Newman, Cardinal
NAME: Newman, John Henry, Cardinal
ACHIEVEMENT(S): Major figure in 19th century religion
NICKNAME/ALIAS: None
DATE AND PLACE OF BIRTH: February 21, 1801, London, England
DATE/PLACE OF DEATH/AGE AT DEATH: August 11, 1890, Birmingham, England. Aged 89
DISCIPLINE: Theologian, writer
FIELD: Religion
LANGUAGE: English
PARENTS: John Newman; Jemima Fourdrinier
SIBLINGS: Harriett Elizabeth; Jemima Charlotte; Mary Sophia; Charles
Robert; Francis William
SPOUSE: None
CHILDREN: None
EDUCATION: Ealing School, England; Trinity College, Oxford
MAJOR WORK: "Apologia pro Vita sua” (A Defence of His Life)
LIFE AND TIMES:
Newman's father was a banker and his mother a <mother was a> Fourdrinier*, of the
paper-making family.
After graduating from Trinity College, Oxford in 1820 Newman stayed on in the city to teach private pupils. Two years later, he was elected fellow of Oriel College. In 1823, he met future theologian Edward Pusey, also a fellow of Oriel.
In 1824, Newman was ordained and became curate at St. Clement's Church, Oxford, and in 1825, was appointed vice-principal of St. Alban Hall. He gave up this appointment when he became a tutor at Oriel in 1826.
At this time, he met Richard Hurrell Froude, another fellow of Oriel, who was to have an immense effect on Newman. In 1828, Newman became vicar of St. Mary's, Oxford. Soon after, he broke with evangelicalism and by 1830 had become a convinced high churchman. In 1832, he completed his first book, "Arians of the Fourth Century", published in 1833.
A quarrel with the provost lost Newman his tutorship at Oriel. Soon after, in 1832 he, Hurrell Froude, and Froude's father (the archdeacon) went on a Mediterranean tour. Newman found Rome "wonderful" but was not yet attracted by Roman Catholicism. In Rome, Froude and Newman began writing poems for the collection of sacred poems, "Lyra Apostolica". Newman left Froude to travel to Sicily and on the boat from Palermo to Marseilles, wrote his most famous poem: "Lead kindly light".
Back in Oxford, In July, 1833, clergyman-poet John Keble gave a sermon at St. Mary's that Newman considered the beginning of the Oxford Movement, which, led by Keble, Newman and, soon after, Pusey, advocated a return to Roman Catholic precepts and practises within the Church of England.
The ideas of the Oxford Movement were published from 1833 to 1841 in 90 "Tracts for the Times," 24 of which were written by Newman. He also edited the entire series. The tracts maintained that the Church of England was being led astray as a branch of the Church Catholic, and that it was necessary to reaffirm its belief in the Apostolic succession of its Bishops (the Church's authority and office went back in an unbroken line to the Apostles) and in the sacraments as sources of Divine Grace.
Also significant to the Movement was Newman's "Lectures on the Prophetical Office of the Church", a book published in 1837 that spelled out the doctrine of authority. His "University Sermons" (1843), discussed the theory of religious belief, and "Parochial and Plain Sermons" (1834-42) took the principles of the Movement into the country at large.
From 1834, these theories began to be attacked for undervaluing the Reformation, which in the early 16th century had established Protestant churches. And when Newman and Keble published Froude's "Remains" (1838-39), which vehemently denounced the Reformation, moderate adherents to the Movement began to have doubts about their leader.
Their worst fears were confirmed in 1841 by Newman's Tract 90, which, contended that the Thirty-Nine Articles (the doctrinal statements of the Church of England, finalized in 1571) were in fact compatible with Catholic theology, that the intention of the Thirty-Nine Articles was Catholic in spirit, and that they were aimed at the supremacy of the pope and the popular abuses of Catholic power, not at Catholic doctrine.
Tract 90 provoked an explosion of indignation and Newman was spurned by many of his Anglican friends, including Bishop <he offended> Samuel Wilberforce*. Distressed by such fervent reaction, Newman withdrew into isolation.
He struggled on at St. Mary's for two more years, but, in 1843, resigned and retired to Littlemore Church, outside Oxford. Here he preached his last Anglican sermon, "The Parting of Friends". He spent the next two years in semi-monastic retreat, and then decided to join the Roman Catholic Church.
While working on his "Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine" in 1845, Newman's beliefs returned. He invited the Passionist Father Dominic to come to Littlemore to receive him into the Catholic Church. This profoundly shocked his colleagues, caused a rift with Keble and Pusey, and isolated him from his old Oxford life.
In October, 1846, Newman was ordained in Rome and received the degree of doctor of divinity.
With a commission from Pius IX, Newman introduced an Oratorian branch at Edgbaston, Birmingham, in 1848. A series of powerful sermons were collected as "Sermons Addressed to Mixed Congregations" (1849). His lectures on "Anglican Difficulties" were published in 1850, and followed by his lectures on "Catholicism in England" the next year. "The Idea of a University" was published in 1852.
From 1854 to 1858, Newman was first rector of the new Catholic University in Dublin. While in Dublin, he published "Sermons on Various Occasions."
In January, 1864, Newman's famous feud with clergyman-writer <had row with> Charles
Kingsley* began. In an article in "Macmillan"s Magazine", Kingsley attacked Newman's moral teaching. Newman wrote to the magazine, Kingsley replied to him, and correspondence led to the publication of the remarkable "Apologia pro Vita Sua”(A Defense of His Life), an exposition of Newman's spiritual history.
Although the "Apologia" did not find favor with Cardinal Manning and some other prelates who suspected Newman of liberalism, it assured Newman's stature in the Roman Catholic Church.
Newman's poem "The Dream of Gerontius", later set to music by <work set by> Elgar*, appeared in the journal "The Month" in 1865, and in book form in 1866. It contained the hymn, "Praise to the Holiest in the Height".
In 1879, Pope Leo XIII made Newman Cardinal-Deacon of St. George in Velabro, and, at the age of 80, Newman sat for a portrait by <painted by> Millais*.
ASSESSMENT: Newman helped to transform the Church of England
EXTRA CONNECTIONS: Author <influenced> George Eliot* was deeply moved by the "Apologia."
Met <met> Gounod*.
Knew <knew> Monkton Milnes*
He taught <taught> Belloc*
He brought <brought into church> Gerald Manley Hopkins* into the church
ONELINER: Cardinal Newman, major Victorian religious figure
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
EB, DNB
Ker, Ian, John Henry Newman: A Biography, Oxford & New York: OUP, 1988