Edmund was born at London in England. He was the son of a Catholic bookseller who was converted and became an Anglican. When he grew up he planned to join his father in business but received a scholarship to Saint John's College in Oxford.

He was a very popular young English student and a very good speaker. In fact, Edmund was chosen to deliver a welcoming speech to Queen Elizabeth when she visited his college. Some students were very attracted by his happy nature and his many talents and made him their leader.

Even the queen and her chief ministers were fond of this handsome young man. The Queen wanted to make him a Deacon in the Church of England.

But Edmund was troubled about his religion, as he believed that the Catholic Church might be the only true Church. He did not hide his feelings, and the government, which was persecuting Catholics, became very distrustful of him.

Edmund knew that he would lose the queen's favor and all his chances of a great future if he chose to become a Catholic. The young man prayed about it and decided to become a Catholic anyway.

After he had escaped from England, Edmund studied to become a priest. He entered the Society of Jesus. When the Holy Father decided to send some Jesuits to England, Father Campion was one of the first to go.

The night before he left, one of the other Jesuit priests wrote over his doorway: "Father Edmund Campion, martyr." Although he knew what danger faced him, the holy priest set out cheerfully. In fact, he had many a laugh because of his disguise as a jewel merchant.

In England he preached with great success to Catholics who had to meet with him in secret. Spies of the queen's men were everywhere trying to catch him. He wrote: "I won't escape their hands much longer. Sometimes I read letters that say 'Campion has been caught'!"

It was a traitor who finally had Edmund captured. The government officials who had been so fond of him visited Edmund in jail. Even Queen Elizabeth came.

But none of their threats or promises could make him give up the Catholic faith. Although they made him suffer, he still defended himself and his fellow priests so well that no one could answer him. But the enemies of the Church condemned him to death anyway.

Before he was put to death, St. Edmund forgave the man who had betrayed him. He even helped save the man's life. He was tortured in the Tower of London, then hanged, drawn and quartered.

Parts of his body were displayed as a warning to other Catholics at each of the four city gates. St. Edmund Campion died in 1581.

St. Francis Xavier was born at Xavier Castle in Spain in 1506. He went to the University of Paris when he was eighteen, where he studied and taught Philosophy. Here he met St. Ignatius Loyola, who was about to start the Society of Jesus.

St. Ignatius tried to get Francis to join him and at first the happy-go-lucky young man just laughed. St. Ignatius repeated to him the words of Jesus in the Gospel: "What does it profit a person to gain the whole world and lose his own soul?" At last, Francis saw clearly that he could use his talents to bring people to God and agreed to join the Jesuits.

When Francis was thirty-four, St. Ignatius sent him as a missionary to the East Indies. The king of Portugal wanted to give him presents to take along and a servant.

Francis refused his kind offer and explained: "The best way to acquire true dignity is to wash one's own clothes and boil one's own pot."

During his travels as a missionary in Goa, India, Japan and other lands of the east, St. Francis made thousands of converts. In fact, he baptized so many people that he became too weak to raise his arms.

Francis' love for Jesus was so strong that he could not rest at the thought of so many people who had never heard the Gospel. He found that there were so many villages where there were Christians but no priest to say Mass or teach them their prayers and the Commandments of God's Law.

When he landed at Goa in India, he would go down the streets ringing a little bell and inviting the children to hear the word of God. Then he would take them to a nearby Church and teach them Catechism and prayers. He made little lay apostles of them and invited them to spread the faith they had learned.

There was nothing St. Francis wouldn't do to help people. Once he faced a fierce band of raiders, alone, with no weapon but his crucifix. They backed up and did not attack his Christian tribes. The saint also brought many bad-living Christians to repentance. His only "tools" were his gentle, polite ways and his prayers.

During his painful journeys and hard work, the saint was full of a special joy that came from God. St. Francis longed to get into China, into which no foreigner was permitted.

At last, the arrangements were made, but he fell ill. He died almost alone in 1552 on an island off the Chinese coast when he was just forty-six-years-old. Today his body is preserved in a church in Goa.