Sr. Mary-Birgit Dechant FSO
What better way in which to begin than with Newman’s own words, taken from one of his homilies on St Paul, and to make them my own:
“Most unworthy of him, I know, is the best that I can say; and even that best I cannot duly exhibit in the space of time allowed me on an occasion such as this, but what is said out of devotion to him, and for the divine glory, will, I trust, have its use, defective though it be.” (SVO 94)
By Fr. Peter Willi, Rome
John Henry Cardinal Newman (1801- 1890) ranks among the most famous converts of the Roman Catholic Church. H. J. Coleridge, S.J. wrote in an obituary: “The process of a true conversion is not often without something of the shadow of the cross upon it, but in the case of the Cardinal it was a veritable birth-pang. It was this that made him in the most true sense the father of many souls – he had passed through all their difficulties beforehand for them.” [1]
Unforgettable was the afternoon at “The College” at Littlemore, when the Holy Eucharist was exposed in Newman’s oratory, and some of the Sisters of the Spiritual Family The Work knelt in silent adoration before the Lord. Suddenly the sliding door opened. Someone came in and fell to his knees. Later in the College garden, when the Sisters welcomed the tall, slender gentleman, almost Newman-like, with his shock of white hair, he was deeply moved and explained: “Sorry for the commotion; I had not expected Eucharistic adoration at this simple place of prayer, hallowed though it is.” And then he said something like: “It was a gift for me, as if the Lord had spoken!”
It is the saying of holy men that, if we wish to be perfect, we have nothing more to do than to perform the ordinary duties of the day well. A short road to perfection-short, not because easy, but because pertinent and intelligible. There are no short ways to perfection, but there are sure ones.
Dr. Brigitte Maria Hoegemann FSO
When John Henry Newman was created Cardinal in 1879, he did not have his own crest designed, but adapted one from the 17th century, which he had inherited from his father. He did not formulate his motto, but altered a phrase from the 17th century – cor cordi loquitur – that seemed so familiar to him that he assumed he had it from the Bible or the Imitation of Christ.
Lead, Kindly Light, amid the encircling gloom
Lead Thou me on!
Faith opens up for us the mystery of Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh, the Saviour who wishes to call all men to Himself. The introduction to belief and the accompaniment of man on his journey of faith was something close to John Henry Newman’s heart throughout his multifaceted pastoral activities. The following quotations from his writings, above all from his sermons, may illustrate this.
Charity, in its twofold reality as love of God and neighbour, is the summing up of the moral life of the believer. It has in God its source and its goal” (n. 50). The following excerpts are selected reflections from Newman’s sermons on the theme of love.
Dr. Brigitte Maria Hoegemann FSO Long before the Anglo-Catholic Oxford don actually saw the city, its name must have resonated with John Henry Newman, evoking not just images of the ancient city, kingdom, republic and empire, its history of three thousand years, its rise and the fall, but also its huge claim to power and its unique culture of antiquity both pagan and Christian. …
Sr. Kathleen Marie Dietz
Newman writes in his Apologia Pro Vita Sua that his reception into the Church was “like coming into port after a rough sea”. In this paper we would like to reflect a bit on that scene and would like to add to it one more image, namely that of a beacon light which helped Newman find that port.
