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THE CAPUCHIN MISSION TO ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND 217 guardian, definitor, and professor in the Paris province show that as a practical administrator and an intellectual he was ranked higher than the other English-speaking Capuchins, and therefore that his opinion would carry more weight. In addition, Nugent preferred, as we shall see, to present a case for a combined Mission to England, Scotland, and Ireland, rather than to select Ireland for special mention. The mills of God grind slowly at Rome, but it was not too sanguine to expect that by the following year permission would come from the Capuchin authorities for a Mission to the British Isles. It is noticeable that in the year 1605 there was a concentration at Paris of a group of Capuchins, men with a personal interest in such a Mission. The guardian of the friary of Saint-Honore was Archangel of Pembroke, Nugent was professor of theology, Friar Joseph was pro– fessor of philosophy, an Irishman, Patrick Bath, was professor of logic, and Benet of Canfield was a spiritual magnet for the pious souls of the city 20 • The desire of these Capuchins was to go unrewarded. The petition from Pere Ange produced no concrete results at Rome. This can be explained in great measure by the shattering blows which fell on English Catholics after the Gunpowder Plot of November 1605. Nevertheless, if Pere Ange, the leading member of one of the most powerful families in France, had had the welfare of English Catholics close at heart he would have pursued his object once a lull came after the anti-Catholic storm. The formidable task of whipping up interest in a Capuchin Mission to the British Isles fell to Francis Nugent. The courageous activity of John Chrysostom Campbell in England and Scotland afforded him the occasion and the excuse he needed. Benet of Canfield and John Chrysostom Campbell, as we have seen, had been the first two Capuchins to attempt missionary work in England 21 • Detention for seven months in the Tower of London and the Marshalsea, followed by expulsion from the kingdom in March 1600, did not damp Campbell's ardour. He believed his vocation lay in an active missionary life in England and Scotland just as much as Benet of Canfield's genius found expression as a spiritual director at Paris. Campbell returned to England about the year 1606, fortified with missionary faculties granted by Charles cardinal de Lorraine in his capacity as apostolic legate. Within a short time the Capuchin was arrested north of the Scottish border and found himself once 20 MARTIN, Nugent, 84. 2t Some authors suppose that Constantine Morgan of England, another Capuchin, made an unsuccessful missionary attempt in England during the pontificate of Gregory XIII (1572-85) - v.g. GoDEFROY DE PARIS, Les freres-mineurs capucins en France I, fasc. 2, 140-141. There appears no solid evidence for the belief that he actually worked in England as a Capuchin,. though he had done so previously as a secular priest.