Introduction to Cardinal Newman

Purposes of the Website Who is Cardinal Newman? Biographical Information

Purposes of the Website

Blessed John Henry Cardinal Newman (1801-1890) was canonized by Pope Francis on 13 October 2019. One can get to know the sainted Cardinal from what he wrote, and from what others have written about him. The purposes of this website are to: 1. Introduce Cardinal Newman through quotations from his books and letters and from others' comments about him 2. Facilitate access to his books and letters by providing links to Newman Reader, Internet Archive, and NINS Digital Collections 3. Distribute a free eBook containing a greater selection of quotations from and about Newman than presented here Up to about the year 2000, those interested in Newman had to consult libraries or personal collections to read about him. Since then, information on the Cardinal has become more and more readily available. The complete works published by Cardinal Newman first appeared on the Internet in 2000-2002 on the Newman Reader website, which provided hypertext versions of some 40 volumes. Over succeeding years, digital images of those works were made available by the Internet Archive and by the National Institute for Newman Studies (NINS). The last big advance was the addition of all 32 volumes of the Newman Letters-and- Diaries series to the NINS Digital Collections. The Cardinal's works are now most accessible: click on the Sermons, Books or Bibliography tabs to find them.

Who is Cardinal Newman?

An extraordinary man … perhaps my most cherished memory is that of the greatest man whom I have ever known—Cardinal Newman.—James Cardinal Gibbons, Archbishop of Baltimore (1917) A beloved teacher When the history of Oxford during that time comes to be written, the historian will have to record the extraordinary, the unexampled career of that distinguished man in the University. He will have to tell, as I believe, that Dr. Newman exercised for a period of about ten years after 1833 an amount of influence, of absorbing influence, over the highest intellects … We know how his influence was sustained by his extraordinary purity of character and the holiness of his life—William Ewart Gladstone, student at Oxford, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1878) A treasured colleague He shed cheerfulness as a sunbeam sheds light, even while many difficulties were pressing. Delightful it was to be on his staff, and to hear him draw out, with the gentlest possible forceps, what each friend or professor had to say on his own particular theme … What a time it was! Reading, thinking, writing, working, walking with him in times of recreation over the pleasant fields, park, and gardens … listening to talk that was never didactic and never dull; refreshing after the toil of the day as running waters—John Hungerford Pollen, Professor of Fine Arts at the University in Dublin (1855-1858) while Newman was Rector (1906) A moving preacher As he spoke, how the old truth became new! how it came home with a meaning never felt before! He laid his finger—how gently, yet how powerfully,—on some inner place in the hearer's heart, and told him things about himself he had never known till then.—J C Shairp, former Oxford student (1868) A noted convert Newman … guided solely by love of the truth and fidelity to Christ, traced an itinerary, the most toilsome, but also the greatest, the most meaningful, the most conclusive, that human thought ever travelled during the last century, indeed one might say during the modern era, to arrive at the fulness of wisdom and of peace.—Saint Paul VI (1963) Founder of the Oratory of St Philip Neri in England It has always been our firm and joyful expectation, that the time would come when we could, with a view to spreading and consolidating the Catholic Religion in the powerful and thriving Kingdom of England, establish and authorise a society of men, outstanding in learning and holiness, who would themselves be Englishmen ... While we were turning this over in our mind, and often praying to the almighty and good God that this plan for men's salvation might be realised, we rejoiced to find a way suddenly opened for its accomplishment. Among the many distinguished men who in recent years have abandoned ancient error and returned to the faith of the Catholic Church, John Henry Newman has, in the estimation of all, been pre-eminent on account of his learning and virtue in the University of Oxford, and he is thus the very person to carry into effect what we so ardently desire.—from Apostolic Brief establishing Oratory in England, Blessed Pope Pius IX (1847) A father of souls We are so very sorry to hear of continued weakness and shaken health, and shall pray most earnestly that sufficient strength may be given you to work on, yet many years in the service of your Lord and Love … But each suffering brings forth its own child of benediction which will not die because it is not of nature but of grace. There are thousands of such springing up from you my very dear Father in hidden places, where you do not suspect them:—hearts that love you as their guide into the Faith—hearts that you have reconciled—that you have comforted, that you have guided to the bridal chamber of their Spouse.—Those many voices of childlike love and gratitude all blend in one persevering prayer that you may be rewarded with Life, Eternal Life … for all the good things that you have done to them.—Sister Mary Gabriel Du Boulay, OSD, to Fr Newman (1861) A defender of Reality Almost for the first time Newman compelled his generation to the use of exact reason. Almost for the first time in the long controversies whereof his audience had heard but confused affirmations, he threw the enemy upon the defensive; and since the time when he so acted the effect of his counter attack has spread over wider and wider circles ... Such is the power of three things combined, interest in reality, an ardor to defend reality, use of the reason for the defense of reality.—Hilaire Belloc (1928) A failure in the eyes of many Among the great men of the world, I do not know if there is anyone whose life is more consistently written down a failure, by friend and foe alike, than … John Henry Cardinal Newman ... Suspect of that very Liberalism which, in his Anglican days, he had fought so strenuously to oppose, too much of an Oxford man for the Catholic Church, as he had formerly been too much of a Catholic for Oxford, he set on foot scheme after scheme for the betterment of the Church's position in these islands, was encouraged up to a point, and then told it would not do ... [But] Newman did not fail. It is doubtful whether even his writings have been so powerful a means of effecting conversions as the spectacle of his life; a life so crossed by disappointments and misunderstandings, yet so vividly illuminated, from first to last, by the beams of that kindly Light which he had invoked at the time of his youth- ful struggles.—Msgr. Ronald Knox, on 100th anniversary of Newman's conversion (1945) A Cardinal of the Catholic Church The Holy Father deeply appreciating the genius and learning which distinguish you, your piety, the zeal displayed by you in the exercise of the Holy Ministry, your devotion and filial attachment to the Holy Apostolic See, and the signal services you have for long years rendered to religion, has decided on giving you a public and solemn proof of his esteem and good-will. And to this end he will deign to raise you to the honours of the Sacred Purple, in the next Consistory—Cardinal Nina for Pope Leo XIII (1879) An intercessor I said, 'Please Cardinal Newman, make the bleeding stop.' And just then, immediately it stopped. And I stood up and I smelled roses that filled the bathroom air ... And I said, 'Oh Cardinal Newman, did you just make the bleeding stop? Thank you!' And then there was this second burst of roses. And I knew I was cured, and I knew Gemma my daughter was ok ... Thanks be to Cardinal Newman and to God that I was cured and Gemma was born completely healthy.—Melissa Villalobos, whose spontaneous healing of her life-threatening problem in pregnancy in 2013 led to Newman's canonization (2019) A future Doctor of the Church? The characteristic of the great Doctor of the Church, it seems to me, is that he teaches not only through his thought and speech but also by his life, because within him, thought and life are interpenetrated and defined. If this is so, then Newman belongs to the great teachers of the Church, because he both touches our hearts and enlightens our thinking.—Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI) (1990) His relevance John Henry Newman belongs to every time and place and people—Saint John Paul II (2001) References for this page are provided here. More comments on Newman are given in the Foreword and in Appendix 2 of the free eBook. Top of page

Biographical Information

A short Newman biography is provided here. The story of Cardinal Newman's cause for sainthood is told here. Top of page