Living Catholicism: BOOK REVIEW: Edmund Campion by Evelyn Waugh

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February 22, 2006

BOOK REVIEW: Edmund Campion by Evelyn Waugh

My wife gave me Edmund Campion for Valentines Day (I’ve wanted it for a while) and I just finished this short biography of St. Edmund Campion.

In our time, religion has taken on some similarities to religion in pre-reformation England: general apathy, lack of seriousness, etc. And this book follows a man who grew up as the Reformation racked England and was martyred for it. It is a fascinating look not just at a great Catholic Saint, but also at a difficult time period in history.

St. Edmund Campion had everything going for him in graduate school except for his tendency towards Catholicism. As he grew more “Catholic” in his thought he was forced to flee England. Eventually he became a priest and joined the Jesuit order, where he was sent back to England.

Campion had to sneak back into the country because of the ever tightening noose around Catholicism. While there he ministered to underground Catholics, wrote his Brag and his 10 Reasons, which outlines why the Catholic Church was correct. Eventually he was caught and, in a sham trial, convicted of treason and horribly executed. His witness, both before and during the trial, was amazing. Just going back to England was a profound example of courage.

Evelyn Waugh is a great writer, obviously, and he does a wonderful job not only sketching out this holy priest, but also explaining the reality of the times. One passage stuck with me:

The faith of the people among whom [Campion] was now placed was no fad or sentiment to be wistfully disclosed over the wine at high table, no dry, logical necessity to be expounded in the schools; it was what gave them daily life, their entire love and hope, for which they had abandoned all smaller loyalties and affections; all that most men found desirable, home, possessions, good fame, increase, security in the world, children to keep fresh their memory after they were dead.

I could quote half the book, since it was all exceptionally well done. Much more than a simple biography, this book sets the table that we are feeding off of now in the post-reformation shattered world of Christianity. It provides great insight into how we got to where we are – and a few of the holy priests who tried to save England.

I enjoyed this much more than Brideshead Revisited (not that I didn’t enjoy that book). If you get a chance, take a shot – particularly if you haven’t read Waugh before. Order it from Amazon here.

God bless,
Jay

Posted by jay at February 22, 2006 09:53 PM