One of the most significant figures in 19th-century Britain is to be declared a saint by Pope Francis.
Cardinal John Newman will be canonised in a ceremony in St Peter’s Square in Vatican City on 13 October, almost 130 years after he died. He will be the first English person born since the 17th century to be declared a saint by the Catholic church.
Newman was ordained as a priest in the Church of England but converted to Catholicism in 1845. He is regarded as one of the most influential figures from his era for both Anglicanism and Roman Catholicism, revered for his hymns and poetry and for his devotion to the people of Birmingham.
He was a powerful preacher and founded the Birmingham Oratory religious community. When he died in 1890, more than 15,000 people lined the city’s streets for his funeral procession.
Pope John Paul II declared Newman “venerable” in 1991, recognising his life of “heroic virtue”. In 2010, on a visit to the UK, Pope Benedict XVI declared him “blessed”, saying Newman applied “his keen intellect and his prolific pen to many of the most pressing subjects of the day.” Newman continued “to inspire and enlighten many all over the world,” Benedict added.
A second miracle attributed to Newman – the healing in 2013 of a woman with life-threatening complications in her pregnancy - was approved by Pope Francis this year, paving the way to his canonisation.
In 2008 a decision to move Newman’s remains to a new tomb in Birmingham Oratory in preparation for his canonisation was criticised by the gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell and others.
They argued that it contravened his written wish to be buried next to his close friend Fr Ambrose St John. The oratory said the order had come from the Vatican. Tatchell said it was “an act of shameless dishonesty and personal betrayal by the homophobic Catholic church”.
Cardinal Vincent Nichols, archbishop of Westminster, said of Monday’s announcement: “This is a moment of great pride … John Henry Newman is known for many great qualities, but we remember him particularly for the kindness and compassion of his ministry to the people of Birmingham.”
Christopher Foster, the Anglican bishop of Portsmouth and co-chair of the English and Welsh Anglican-Roman Catholic Committee, said: “The canonisation of Blessed John Henry Newman is very good news for the Catholic church in England and Wales, and we give thanks with them for this recognition of a holy life formed in both our communions that continues to be an inspiration for us all.”
Sally Axworthy, the British ambassador to the Holy See, said: “Cardinal Newman had a major impact on Catholic theology and on education worldwide, making him a truly global Briton. He brought his experience from the Anglican church to his work as a Catholic, bridging the two traditions.”
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