Saint John Henry Newman was an English theologian and a leader of the Oxford Movement. The movement encouraged the Church of England (Anglican Church) to restore many Catholic doctrines and liturgical practices that were abandoned during the English Protestant Reformation. Newman, an Anglican, converted to the Catholic faith at age 44, and subsequently became a priest and a cardinal. He is known for his work as a religious leader and a rector of the Catholic University of Ireland.
Newman was born on February 21, 1801, in London. His father was John Newman, a banker, and his mother was Jemmia, of Huguenot (French Protestant) ancestry.
John Newman experienced a conversion of the heart at the age of 15. He later said about the experience, that it was "more certain than that I have hands or feet." By 1816, Newman became a staunch Calvinist, opposed to Roman Catholicism and the Pope.
In 1824, Newman became an Anglican deacon at Christ Church Cathedral in Oxford. He became a priest in 1825. Newman spent his time writing, teaching, and became vice-principal of St. Alban Hall at Merton College for one year. He became vicar of St. Mary's University Church in 1828.
Newman encountered a series of personal troubles by 1828 and that accelerated his departure from the Evangelical Anglican tradition. He had already become sceptical of the Evangelical emphasis on personal feelings and "sola fide," the idea that faith alone leads to salvation. He felt the doctrine introduced a dangerous form of individualism to Christianity which would lead to subjectivism and scepticism. On the contrary, Newman was attracted by the Catholic idea of revealed truth and the magisterium, the teaching office, of the Church.
Newman's sister, Mary died at the age of 18 in 1828. Her passing led him to start reading about the Church fathers, a decision that would prove influential in his eventual conversion to Catholicism. He had retreated from the Evangelical tradition by leaving the Bible Society. By 1832, a conflict with a colleague led to his resignation as a tutor at Oxford.
In 1832 Newman had visited Rome and met Nicholas Wiseman, a Catholic priest whose work would influence the Oxford Movement.
Newman returned to England in July of 1833. Days after his return, the noted theologian John Keble preached his now-famous sermon, "National Apostasy." The sermon was later regarded by Newman as the beginning of the Oxford Movement.
In 1839, Newman read an article by Nicholas Wiseman called "The Anglican Claim," which quoted St. Augustine of Hippo. St. Augustine's words, he said, "struck me with a power which I never felt from any words before." This was the final inspiration Newman needed to depart the Anglican tradition for the Catholic, although it would still be six years before he would actually convert to the Catholic faith.
Newman retreated to live in monastic conditions in 1842, in a group of cottages in Littermore, Oxfordshire. He was joined by several followers. In early 1843, Newman published an anonymous advertisement in the "Oxford Conservative Journal" in which he retracted his previous criticisms of Roman Catholicism.
Finally, in 1845, Newman was accepted into the Roman Catholic Church. His conversion was difficult for many who knew him. Many of Newman's friends and family deserted him, and the members of the Oxford Movement became divided.
A year later, in February 1846, Newman travelled to Rome where he was ordained a priest in the Catholic Church and was awarded the degree of Doctor of Divinity by Pope Pius IX.
Anti-Catholicism in England became popular once again as Pope Pius IX restored the Church there by issuing the Papal bull "Universalis Ecclesiae" and creating new Episcopal sees. The now-Cardinal Nicholas Wisemann was appointed as the first Archbishop of Westminster. On October 7 or 1850, Pope Pius announced the restoration of the Catholic hierarchy in England. The public response was sometimes hostile, with Catholic priests being attacked in the streets and churches vandalized.
Newman's response to the attacks was to encourage Catholic laity to organize and speak up in their own defence and in defence of the Church. He also wrote and delivered a series of nine public lectures on Protestantism and Catholicism. The lectures galvanized Catholics, but also inflamed Protestants, some of whom criticized Newman in their various works.
In 1854, at the request of the bishops of Ireland, Newman travelled to Dublin and became rector of the newly established Catholic University of Ireland.
By the 1860s, Newman started to write autobiographical works and letters to explain and justify his theological convictions and life to others. His ideas were summarized in the line, "Here are but two alternatives, the way to Rome, and the way to Atheism."
In 1879, Pope, Leo XIII made Newman a cardinal, despite the fact he had not served as a bishop or in Rome. As Cardinal, Newman's motto was "Heart speaks to heart."
Cardinal Newman's health began to fail in 1886, and he returned to Birmingham where he would spend the last years of his life. He celebrated his final Mass on Christmas Day in 1889, and on August 11, 1890, he died of pneumonia in Birmingham.
Newman's theological contributions were tremendous, especially for Catholics and Anglicans who sought to become Catholics in England. In honor of his influence, several Newman Societies have been established at colleges in England and the United States, where young Catholics can meet and engage with their faith while at school.
Newman was also a literary figure: his major writings include the Tracts for the Times, his autobiography Apologia Pro Vita Sua , the Grammar of Assent, and the poem The Dream of Gerontius which was set to music in 1900 by Edward Elgar. He wrote the popular hymns "Lead, Kindly Light", "Firmly I believe, and truly", and "Praise to the Holiest in the Height" (the latter two taken from Gerontius).
In 1991, Pope John Paul II declared Newman venerable. Pope Benedict beatified him on September 19, 2010, and Pope Francis canonized Saint John Henry Newman on October 13, 2019.
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