Newman is to be Beatified!
On the 19th September 2010 John Henry Newman will be raised to the honour of the altars by Pope Benedict XVI in a Solemn Mass at Coventry.
Dear Newman Friends,
After many years of expectation and prayer it is a great joy for us to share this news with you. Indeed, we had decided not to send our newsletter until the venue and date of the beatification was confirmed and made public.
Even during his lifetime, Newman was venerated by many. Lord Coleridge, the Anglican Chief Justice, stated in 1882: “I cannot analyze it or explain it, but to this hour he interests and awes me like no other man I ever saw. He is as simple and humble as a child, and, yet, I am with a being unlike anyone else. He lifts me up for the time, and subdues me – if I said frightens me it would hardly be too strong; and if he does this to a commonplace old lawyer, what must it be to men who can really enter into him and feel with him”. In a similar manner, the Bishop of Birmingham, William Bernard Ullathorne, writes of one of the last visits he made to Cardinal Newman in 1887: “There is a Saint in that man!”
Newman’s funeral procession in 1890 attracted thousands of mourners of all faiths and none, lining the streets of Birmingham to express their gratitude and deep affection for the Cardinal. In one of the many obituaries, Newman was compared to “a white star extinguished” (The Spectator). Another obituary reads: “Men thought he was the servant of the unseen and eternal powers, and when they came near him it was easier for them to believe in God and in God’s nearness to mankind” (The Birmingham Daily Post).
Newman was ahead of many of his time. Already during his life time, translations of his works made him known beyond England. After his death, a slow but steady veneration spread throughout all continents. By 1958, the process for beatification was officially opened. Since the first Newman Congress in Rome in 1975, the International Centre of Newman Friends has collaborated closely with the Birmingham Oratory and many other Newman societies to promote the cause for beatification and to help foster veneration for the Cardinal. On the conclusion of the process at the diocesan level in 1986, the then Vice-Postulator, the Very Reverend Mgr. Anthony Stark, consigned the entire documentation to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints in Rome. Following a meticulous examination of the documentation, Pope John Paul II approved the decree concerning the heroic virtues of the Servant of God in 1991. Rev. Fr. Vincent Blehl SJ and later Rev. Fr. Paul Chavasse CO, as postulators, worked significantly to further the process of Newman’s cause. According to ecclesial norms the process of beatification is confirmed by divine intervention. This should be manifested by a miracle of healing which takes place by means of the intercession of the Servant of God, which cannot be explained medically. On the 15th August 2001, such a sign was given when Rev. Jack Sullivan, a permanent Deacon from Boston, USA, was healed of a crippling spinal disorder through the intercession of Cardinal Newman. The miracle was examined in the Archdiocese of Boston and later in Rome. On the 3rd July 2009, in an audience with Archbishop Angelo Amato SDB, the Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, Pope Benedict officially recognised the miracle as being performed through Cardinal Newman’s intercession.
During his pontificate, Pope Benedict has normally only presided over canonisations. Since the Holy Father has chosen to beatify Newman personally during his Apostolic Visit to the United Kingdom from the 16th – 19th September 2010, we can see something of the esteem and veneration which Pope Benedict has for Newman. One could list many points which connect Newman with Pope Benedict XVI, one of which is their criticism of religious and ethical relativism. In 2005, Cardinal Ratzinger warned against the widespread “dictatorship of relativism” during his homily at the opening of the Conclave, the same Conclave at which he was elected Pope. In a similar manner, during his Biglietto Speech Cardinal Newman spoke of the danger of religious liberalism as the greatest enemy of the Church. The speech held in Rome on the occasion of his elevation to the cardinalate in 1879 by Pope Leo XIII sums up the most crucial aspect of Newman’s theological career, life and work. In this edition of the newsletter, we have enclosed a copy of the Biglietto Speech.
We would also like to refer you to our home page: www.newmanfriendsinternational.org on which you can find an extended bibliography of Newman works as well as other relevant information, conferences, links and news concerning our various centres. You will also find here frequently updated information concerning Newman’s beatification.
Book Launch
On the 29th October 2009, the book “Una ragionevole fede. Logos e dialogo in John Henry Newman” was presented at the Rome Campus of the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart. The book is a compilation of conferences from internationally renowned Newman scholars, as well as young Newman scholars, held at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Milan from the 26th to 27th March 2009. The publication is the fruit of the collaboration between the Catholic University and the International Centre of Newman Friends.
We are most grateful for your support for our Newman work in Littlemore-Oxford, Rome, Bregenz and Budapest. This work for the Church would not be possible without the generous donations of many benefactors and Newman Friends. May we ask you to support our Newman work financially? We would be most grateful for your help especially in view of the forthcoming beatification and the demands which this will bring.
In the name of the International Centre of Newman Friends
Fr. Hermann Geissler FSO
Sr. Kathleen Dietz, FSO