John Henry Newman

[mjmann]

How well known is John Henry Newman to Wardrobians?

Newman (1801 - 1890) was an Evangelical Christian who became a leading figure in the Tractarian movement in the 1830s - along with the Churchman John Keble and Hurrel Froude. The Tractarian movement was a high church group in the Church of England that sought to define for the CofE a via media (middle way) in terms of doctrine and practice between the Catholic Church and Protestant Christianity. During this time, Newman was the vicar of St Mary's Church in Oxford (his name can still be seen on the roster of vicars there). In 1845, having become convinced of the claims of the Catholic Church, Newman converted. He lived for a while in a hamlet near Oxford called Littlemore before being ordained a priest. He then founded the first English Oratory in Birmingham, where he lived for the rest of his life. In 1879, Pope Leo XIII made him a cardinal.

Newman wrote sundry theological works too deep for this mind to get to grips with (e.g. The Grammar of Assent), two novels (which work best as theological dramas) and poetry (including the famous Dream of Gerontius). The reason I mention him now is because of the good news that he may soon be declared among the blessed of God.

Blessed and Saint John Henry Newman would be a valuable witness to the faith of the Church not just because of his intellectual abilities - the legacy of which is said to stretch to him being called the Father of the Vatican II Council - but also because of his pastoral dedication. When a cholera epidemic ravaged Birmingham, Newman did not pick up his books and leave but stayed to minister to his people. I think he had a somewhat fragile personality but despite this was able to love others deeply.



John Henry Cardinal Newman
pray for us

[Air of Winter]

[John Anthony]

mjmann asked: "How well known is John Henry Newman to Wardrobians?"

I knew the name of course, and something about the main events of his life. I thought that his most important, or at least best known, literary work was the Apologia pro Vita Sua. I think I read small parts of it for a class long ago in Victorian literature.

[Karen]

[Steve]

[The Seventh Son]

[mjmann]

Hello SS,

Without knowing your litarary tastes (do you like philosophy? Sermons? Poetry? Newman wrote all this and more) it is hard to know what to suggest. However, since you ask (& I'm glad you did!), I would have to recommend the book that started me on Newman - the Apologia Pro Vita Sua (A Defence of My Life). This is a spiritual autobiography that was born out of a controversy between Newman and Charles Kingsley (author of The Water-babies) who had written in a book review that "Father Newman informs us that truth for its own sake need not be, and on the whole ought not to be, a virtue of the Roman clergy." Not to hype the book too much, but I have seen it called the second greatest spiritual autobiography of all time (after St Augustine's Confessions). Praise indeed.
BTW: Air of Winter has linked to one of the best web sites dedicated to discussion of all things Newman, so that would also be worth a read.

MJM

[The Seventh Son]