St. John Henry Cardinal Newman

"I believe the whole revealed dogma as taught by the Apostles, as committed by the Apostles to the Church, and as declared by the Church to me. I receive it, as it is infallibly interpreted by the authority to whom it is thus committed, and (implicitly) as it shall be, in like manner, further interpreted by that same authority till the end of time. I submit, moreover, to the universally received traditions of the Church, in which lies the matter of those new dogmatic definitions which are from time to time made, and which in all times are the clothing and the illustration of the Catholic dogma as already defined. And I submit myself to those other decisions of the Holy See, theological or not, through the organs which it has itself appointed, which, waiving the question of their infallibility, on the lowest ground come to me with a claim to be accepted and obeyed"[1]

A Meditation

A Newman Reader.

March 7

1. God was all-complete, all-blessed in Himself; but it was His will to create a world for His glory. He is Almighty, and might have done all things Himself, but it has been His will to bring about His purposes by the beings He has created. We are all {301} created to His glory — we are created to do His will. I am created to do something or to be something for which no one else is created; I have a place in God's counsels, in God's world, which no one else has; whether I be rich or poor, despised or esteemed by man, God knows me and calls me by my name.

2. 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, as necessary in my place as an Archangel in his — if, indeed, I fail, He can raise another, as He could make the stones children of Abraham. Yet 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 naught. 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.

3. Therefore 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 {302} may make me feel desolate, make my spirits sink, hide the future from me — still He knows what He is about.

O Adonai, O Ruler of Israel, Thou that guidest Joseph like a flock, O Emmanuel, O Sapientia, I give myself to Thee. I trust Thee wholly. Thou art wiser than I — more loving to me than I myself. Deign to fulfil Thy high purposes in me whatever they be — work in and through me. I am born to serve Thee, to be Thine, to be Thy instrument. Let me be Thy blind instrument. I ask not to see — I ask not to know — I ask simply to be used.

vs. literalism

"It was one of Newman’s deepest convictions that to cling to the literal letter of the past was to lose its essential spirit, and therefore to betray it" (Ker, JHN, 441).

A Newman Chronology

The initial chronology was taken from EWTN’s website, but I have added dates that interest me from other sources.

1801	Born to John Newman and Jemima Fourdrinieron on 21 Feb. in London, the eldest of six children
1801	Baptized on 9 April
1808	Attended Ealing School
1816	First conversion at the age of 15: livelong devotion to dogma. Oxford University
1817	Attended Trinity College, Oxford
1822	Elected a fellow, Oriel College, Oxford
1824	Ordination as deacon in the Church of England on 13 June: "I have the responsibility of souls on me to the day of my death" (Autobiographical Writings, 201)
1825	Ordained Anglican priest on 29 May in Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford
1827	Newman ill in November “while invigilating [proctoring] examinations”
1828	– Vicar, St Mary the Virgin (the University Church) until 1843. – His sister, Mary, died.
1832	Travelled by steamship to Gibraltar, Malta, the Ionian Islands and Italy (Sicily, Naples and Rome)
1833	On the ship from Palermo to Marseille wrote “The Pillar of the Cloud” (a.k.a. “Lead, Kindly Light”)
1838	Editor, British Critic, until 1841.
1839	First doubts about the position of the Anglican Church Littlemore
1842	Withdrew to monastic-style life at Littlemore
1843	– “Last sermon before the University of Oxford” — “The Theory of Developments in Religious Doctrine,” February 2, 1843. Feast of the Purification. – Resigned as Vicar of St Mary's and preached `Parting of Friends' — last Anglican sermon at Littlemore, September 25, 1843.
1843	Oxford University Sermons
1845	– Received into the Catholic Church at Littlemore on 9 Oct. by Bl. Domenico Bàrberi – Confirmed on 1 Nov. at Oscott, taking the Confirmation name "Mary" – An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine and Retraction of Anti-Catholic Statements
1846	February 23, 1846: “Newman left Oxford for good.” Kissed his furniture at “The College” good-bye (Guide, 183). Rome, Maryvale
1847	Ordained a Catholic priest in Rome on 30 May and celebrated first Mass on 5 June
1848	– February 1, 1848: founded Oratory of St Philip Neri at Maryvale. The community moved into Birmingham, then settled in Edgbaston in 1852. Newman was then in Dublin. – Loss and Gain. First work published after his conversion? Not counting Dev?
1850	Lectures on certain difficulties felt by Anglicans in submitting to the Catholic Church
1850	Honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity (D.D.) conferred by Pope Pius IX on 22 August Dublin
1854	Rector until 1858, Catholic University of Ireland, Dublin, where he founded the Literary and Historical Society; began Catholic University Gazette. He made 56 crossings to and from Ireland over a period of seven years. Edgbaston
1859	– Opened Oratory school. Still going in 2025! – May Rambler editorial; Newman then published: “On Consulting the Faithful in Matters of Doctrine” and resigned as editor of the Rambler in July.
1864	Apologia pro vita sua. Written from April to June; twenty hours a day (Guide, 89)
1865	A Letter to the Rev. E. B. Pusey, D.D., on Newman's Mariology
1865	The Dream of Gerontius, later set to music by Edward Elgar
1868	Parochial and Plain Sermons in six volumes (1834-1843)
1869	Declined invitation of Bishop Dupanloup to attend the Vatican Council as his theologian
1870	Grammar of Assent
1875	Published A Letter to His Grace the Duke of Norfolk. Ambrose St. John (born 1815) died at age 59, perhaps in part due to stress in translating a manuscript for JHN to use in the Letter.
1877	Elected first honorary fellow, Trinity College
1879	Created Cardinal by Pope Leo XIII on 12 May in Rome (made Cardinal-Deacon of San Giorgio al Velabro)
1884	“On the Inspiration of Scripture”
1885	Published last article
1888	Preached last sermon 1 January
1889	Celebrated last Mass on Christmas Day
1890	Died of pneumonia on 11 August in Birmingham, aged 89
1890	Buried in Oratorian cemetery at Rednal near Birmingham on 19 August
1991	Declared Venerable by Pope John Paul II on 22 January
2001	Miraculous healing of Deacon Jack Sullivan from Boston, USA, through the intercession of the Venerable John Henry Newman
2010	Declared Blessed by Pope Benedict XVI on 19 September
2019	Canonized by JP2

Motto: Cor ad cor loquitur — Heart speaks unto Heart (St. Francis de Sales)

Epitaph: Ex umbris et imaginibus in veritatem — Out of shadows and images into the truth