ABSTRACT
Edmund Campion, one of the first Jesuits sent to England, was executed on 1 December 1581. This event might have precipitated a public relations disaster for his religious order and a calamity for their English mission. His contemporaries, including his religious superior, recognized Campion's return to England as a risk for him personally, for his order and for the recusant population. For example, Campion's death would have confirmed the fears of Everard Mercurian, the recently deceased Jesuit Superior General, who had one year earlier allowed Campion to return home. Campion's influence in death is subsequently taken up by Robert Persons. He reports to Aquaviva how "a good many related to me with how fearless and glad a countenance Fr. Edmund and the others endured that ignominy". Persons measures Campion's effect on recusants, especially candidates for the priesthood.
