Campion Hall

Campion Hall was originally established by the Jesuit order for its younger members to gain an Oxford degree which would qualify them to teach arts and science subjects in the more than fifteen boarding and grammar schools the Jesuit then had in Britain and its mission territories in British Guiana, Rhodesia and South Africa. Later, as recruits for... the Jesuit Order began to decline, as with other Catholic religious orders following the Second Vatican Council, and as many Jesuit schools closed or their Jesuit teaching staffs were replaced by lay men and women, the focus of Campion Hall shifted. Having concentrated earlier on taking in cohorts of mainly British Jesuit undergraduate students, it became more of an international Jesuit centre preparing a selection of Jesuit graduate students from all over the world, plus a few other male graduate students, to be awarded Oxford higher degrees in various fields of study. The relationship between Oxford University and the Jesuit Order is thus an interesting one as it has developed over the years since 1895, quite apart from the close connection between various individual Jesuits and the university, notably Campion and Persons in earlier times. Until recently, all Masters of Private Halls had to be Oxford graduates, like the founder, Clarke, so the University connection with individual Jesuits was automatic; but in addition other celebrated Jesuits, or future celebrated Jesuits, have been connected with the University since Campion himself. In more modern times one thinks of Gerard Manley Hopkins, Cyril C. Martindale, Thomas Corbishley and Frederick C. Copleston, not to mention current members of the Hall's Senior Common Room. In addition, it is possible to view Campion Hall as increasingly the focal point of a creative interaction between the two international institutions of Oxford University and the Society of Jesus. The University, with its motto "The Lord enlightens me"; and the Society of Jesus, with its commitment to the intellectual apostolate in pursuit of ...Read More