(1801-1890) The fifth saint of the city of London was an Anglican priest and academic at Oxford when he converted to Catholicism at age 44 (the date of his conversion was set as his feast day by Pope Benedict XVI at his beatification in 2010). Newman was an influential writer, philosopher, theologian, historian, and poet, and a member of the Oratory of Saint Philip Neri. He was made a Cardinal by Pope Leo XIII, and declared a Doctor of the Church by Pope Leo XIV almost 180 years later.
Saint John Henry Newman studied himself into the Catholic faith, but what really drove him was his prayer and willingness to go wherever His Savior led him (Steps 3 and 11).
“A habit of prayer, the practice of turning to God and the unseen world in every season, in every place, in every emergency – prayer, I say, has what may be called a natural effect in spiritualizing and elevating the soul. A man is no longer what he was before; gradually…he has imbibed a new set of ideas, and become imbued with fresh principles” (Saint John Henry Newman, Parochial and Plain Sermons, iv, 230-231).
Reflection by Brad Farmer