Campion, Edward, Bl.
CAMPION, EDWARD, BL.
Priest martyr; vere Edwards; b. 1552, Ludlow, Shropshire, England; hanged, drawn, and quartered at Canterbury, Oct. 1, 1588. Born into a good family, possibly a Protestant one, Campion studied for two years at Jesus College, Oxford. Thereafter he was in the service of Gregory, tenth Lord Dacre of the South. Having converted to Catholicism, he studied for the priesthood at Rheims (1586–87), where he adopted the surname Campion and was ordained for service in the Diocese of Canterbury. He was arrested at Sittingbourne within months of his arrival, imprisoned at Newgate and the Marshalsea with BB. Robert wilcox, Christopher buxton, and Robert widmerpool, and executed for being a priest. He was beatified by Pius XI on Dec. 15, 1929.
Feast of the English Martyrs: May 4 (England).
See Also: england, scotland, and wales, martyrs of.
Bibliography: r. challoner, Memoirs of Missionary Priests, ed. j. h. pollen (rev. ed. London 1924; repr. Farnborough 1969), I, 61–63. h. foley, Records of the English Province of the Society of Jesus, (London 1877–82), I, 478, 481. j. morris, ed., The Troubles of Our Catholic Forefathers Related by Themselves, 3 v. (London 1872–77), III, 39. j. h. pollen, Acts of English Martyrs (London 1891), 327.
[k. i. rabenstein]