St Edmund Campion's "Brag"

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ampion’s "Brag” is the nickname later given—somewhat mockingly by his enemies—to Edmund Campion’s written apologia, originally titled “Challenge to the Privy Council.” It is one of the earliest English-language defenses of the Catholic faith during the English Reformation. Written in 1580 shortly before his arrest, it sets forth Campion’s mission, intentions, and principles.

Campion knew he was being hunted as a Jesuit missionary in Elizabethan England. The Brag was meant to declare his purpose before the Crown could twist it.

Today we remember the extraordinary courage of St Edmund Campion, a Jesuit who walked into certain danger—not for power, not for politics, but for the Gospel. In his famous Brag, written before he was arrested, he said simply and clearly: “I am a priest of the Catholic Church… sent for the glory of God and the benefit of souls.”

Campion knew that returning to England might cost him his life. And yet he went, because the love of Christ compelled him. He wanted only to preach, to reconcile sinners, to strengthen the weak, and to announce the truth—no matter the risk. He reminded the Queen’s council that he was no rebel, no conspirator. He came only with the sacraments, with the Word of God, and with a heart ready to serve.

What moved Campion was not bravado but love. His “brag” was really a confession of faith:

that Christ is worth living for, and worth dying for;

that truth does not need violence to defend it;

that grace is stronger than fear.

Near the end of his letter he wrote words that reveal the depth of his trust in God: “The expense is reckoned; the enterprise is begun; it is of God; it cannot be withstood.” He knew that even if his body were broken, the mission of Christ would continue. And it did.

Though Campion wrote this expecting death, his so-called “brag” was not born of bitterness or pride but of a quiet, unshakable confidence in the faith he proclaimed.

In Point ix, Campion entrusts everything—his case, his life, his enemies—to God. If he is tortured and executed, he prays that he and his persecutors will be friends in heaven.

This is heroic Christian charity.

My friends, Campion’s witness raises a question for us: What would I be willing to risk for the Gospel? Do I live my faith only when it is convenient, or am I ready to stand for Christ even when it costs something?

May his courage inspire ours. May his love for Christ deepen our own. And may we, like him, entrust everything to the God who strengthens His servants and who never abandons those who place their lives in His hands. Amen. Fr JM Manzano SJ