The knights of St. Columba have an annual pilgrimage beginning at St. John Bosco Church and finishing at Tyburn. During Mass, a sacred relic of the Elizabethan martyr St Edmund Campion is displayed at St John Bosco church, at the start of the two-month pilgrimage. The relic - a small fragment of bone - is then carried from Woodley to the Chapel at Stonor Park near Henley, where the saint was sheltered during his last months of freedom, and where another Mass is celebrated. Mirroring the pattern of Campion's own life of flight and refuge during the 16th century persecutions, the relic is then carried to rest overnight at several churches in Berkshire, London and surrounds, being venerated in particular at Lyford Grange, where he was arrested. The pilgrimage ends with a final Mass in Tyburn Convent, Marble Arch, near the site where Campion was put to death in 1581.

St Edmund Campion was one of the most brilliant and popular scholars of his day. When at Oxford, he was chosen by the University as a precociously young orator to welcome Queen Elizabeth on her 1566 visit to the city. Although subsequently ordained an Anglican deacon, he was however openly uncertain as to the direction of his faith, and his conversion to the Roman Catholic church finally took place at the English College in Douai in 1573. After joining the Society of Jesus as a priest, and a period of preparation in Rome and Prague, he returned to England in disguise and with a mission to "cry alarm spiritual against foul vice and proud ignorance wherewith many of my dear countrymen are abused."

Campion's eloquence, learning, attractive personality, courage and daring gave new heart to the dispirited English Catholics. And, though famously elusive, his preaching and his inflammatory anti-Protestant pamphlets eventually attracted an attention which the Government could no longer ignore. Throughout his persecution and capture, Queen Elizabeth retained the respect which had first captivated her at Oxford and mourned the loss of his potential. As a result, every effort was made to use theological debate to encourage him to conforn. At his trial for treason however, though he demolished the evidence and discredited the witnesses, his fate was sealed. Torture failed to exact a change of stance, and, on 1 December 1581, Campion was hanged, drawn and quartered at Tyburn. In 1970, he was canonised by Pope Paul VI, as one of the 40 Martyrs of England and Wales.

Our photograph shows the relic of St Edmund Campion on the altar of St. John Bosco. Featured with Fr Chris Whelan, Parish Priest, are Tony O'Neill and Gerard Cashman of the Knights of St. Columba, who guard the relic on its journey to Tyburn.

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