are
regarded by angels with joy, and that through
them they obtain more for you from God than if
they saw in your hands sceptres, jewels, and purses
of gold.

" Would that I knew not what I say; but yet, as
I do know it, I will say it : in the wealth, honours,
pleasures, pomps of the world, there is nothing but
thorns and dirt. The poverty of Christ has less
pinching parsimony, less of weariness, than an
emperor's palace. But if we speak of the spiritual
food, who can doubt that one hour of this familiar
intercourse with God and with good spirits, is
better than all the years of kings and princes ?
I have been about a year in religion, in the world
thirty-five ; what a happy change, if I could say
I had been a year in the world, in religion thirty-
five ! . . . Prague, 26 February, 1575.

ii.

"Although the words of men, my dearest
brothers, ought to have much less weight and
influence with you than that Spirit who without
sound of words whispers in your ears, yet since this



BLESSED EDMUND CAMPION 295

work of love is not altogether useless or unnecessary,
your charity will cause you to receive this fraternal
letter, the witness of my love and duty, with your
usual kindness. I write not to you as though you
required the spur, for wherever you go your hearts
.are ever inflamed with all the virtues, but that I,
while I employ my time in writing to you, may spur
myself, and may enjoy the perfume of the remem-
brance of your affection, and may testify my
affection towards you. And I would that, as I speak
and you perform, so you might speak and I perform.
For I know what liberty there is in obedience,
what pleasure in labour, what sweetness in prayer,
what dignity in humility, what peace in conflict,
what nobleness in patience, what perfection in
infirmity.

" But to reduce these virtues to actual practice,
there is the rub, that is the work which you are
doing, running in glorious career what I may call
races of Heaven on earth. I, as the poet says,
will follow as I can, non passibus cequis. My dearest
brothers, our life is not long enough to thank
Christ for revealing these mysteries to us. Which
of us would have believed unless He had called him
and instructed him in this school, that such thorns,
such filth, such misery, such harrowing sorrows
were concealed in the world under the feigned
name of goods and pleasures ? Which of us would
have thought your kitchen better than a royal
palace ? your broths better than any banquet ?
your troubles than others' contentment ? your
conflicts than their quiet ? your crumbs than their



296 BLESSED EDMUND CAMPION

abundance ? your mean estate than their triumphs
and victories ? For I ask you, whether, if you
could compass what they so much desire, and
through the whole course of your life feed your
eyes on sight-seeing, and changes of scene and of
company, your eyes would be the stronger ? If you
fed your ears with news, would they be the fuller ?
If you gratified your heart's every desire, would
it be richer ? If you filled your flesh with feasting,
would it become immortal ? This is their dark
delusion, who are deceived by vanities, and know
not what a happy life means. For while they hope
and expect great things, they fancy they are making
great progress, and not one in a hundred obtains
what he dreamed, and if perchance one obtains it,
yet after he has reckoned up his accounts and made
an inventory of his load of care, the slipperiness of
fortune, his disgraceful servility, his fears, plots,
troubles, annoyances, quarrels, crimes, which must
always accompany and vex the lovers of the world,
he will doubtless find himself to be a very base and
needy slave. One sigh of yours for Heaven is better
than all their clamours for this dirt ; one conver-
sation of yours, where the angels are present, is better
than all their parties and debauched drinking-bouts,
where the devils fill the bowls. One day of yours
consecrated to God is worth more than all their life,
which they spend in luxury. My brothers, run as
you have begun ; acknowledge God's goodness to
you, and the dignity of your state. Can any pomp
of kings or emperors, any grandeur, any pleasure,
I will not say equal, but shadow forth your honour



BLESSED EDMUND CAMPION 297

and consolation ? They (I speak of the good among
them) fight under Christ their King, with their
baggage on their back ; you are eased of your
burdens, and are called with the beloved disciple to
be familiar followers of your Lord. They are admitted
to the palace, you to the presence chamber ; they to
such repast as they can find, you to the store-rooms
filled with delicious meats; they to friendship, you
to love; they to things costly and rare, but you to
the innermost recesses of the treasury. Think how
hard they are put to, they even who live as they
ought in this naughty world ; then you will more
easily see what you owe to His mercy in calling
you out of infinite dangers into His Society. How
hardly shall they follow Christ when He marches
forth in haste against His enemies, who have wives
on their bosom, children on their shoulders, lands
on their back, cares on their heads, whose feet are
bound with cords, whose spirits are well-nigh
smothered. Is not your happiness great whom the
King marshals by His side, covers with His cloak,
clothes and honours with His own livery ?

"Yet after all what great thing is it for me to leave
friends for Him, who left Heaven for me ? What
great thing for me to be a servant to my brethren,
when He washed the feet of the traitor Judas ?
What wonder if I obey my fathers, when He
honoured Pilate ? What mighty thing for me to
bear labours for Him, who bore His Cross for me ?
What disgrace if I, a sinner, bear to be rebuked,
when He in His innocency, was curst, spit upon,
scourged, wounded, and put to death ? Whenever



2g8 BLESSED EDMUND CAMPION

we look into this glass, my brothers, we see clearly
that the temptation of no pleasure, the fear of no
pain, should pluck us from the arms of such a
master. You see I have nearly filled my paper,
though I have plenty to do. It is^time to check
myself and to remit you to that Teacher, who by
His sacred influences can impress these things
more strongly on your minds than I can. Hear
Him, for He hath the words of eternal life.
20 February, 1577."

On the i8th of October, 1574, Campion, having
completed his novitiate, was sent to teach rhetoric
at the Jesuit College at Prague. He both excited
and directed the literary enthusiasm of this College
with marvellous success. For the spiritual benefit
of his students he founded, in January, 1575, the
Sodality of the Immaculate Conception. Besides
his professorship he was loaded with other offices.
In the morning he rose half an hour before the
rest ; he rang the bell to arouse them, and went
to each cell to awaken the inmate and light his
candle. After fifteen minutes he repeated his visits
to see that all were dressing ; then he rang both
for the beginning and end of prayers. After two
hours of school he went to the kitchen to wash
the dishes. Without the house "he preached
publicly," says Persons, " made exhortations in
private, taught the Christian doctrine unto children,
heard confessions, visited prisons and hospitals of
sick men, and at the death of sundry great persons
made such excellent funeral orations as astonished



BLESSED EDMUND CAMPION 299

the hearers." Though we are not to suppose that
he did all these things every day, it nevertheless
seemed a miracle that he could bear all his labours,
and yet he was never in better health.

It is interesting to turn at this point to his
discourse, De juvene Academico, 1 in which he sets
forth what he conceives to be the highest ideal of a
Catholic scholar.

This imaginary person is supposed to be born
of well-to-do Catholic parents, to have been gently
nurtured, and to have learnt his religion with his
alphabet. His mind was " subtle, hot, and clear ;
his voice flexible, sweet, and sonorous ; his walk
and all his motions lively, gentle, and subdued, and
the whole man seeming a palace fit for wisdom to
dwell in." He was taught by one of the greatest
scholars of the day, and his pronunciation specially
cared for, so that when he grew older, he easily
acquired the true terms of eloquence. The school
years were devoted to the classics, especially to
the works of Cicero in Latin for the purpose of
debate, and he acquired a knowledge of painting,
playing the lute, and singing at sight. On attaining
the age of sixteen he began to meditate on his
vocation in life, and to prepare himself for that,

1 The date of this composition is uncertain. Father Persons
ascribes it to Campion's stay in Ireland, Mr. Simpson to his residence
at Douay, and conceives it to refer to the seminarists. But it is
more probable that it was written while Campion was at Prague,
where he taught secular students, such as are described in his
speech. This speech, moreover, contains no reference to England,
or to the very peculiar circumstances of the Bouay seminarists.



300 BLESSED EDMUND CAMPION

he read philosophy, chiefly in Aristotle and Plato,
and his studies further included history, mathe-
matics, and the physical sciences, as far as they
were then known. All his reading was done in
order and moderation. He avoided alike pro-
miscuous literature and late hours, and always
allowed himself about seven hours sleep. Above
all, he never read writings of a dangerous or
immoral kind, of which Ovid's Art of Love is
given as a type. His religious exercises included
attendance at the sermons and catechisms, private
conferences with theologians, and the perusal of
contemporary Catholic authors, especially contro-
versialistic, to arm him against the dangers of the
day. He was on his guard against superstition.
With his fellow-students he was gentle and kind,
especially with those of lowly birth, and was atten-
tive and charitable to the sick.

At the age of twenty-three this ideal student
begins his course of theology proper, and here
Campion artistically ends. The academic course
might be considered as completed, and his hearers
were left to infer that this ideal school-boy and
university man would eventually develop into an
ecclesiastic who would effect wonders in the cause
of God, of the Church, and of his fellow-men.

After exhorting his auditors not to despair
because the ideal was so high, he concludes with
an ardent appeal to them to give themselves heart
and soul to the service of the Church.

" Listen to our Heavenly Father asking back



BLESSED EDMUND CAMPION 301

His talents with usury ; listen to the Church, the
mother that bore and nursed us, imploring our
help ; listen to the pitiful cries of our neighbours
in danger of spiritual starvation ; listen to the
howling of the wolves that are spoiling the flock.
The glory of your father, the preservation of your
mother, your own salvation, the safety of your
brethren are in jeopardy, and can you stand idle ?
If this house were blazing before your eyes, what
would you think of the young reprobate who sang
or grinned, or snapped his ringers, or rode cock-
horse on his cane, in the common crisis ? Behold
by the wickedness of the wicked the house of God
is devoted to the flames and to destruction, number-
less souls are being deceived, are being shaken, are
being lost ; any one of which is worth more than
the empire of the whole world. Do not, I pray you,
regard such a tragedy as a joke ; sleep not while
the enemy watches ; play not while he devours his
prey ; relax not in idleness and vanity while his
fangs are stained with your brother's blood. It is
not wealth or liberty or station, but the eternal
inheritance of each of us, the very life-blood of our
souls, our spirits, and our lives that suffer. See
then, my dear scholarly young friends, that you lose
none of this precious time, but carry a plentiful and
rich crop away from this seminary, enough to supply
the public wants, and to gain for yourselves the
reward of dutiful sons."

A word must here be said about the interior
trials from which Campion suffered at this period.



302 BLESSED EDMUND CAMPION

Father Persons tells us, that " the greatest and only
difficulty which the Fathers there had with him
for a time, was to appease his conscience about the
scruple, whereof I have spoken, touching his being
made deacon in England after the heretical fashion ;
the memory of which profane degree and schismatical
order did so much torment his mind every time
that he did think attentively of it, as it did breed in
him extreme affliction. Neither sufficed it to tell
him, which also he knew right well of himself, that
it was no order, degree, or character at all that he
had received, seeing he that gave it to him and laid
his hands upon him was no true Bishop, and
consequently had no authority to give any such
order more than a mere layman, and that it was
only an apish imitation of the true Bishops of the
Catholic Church, that which the Protestant Bishops
did use for a show to the people, as though they
had holy and ecclesiastical orders among them ;
but indeed themselves did not so esteem thereof that
any character was given as in Catholic ordinations
by imposition of hands, for that amongst them a
man be a priest or minister for a time and then a
soldier or craftsman again, and that the Puritans
or newer Calvinists did deny flatly all spiritual
authority of Bishops. And therefore, albeit the sin
was great for a Catholic man, especially such as
Mr. Campion then was, to take any ordination at
the hands of any such heretical, schismatical, or
excommunicated persons ; yet was he to believe
that that sin was now fully forgiven by his hearty
repentance and turning to Almighty God, and by



BLESSED EDMUND CAMPION 303.

his satisfaction already done for the same ; and
therefore that he should trouble himself no more
with the memory thereof, but rather put it wholly
out of his mind and cheerfully proceed in the service
of God which he had taken in hand.

"This, I say, and divers other such-like points
were often inculcated to him by these learned men
there, and especially by his ghostly fathers ; which
though for a time did greatly comfort him, yet
every now and then the remembrance of this mark
of the English beast, as afterwards he was wont
to tell us, did make him sad and melancholy. And
he could never wholly be delivered of this inward
grief until the absolute order and commandment
of his General came from Rome to trouble himself
no more about that scruple, and until he was made
both deacon and priest by the Archbishop of
Prague, after the rite of the Catholic Church, for
by the receiving of this true character, the other
imagination was wholly blotted out and put in
oblivion.

" So then after this he lived in very great quiet
and contentment of mind all the time he abode in
that country, which was for the space of eight years r
in which time he applied himself to the labours
and functions of his religion with such exceeding
charity and zeal and perfect obedience, as I have
heard some of the Fathers say who lived there with
him, that albeit he was ever fully occupied and
many times with divers charges and functions at
once, as reading, preaching, and the like, yet it was
never known that he so much as propounded any



3 o 4 BLESSED EDMUND CAMPION

other difficulty to his Superior when he laid any
new labour upon him but only this : ' Doth your
Reverence think I am sufficient to discharge that
office together with the other which I had before? '
And if the Superior said yes, he took the same
upon him without further reply, persuading himself
to hear God's voice by the voice of his Superior ;
and if God did lay this charge upon him, He would
give him strength also, and ability to perform it.
This was his manner of proceeding then, and ever
after, and namely in the great affair of his journey
to England, as he told to his General, and to us
too, when he returned to Rome ; and protesteth the
same in his epistle to the Council of England,
whereof we shall speak after, and therefore no
marvel if Christ his Master prospered him so well
and brought him to so happy an end, seeing that
in all his actions he cast himself so confidently
upon His holy providence."

Whilst at Prague, Campion had several oppor-
tunities of helping or encouraging his own country-
men. He had interviews with Sir Philip Sidney,
the son of his former protector in Ireland, who,
though only twenty-one years of age, had been sent
to Bohemia on a diplomatic mission. After much
argument Sidney professed himself convinced of the
truth of the Faith, but said he must remain as he
was, though he promised never to injure Catholics.

Later on, in 1577, Campion wrote to Gregory
Martin to encourage him, at the time when the
English College at Douay was in great danger of



BLESSED EDMUND CAMPION 305

being suppressed by the machinations of the English
and Dutch heretics. It was (in great measure) to
guard against this danger that the English College
at Rome was first opened, and Martin was sent
there to look after the students. Campion cheered
him with the following affectionate letter :

" Such accusations as those wherewith you
accuse me, trouble me not, for they coax out of you
a letter full of endearing complaints, and let me see,
to my joy, how lovingly you look for my reply. It
may perhaps be stale to excuse myself on the
plea of business, but I do, and ever will steal time
enough for the religious rites of our friendship,
which is always in my heart. I lately sent a parcel
to you at Douay : in it there was a long letter to
you ; and because you did not receive it, you wrangle
with me about the postmen. But don't irritate
me, though you are tall and I short.

" Your next sentence gives me sad news, which
nips my jokes in the bud. Are there indeed such
troubles in Flanders? Has the peril reached to
the English College? How far? Are they to be
driven out ? Let them be driven anywhere but into
their own country. What is it to us, to whom
England is imprisonment, the rest of the world
transportation ! Be of good cheer ; this storm will
drive you into smooth water.

" Make the most of Rome. Do you see the dead

corpse of that Imperial City ? What in this life

can be glorious, if such wealth, such beauty, has

come to nothing ? But what men have stood firm

u n.



306 BLESSED EDMUND CAMPION

in these miserable changes, what things ? The
relics of the saints and the chair of the Fisherman.
What a work of Providence ! Why is Heaven
neglected for worldly glory, when we see with our
own eyes that not even on earth have the rulers
of earth been able to preserve these monuments of
their vanity, these trophies of their folly ! What
will this smoke seem in the ether of Heaven, when
it so soon blows away in the atmosphere of earth ?
How will angels laugh when even men mock ?

"But 7\aO/ca? eh 'AOijvas. It is 'carrying
coals to Newcastle ' to write such things to you.
For your whole letter breathes a noble spirit ; your
story, your hopes, and your requests set me in a
blaze at all points. Nor is this the first time ; all
your letters show with what prudence, with what
Christian love, you love me, when you so heartily
congratulate me on the state of life which I have
embraced, though it places so strong a barrier to
our union. This is real friendship. I remember
too how earnestly you called me from Ireland to
Douay, how you admonished me, and how effective
were your words. . . . What you foretold is fulfilled.
I live in affluence, and yet I have nothing; and I
would not exchange the hardships of my Institute for
the realm of England. If our tears are worth all
this, what are our consolations worth ? And they are
quite numberless and above all measure. So, as you
rejoice with me, you may go on rejoicing, for what I
have found is indeed most joyful. As for your praises,
I pray you, my dear Father, to commend my soul to
God in your Sacrifices that it may become less



BLESSED EDMUND CAMPION 307

unworthy of your praise. This is the sum since
for so many years we had in common our college,
our meals, our studies, our opinions, our fortune,
our degrees, our tutors, our friends and our enemies,
let us for the rest of our lives make a more close and
binding union, that we may have the fruit of our
friendship in Heaven. There also I will, if I can,
sit at your feet."

Campion had long cherished the hope of