December 8, 2019 - "Saints Canonized by Pope Francis continued"

Today in my column I am presenting the last in the series of biographies of Saints canonized by Pope Francis on October 13, 2019.  These were in the English edition of L’Osservatore Romano on October 18, 2019.  This week we are looking at Saint John Henry Newman.
 
John Henry Newman was born in London on February 21, 1801.  His family were members of the Church of England but without a strong religious commitment.  From an early age, John Henry loved the Bible and enjoyed reading it.  In 1808 he was enrolled at Ealing College and it was there at age 15 that he underwent a profound religious conversion to what can fairly be described as evangelical Christianity with a strong anti-Catholic bias.
 
In 1817 at the age of 16 he entered Trinity College, Oxford, as an undergraduate.  Five years later he was elected to a Fellowship at Oriel College.  Thereafter, he was ordained to the Anglican clergy and worked first as curate (associate pastor) in the Oxford parish of Saint Clement’s and later became Vicar (pastor) of the Oxford university church of Saint Mary the Virgin.  There he had substantial spiritual influence on parishioners and members of the university, especially through his preaching.
 
When studying the history of the early Church Fathers, Newman was dismayed to discover that the doctrinal position of the Anglican Church in his own day bore a close resemblance to some of the heretical currents that had emerged in the theological controversies of the early centuries.  He was even further troubled several years later when a number of Anglican bishops and scholars denounced some of his own writings.  He began to question his membership in the Church of England and his leadership in the Oxford Movement.
 
He withdrew from Oxford in order to think and pray.  Together with a few companions, he moved to modest lodging in the village of Littlemore just outside of Oxford.  He lived there for three years, praying for guidance.  By 1845 his mind was clear, and on October 9, 1845 he was received into the Roman Catholic Church by Father (now Blessed) Dominic Barberi.
 
Newman went to Rome to study for the Catholic priesthood and to discern his future.  He was attracted to the Oratory of Saint Philip Neri, a Congregation of priests and brothers that the 16 ^th-century Saint had founded in Rome.  Father Newman became an Oratorian and in 1848 he established the first English Oratory at Maryvale near Birmingham, moving thereafter to Alcester Street near the town center, where he converted a defunct gin distillery into a chapel.  Three years later the new Oratorian community moved to its present home in Edgbaston.
 
When Newman returned to England his life was not easy.  He faced many misunderstandings, at times was the object of resentment, and was even accused of doctrinal unorthodoxy.  In his old age he continued to live quietly in the Birmingham Oratory which he had founded, devoting his time to preaching, writing, and spiritual direction.  In 1879, when Newman was 78, Pope Leo XIII created him a Cardinal in the Holy Roman Church. He had endured many personal sleights and had been the object of rash judgments during the years following his conversion. 

Thus, the news that he was to become a Cardinal came as a definitive vindication of his orthodoxy and loyalty to the Catholic Church, and he declared that ‘the cloud is lifted forever.’  He died of pneumonia in the Birmingham Oratory on August 11, 1890.
 
On January 22, 1991, John Henry Newman was proclaimed “Venerable” in a decree by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints under Pope John Paul II. On September 19, 2010, Pope Benedict XVI beatified him at Cofton Park in Birmingham.
 
In the same issue of L’Osservatore Romano, His Royal Highness, the Prince of Wales, authored an appreciation of our newly canonized saint, “John Henry Newman:  The Harmony of Difference.”  Prince Charles ends his remarks with these two paragraphs that sum up this great man of the cloth:
 
“As we mark the life of this great Briton, this great churchman and, as we can now say, this great saint, who bridges the divisions between traditions, it is surely right that we give thanks for the friendship which, despite the parting, has not merely endured, but has strengthened.
 
“In the image of divine harmony which Newman expressed so eloquently, we can see how, ultimately, as we follow with sincerity and courage the different paths to which conscience calls us, all our divisions can lead to a greater understanding and all our ways can find a common home.”
 
Until next week,
Fr. John