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THE CAPUCHIN MISSION TO ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND 225 It was now that Nugent presented his ambitious proposal to the ·Capuchin superiors in Rome - he asked that a special unit of organization be established comprising three continental friaries to serve Missions in England, Scotland and Ireland 51 • Probably even Nugent was surprised when the Capuchin Congregation for the Missions accepted the proposal in principle and submitted it for further consideration to a special commission 52 • This is a moment in Capuchin history when we can see Nugent tense with anxiety, waiting for the result. He was a man who would pray fervently for a favourable decision, but who would also leave no human means unexplored to influence the result. It was a magnificent opportunity though fenced around with thorny difficulties. With a director of Nugent's organizing ability and practical genius there was a strong likelihood the scheme would become a reality. The one thing necessary was the consent of the Capuchin superiors. This was refused. Nugent was disappointed but not surprised when the commission severely pared down his demands. A series of decrees was issued giving the colour of reality to the Irish Mission, but a discreet silence was preserved about the Mission to England and Scotland 53 • Meanwhile the tenuous Capuchin connection with England and Scotland was being strained to snapping point. During the year 1618 Father Angelus was recognised as a Catholic priest and imprisoned in London 54 • He remained behind bars until the death of James I in 1625. The courageous John Chrysostom Campbell had landed in Scotland with two Jesuits on 11 November 1613 55 • Two years later he was made vividly aware of his precarious existence on hearing of the capture and execution of Father John Ogilvie, one of the two Jesuits 56 • Campbell managed to evade capture for a further four years until a priest-hunter, George Fortune, got on his track. The Capuchin was taken near Berwick late in 1619 57 • He found himself in familiar surroundings when the Lieutenant of the Tower of London received 51 O'CONNELL, Hist.Miss., 200-201, 314-315. s2 MARTIN, Nugent, 186. 53 Ibid.; printed ibid., 315. 64 CYPIHEN DE GAMACHES, Memoires de la Mission des Capucins de la province de Paris pres la reine d'Angleterre depuis l'annee 1630 jusqu'a 1669, ed. Apollinaire de Valence, Paris 1881, 363. Cyprien de Gamaches, O.F.M.Cap. (t 1679), went to London with the French Cap– uchins in 1630, and worked there for thirty years (see Lex.Cap., 487). 55 W. FoRnEs-Lmnr, Narratives of Scottish Catholics under Mary Stuart and James I, Edinburgh 1885, 297. 50 Ibid., 309-314. 57 Acts of the Privy Council, 1619-1621, London 1930, 64.