Blessed John Henry Newman
St John Henry Newman
His best known prayer (more below)
May God support us all the day long
till the shadows lengthen
and the evening comes
and the busy world is hushed
and the fever of life is over
and our work is done –
then in mercy –
may God give us a safe lodging
and a holy rest
and peace at the last.
Newman's Life
Blessed John Henry Newman went to Trinity College, Oxford University in June 1817 when aged 16. He didn’t care for the undergraduates’ life of drinking. In his final exams he broke down & achieved a poor degree, not the success expected of him. Wanting to remain at Oxford he took in private pupils. He was elected to Oriel College in 1822, where he was described as one of the acutest, cleverest & deepest men. Ordained as an Anglican priest in 1825 he became curate at St Clement’s, Oxford & vicar of St Mary’s in 1827. In 1832 he visited Europe, including Rome, which he said was the most wonderful place on earth. While abroad he became seriously ill, but recovered, convinced God still had work for him to do in England. This was when he wrote the hymn Lead, kindly light.
In 1833 Newman & group of Oxford professors & priests sought to realign the Church of England with rites & teachings of the Catholic Church, which had been discarded at the Reformation. This reform became known as the Oxford Movement. The group studied intensely teachings of the early Fathers of the Church. Undeniable doctrines emerged, which showed the Church had an authority in its own right. The group produced written essays in pamphlets & newspapers called Tracts. The group came to be called Tractarians. They were not always well received by the Anglican establishment. Gradually, Newman & some of his colleagues experienced disquiet & intense doubts. Newman, himself, knew what he had to do.
In September 1843 he resigned from St Mary’s, Oxford, where he had preached his last sermon as an Anglican. A sermon entitled The Parting of Friends. He withdrew to a church house at Littlemore, where for 2 yrs he lived a semi monastic life with a few like-minded colleagues. The Italian Passionist, Fr Dominic Barberi arrived at Newman’s house at Littlemore on his way to Belgium on 9 October 1845. He’d travelled for 12 hrs on the outside of a stagecoach in driving rain & was saturated. As he tried to dry himself in front of the fire Newman entered the room, knelt at his feet & asked to be received into the Catholic Church. Newman knew he was in the presence of a holy person. His conversion sent shock waves through the Church of England establishment. As is so often the case with such conversions, many relationships with family & friends were broken.
In February 1846 Newman left Oxford for Oscott College, where Nicholas Wiseman, Vicar Apostolic of the Midland District, resided. We’re told of an embarrassing silent meeting between Wiseman & Newman. Wiseman Confirmed Newman at Oscott. In October he went to Rome where he was ordained & at the end of 1847 returned as an Oratorian, with permission to found an Oratorian house, which he did at Maryvale. In 1848 the Oratorians, with Newman as their superior & including Fr Frederick Faber, moved to St Wilfrid’s, Cotton (from where our west wall lancet windows come). In 1850 Newman settled his community in a disused gin factory in Digbeth. At the same time, Faber became the superior of the London Brompton Oratory. In September that year Pope Pius IX re-established the hierarchy in England. Wiseman became the 1st Archbishop of Westminster. At the 1st Synod of Westminster held at Oscott in 1852, Newman preached his famous sermon, The Second Spring. The restoration of the hierarchy prompted much anti-Catholic reaction, priests & churches were attacked.
In 1851 the Oratory acquired the permanent foundation on the Hagley Rd, Edgbaston, where the Oratory still stands. With his enthusiasm for education & at Pope Pius IX’s request Newman was appointed founding Rector of the Catholic University, Dublin. He resigned after 3 yrs & returned to B’ham. He did not have an easy time. He was mistrusted by Catholics & Protestants. He tried to clarify his religious position by his writing. In 1878 Oxford University ‘forgave’ him & he was made an honorary Fellow of Trinity College, where he had studied. In 1879 Pope Leo XIII created him a cardinal in recognition of his service to the Church. He died at the Oratory 11 Aug 1890 & was buried at Rednal. Curiously, when his body was to be exhumed in 2008, no trace was found of any human remains. Posing the question - Was he really buried at Rednal?
In January 1991 Pope John Paul II declared John Henry venerable, as one of the greatest religious thinkers of the 19th century, but he was primarily a Parish Priest & an educator. For beatification to take place a miracle was required. Jack Sullivan, a permanent deacon in America was suffering from an incurable spinal condition. He prayed to John Henry & was healed on 15 August 2001. After rigorous medical investigation, Pope Benedict XVI declared the healing miraculous & declared John Henry 'Blessed' at Cofton Park, Birmingham in September 2010. In November 2018 the Archbishop of Chicago approved a further miracle: the unexplained healing in 2013 of a pregnant woman, Melissa Villalobos, from a life threatening condition. The healing enabled her to give birth to a daughter. In July 2019 Pope Francis announced John Henry would be canonised on 13 October.
Newman on Christian Doctrine
Doctrines evolve over time, acquiring depth and richness while remaining true to the Biblical revelation
"To live is to change and to be perfect is to change often."
The development of doctrine is a sign of life not of decadence.
Development of doctrine must be sanctioned by an infallible authority, a living voice of authority.
An example: The idea of the Holy Trinity was given to St Peter and the Apostles in seminal form, but he would not have understood the doctrine as St Thomas Aquinas did. It is now a rich and complex doctrine, though in its basic elements it is the same as the revelation to St Peter.
His best known prayer (more below)
May God support us all the day long
till the shadows lengthen
and the evening comes
and the busy world is hushed
and the fever of life is over
and our work is done –
then in mercy –
may God give us a safe lodging
and a holy rest
and peace at the last.
Newman's Life
Blessed John Henry Newman went to Trinity College, Oxford University in June 1817 when aged 16. He didn’t care for the undergraduates’ life of drinking. In his final exams he broke down & achieved a poor degree, not the success expected of him. Wanting to remain at Oxford he took in private pupils. He was elected to Oriel College in 1822, where he was described as one of the acutest, cleverest & deepest men. Ordained as an Anglican priest in 1825 he became curate at St Clement’s, Oxford & vicar of St Mary’s in 1827. In 1832 he visited Europe, including Rome, which he said was the most wonderful place on earth. While abroad he became seriously ill, but recovered, convinced God still had work for him to do in England. This was when he wrote the hymn Lead, kindly light.
In 1833 Newman & group of Oxford professors & priests sought to realign the Church of England with rites & teachings of the Catholic Church, which had been discarded at the Reformation. This reform became known as the Oxford Movement. The group studied intensely teachings of the early Fathers of the Church. Undeniable doctrines emerged, which showed the Church had an authority in its own right. The group produced written essays in pamphlets & newspapers called Tracts. The group came to be called Tractarians. They were not always well received by the Anglican establishment. Gradually, Newman & some of his colleagues experienced disquiet & intense doubts. Newman, himself, knew what he had to do.
In September 1843 he resigned from St Mary’s, Oxford, where he had preached his last sermon as an Anglican. A sermon entitled The Parting of Friends. He withdrew to a church house at Littlemore, where for 2 yrs he lived a semi monastic life with a few like-minded colleagues. The Italian Passionist, Fr Dominic Barberi arrived at Newman’s house at Littlemore on his way to Belgium on 9 October 1845. He’d travelled for 12 hrs on the outside of a stagecoach in driving rain & was saturated. As he tried to dry himself in front of the fire Newman entered the room, knelt at his feet & asked to be received into the Catholic Church. Newman knew he was in the presence of a holy person. His conversion sent shock waves through the Church of England establishment. As is so often the case with such conversions, many relationships with family & friends were broken.
In February 1846 Newman left Oxford for Oscott College, where Nicholas Wiseman, Vicar Apostolic of the Midland District, resided. We’re told of an embarrassing silent meeting between Wiseman & Newman. Wiseman Confirmed Newman at Oscott. In October he went to Rome where he was ordained & at the end of 1847 returned as an Oratorian, with permission to found an Oratorian house, which he did at Maryvale. In 1848 the Oratorians, with Newman as their superior & including Fr Frederick Faber, moved to St Wilfrid’s, Cotton (from where our west wall lancet windows come). In 1850 Newman settled his community in a disused gin factory in Digbeth. At the same time, Faber became the superior of the London Brompton Oratory. In September that year Pope Pius IX re-established the hierarchy in England. Wiseman became the 1st Archbishop of Westminster. At the 1st Synod of Westminster held at Oscott in 1852, Newman preached his famous sermon, The Second Spring. The restoration of the hierarchy prompted much anti-Catholic reaction, priests & churches were attacked.
In 1851 the Oratory acquired the permanent foundation on the Hagley Rd, Edgbaston, where the Oratory still stands. With his enthusiasm for education & at Pope Pius IX’s request Newman was appointed founding Rector of the Catholic University, Dublin. He resigned after 3 yrs & returned to B’ham. He did not have an easy time. He was mistrusted by Catholics & Protestants. He tried to clarify his religious position by his writing. In 1878 Oxford University ‘forgave’ him & he was made an honorary Fellow of Trinity College, where he had studied. In 1879 Pope Leo XIII created him a cardinal in recognition of his service to the Church. He died at the Oratory 11 Aug 1890 & was buried at Rednal. Curiously, when his body was to be exhumed in 2008, no trace was found of any human remains. Posing the question - Was he really buried at Rednal?
In January 1991 Pope John Paul II declared John Henry venerable, as one of the greatest religious thinkers of the 19th century, but he was primarily a Parish Priest & an educator. For beatification to take place a miracle was required. Jack Sullivan, a permanent deacon in America was suffering from an incurable spinal condition. He prayed to John Henry & was healed on 15 August 2001. After rigorous medical investigation, Pope Benedict XVI declared the healing miraculous & declared John Henry 'Blessed' at Cofton Park, Birmingham in September 2010. In November 2018 the Archbishop of Chicago approved a further miracle: the unexplained healing in 2013 of a pregnant woman, Melissa Villalobos, from a life threatening condition. The healing enabled her to give birth to a daughter. In July 2019 Pope Francis announced John Henry would be canonised on 13 October.
Newman on Christian Doctrine
Doctrines evolve over time, acquiring depth and richness while remaining true to the Biblical revelation
"To live is to change and to be perfect is to change often."
The development of doctrine is a sign of life not of decadence.
Development of doctrine must be sanctioned by an infallible authority, a living voice of authority.
An example: The idea of the Holy Trinity was given to St Peter and the Apostles in seminal form, but he would not have understood the doctrine as St Thomas Aquinas did. It is now a rich and complex doctrine, though in its basic elements it is the same as the revelation to St Peter.
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Pray with Cardinal Newman who was canonised by Pope Francis on 13th October 2019
Stay with me Stay with me, and then I shall begin to shine as you shine: so to shine as to be a light to others. The light, O Jesus, will be all from you. None of it will be mine. No merit to me. It will be you who shines through me upon others. O let me thus praise you, in the way which you do love best, by shining on all those around me. Give light to them as well as to me; light them with me, through me. Teach me to show forth your praise, your truth, your will. Make me preach you without preaching - not by words, but by my example and by the catching force, the sympathetic influence, of what I do - by my visible resemblance to your saints, and the evident fullness of the love which my heart bears to you. John Henry Newman, Jesus the Light of the Soul, Bl. John Henry Newman, Meditations and Devotions, Christian Classics, Westminster Md. 1975, p. 365. |
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Rector potens, verax Deus O GOD, who canst not change nor fail, Guiding the hours, as they roll by, Brightening with beams the morning pale, And burning in the mid-day sky; Quench Thou the fires of hate and strife, The wasting fever of the heart; From perils guard our feeble life, And to our souls Thy peace impart. Grant this, O Father, Only Son, And Holy Spirit, God of grace, To whom all glory, Three in One, Be given in every time and place. Amen Sanctus fortis, Sanctus Deus, De profundis oro te. Miserere, Judex meus, Parce mihi, Domine. [Holy Strength, Holy God Out of the depths I cry to thee, Have mercy, my Judge Spare me, O Lord] Prayer for Christian Unity: O Lord Jesus Christ, when you were about to suffer, you prayed for your disciples that they might all be one, as you are in the Father and the Father in you. Look down in pity on the many divisions among those who profess your faith. Heal the wounds which the pride of man and the craft of satan have inflicted on your people. Break down the walls of separation which divide Christians. Look with compassion on all souls and bring them together under the Holy Catholic Church. |
Firmly I believe and truly
God is three, and God is One; And I next acknowledge duly Manhood taken by the Son. And I trust and hope most fully In that Manhood crucified; And each thought and deed unruly Do to death, as He has died. Simply to His grace and wholly Light and life and strength belong, And I love, supremely, solely, Him the holy, Him the strong. Newman's Jesus Prayer Dear Jesus, help me to spread your fragrance wherever I go. Flood my soul with your spirit and life. Penetrate and possess my whole being so utterly that my life may only be a radiance of yours. Shine through me and be so in me that every soul I come in contact with may feel your presence in my soul. Let them look up and see no longer me, but only Jesus! Stay with me and then I will begin to shine as you shine, so to shine as to be a light to others. The light, O Jesus, will be all from you; none of it will be mine. It will be you, shining on others through me. Let me thus praise you in the way which you love best, by shining on those around me. Let me preach you without preaching, not by words but by example, by the catching force, the sympathetic influence of what I do, the evident fullness of the love my heart bears for you. Amen. |
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God has created me
to do Him some definite service; He has committed some work to me which He has not committed to another. I have my mission. I never may know it in this life, but I shall be told it in the next. Somehow I am necessary for His purposes. I have a part in this great work; I am a link in a chain, a bond of connection between persons. He has not created me for nothing. I shall do good, I shall do His work; I shall be an angel of peace, a preacher of truth in my own place, while not intending it, if I do but keep His commandments and serve Him in my calling. |
Cont/
I will trust Him. Whatever, wherever I am, I can never be thrown away. If I am in sickness, my sickness may serve Him; in perplexity, my perplexity may serve Him; if I am in sorrow, my sorrow may serve Him. My sickness, or perplexity, or sorrow may be necessary causes of some great end, which is quite beyond us. He does nothing in vain; He may prolong my life, He may shorten it; He knows what He is about. He may take away my friends, He may throw me among strangers, He may make me feel desolate, make my spirits sink, hide the future from me still He knows what He is about. |
St John Henry Newman on Christmas
St John Henry Newman, A Christmas Sermon (Extracts)
We have on the Feast of the Nativity these two lessons: to be cheerful and joyful; and, again, to be so in the midst of those obscure and ordinary circumstances of life which the world passes over.
First, what have we heard in the text? that there were certain shepherds keeping watch over their flock by night, and Angels appeared to them. Why should the heavenly hosts appear to these shepherds? What was it in them which attracted the attention of the Angels and the Lord of Angels? Were these shepherds learned, distinguished, or powerful? Were they especially known for piety and gifts? Nothing is said to make us think so. Faith, we may safely say, they had, or some of them; but there is nothing to show that they were holier and more enlightened than other good men of the time. Nay, there is no reason to suppose that they were better than the common run of men.
Why then were they chosen? for their poverty's sake and obscurity. Almighty God looks with a sort of especial love upon the lowly. Perhaps it is that man, a fallen, dependent, and destitute creature, is more in his proper place when he is in lowly circumstances, and that power and riches are unnatural appendages to man. In God's sight greatness is less acceptable than obscurity. It becomes us less.
The shepherds, then, were chosen on account of their lowliness, to be the first to hear of the Lord's nativity, a secret which none of the princes of this world knew.
And now comes a second lesson: "Fear not," said the Angel, "for behold I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord." Such were the words which the blessed Spirit spoke on that gracious night to the shepherds, to rouse them out of their cold and famished mood into great joy; to teach them that they were objects of God's love as much as the greatest of men on earth. How could Almighty God be more gracious, and show His favour more impressively to the lowly and the friendless, than by hastening to confide the great, the joyful secret to the shepherds keeping watch over their sheep by night?
Take these thoughts with you, my brethren, to your homes on the festive day; let them be with you in your family and social meetings. It is a day of joy: it is good to be joyful—it is wrong to be otherwise. For one day we may put off the burden of our polluted consciences, and rejoice in the perfections of our Saviour Christ, without thinking of ourselves, without thinking of our own miserable uncleanness; but contemplating His glory, His righteousness, His purity, His majesty, His overflowing love. We may rejoice in the Lord, and in all His creatures see Him.
St John Henry Newman, A Christmas Sermon (Extracts)
We have on the Feast of the Nativity these two lessons: to be cheerful and joyful; and, again, to be so in the midst of those obscure and ordinary circumstances of life which the world passes over.
First, what have we heard in the text? that there were certain shepherds keeping watch over their flock by night, and Angels appeared to them. Why should the heavenly hosts appear to these shepherds? What was it in them which attracted the attention of the Angels and the Lord of Angels? Were these shepherds learned, distinguished, or powerful? Were they especially known for piety and gifts? Nothing is said to make us think so. Faith, we may safely say, they had, or some of them; but there is nothing to show that they were holier and more enlightened than other good men of the time. Nay, there is no reason to suppose that they were better than the common run of men.
Why then were they chosen? for their poverty's sake and obscurity. Almighty God looks with a sort of especial love upon the lowly. Perhaps it is that man, a fallen, dependent, and destitute creature, is more in his proper place when he is in lowly circumstances, and that power and riches are unnatural appendages to man. In God's sight greatness is less acceptable than obscurity. It becomes us less.
The shepherds, then, were chosen on account of their lowliness, to be the first to hear of the Lord's nativity, a secret which none of the princes of this world knew.
And now comes a second lesson: "Fear not," said the Angel, "for behold I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord." Such were the words which the blessed Spirit spoke on that gracious night to the shepherds, to rouse them out of their cold and famished mood into great joy; to teach them that they were objects of God's love as much as the greatest of men on earth. How could Almighty God be more gracious, and show His favour more impressively to the lowly and the friendless, than by hastening to confide the great, the joyful secret to the shepherds keeping watch over their sheep by night?
Take these thoughts with you, my brethren, to your homes on the festive day; let them be with you in your family and social meetings. It is a day of joy: it is good to be joyful—it is wrong to be otherwise. For one day we may put off the burden of our polluted consciences, and rejoice in the perfections of our Saviour Christ, without thinking of ourselves, without thinking of our own miserable uncleanness; but contemplating His glory, His righteousness, His purity, His majesty, His overflowing love. We may rejoice in the Lord, and in all His creatures see Him.
