Edmund Campion, a brilliant scholar and orator, a deacon in the Church of England, a true subject of Queen Elizabeth I, was torn by conscience: though professing Protestantism, his heart was Catholic. At last he declared himself and went to Rome for training as a Jesuit.

After ordination he undertook a mission to England, though this meant prison or torture if he were caught, which he was. He was hung as a traitor in 1581. Five years later, for his purity and true zeal, he was beatified by Leo XII.