Pope Francis has announced that Blessed John Henry Newman will be canonised in Rome on Sunday 13th October in St Peter’s Square alongside four others. This will make Cardinal Newman the first English person who has lived since the 17th century officially recognised as a saint by the Roman Catholic Church.
The canonisation was made possible by a second miracle attributed to his intercession in 2013, consisting in the medically inexplicable healing of a pregnant woman in Chicago with life-threatening complications due to her pregnancy.
During the ceremony for his beatification in 2010, Pope Benedict said that Newman ‘tells us that our divine Master has assigned a specific task to each one of us, a “definite service”, committed uniquely to every single person.’
‘The definite service to which Blessed John Henry was called,’ continued the Pope, ‘involved applying his keen intellect and his prolific pen to many of the most pressing “subjects of the day”. His insights into the relationship between faith and reason, into the vital place of revealed religion in civilised society, and into the need for a broadly-based and wide-ranging approach to education were not only of profound importance for Victorian England, but continue today to inspire and enlighten many all over the world.’
Fr Ignatius Harrison, Provost of the Birmingham Oratory which was founded by Newman in 1849, said that ‘Newman's lifelong success in bringing others to Christ shows us that the apostolate of Christian friendship achieves much more by attracting people to the Lord than by aggressive polemic.
Newman's long and incremental spiritual pilgrimage shows us that God leads us to himself step by step, in ways that he customises to our individual needs and in his own good time.’
Information about Cardinal Newman including details of his life, of the miracle and the process of canonisation, links to his writings, and photos and videos can be found at www.newmancanonisation.com
