Campion's Ambrosia in the Context of a Jesuit English Mission

Campion's play was in all probability written before he himself could have known about his impending journey on the English mission. Every year on 1 December, the anniversary of Rafe Sherwin's execution, the members of the Venerable English College gather around the altar under the martyr's picture to celebrate Martyrs' Day. Campion's ambrosia forms part of an emerging Jesuit, post-tradentine and counter-reformation, affirmation of the legitimate power of sacred images.