There are thousands of Catholic saints, but only 37 have been declared doctors of the Church: men and women who contributed mightily to doctrine and theology and shaped the course of Church history.
This month it was announced that the 19th-century English cardinal, St. John Henry Newman, will soon join this distinguished company, taking his place alongside luminaries like Thomas Aquinas, Augustine of Hippo, and Catherine of Sienna. His elevation is a gift to all Christians, giving us the opportunity, and indeed, the obligation, of deepening our acquaintance with this holy man and his works, or perhaps delving for the first time into the many ways he advanced our understanding of the faith.
Newman was an influential and beloved cleric of the Church of England before his tumultuous and scandalous conversion to Catholicism in 1845. It was during his years as an Anglican priest that he wrote the beloved hymn, “Lead Kindly Light,” and preached hundreds of sermons that were wildly popular then and continue to move hearts toward Our Lord.
He was a leader in the Oxford Movement, through which he and other leading Anglicans sought to realign their church more closely to its Catholic roots. At his conversion he was condemned by the British public and intellectual class for what they saw as his betrayal. These attacks caused Newman immense suffering.
In 1864, he wrote a long account of his conversion, “Apologia Pro Vita Sua” (“A Defense of One’s Life”), (CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, $10.95), which has since become one of the classic spiritual autobiographies, as well as being a masterpiece of English prose.
In his “Apologia” we see the heart of a man entirely attuned to the voice of his conscience, even as it increasingly led him away from the comforts and privileges of his clerical life. He would later, famously, describe conscience as “the aboriginal Vicar of Christ” and “a messenger of him, who, both in nature and in grace, speaks to us behind a veil, and teaches and rules us by his representatives,” words quoted in the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
The Church may very well name him the Doctor of Conscience, so beautifully and earnestly did he illustrate, in his writings and his very life, the way God places in us the ability to discern moral truth, the drive to obey its dictates, and the necessary direction provided by the authority of the Church. What a wonderful teaching to recover today, when the will and its vagaries are so often mistaken for conscience and the word invoked as a justification for every kind of fatal waywardness.
Of course, he could also be called Doctor of Doctrinal Development, so important have been his contributions on this subject. While struggling to bring Anglicanism in line with Catholic tradition he explored the way Christian doctrine matures over time, like a seed becoming a tree. Newman insisted that authentic doctrine never contradicts original revelation but remains faithful to it, even as it grows and buds, flowers and fruits.
Today the Church reacts and adjusts to the spiritual needs of modern man, informed by Newman’s theology, confident that proper change is not a violation of essential truths but the further articulation of these truths under divine guidance. It is this facility in the Church, of development through the faithful unfolding of revelation, that has kept the bride of Christ breathing and whole through the long centuries.
Lastly, the Church may call Newman Doctor of the University. Perhaps you or one of your children has found a home, while at college, in one of the hundreds of Newman Centers across the country. They are named after him for his writings, particularly his 1852 work, “The Idea of a University” (Aeterna Press, $11.24), and minister to students in secular environments where higher education has been reduced to mere vocational preparation, or worse, an interval of adolescent playtime.
Newman argued that a university should cultivate the intellect of its students through a broad range of study, including science, theology, and philosophy. Education, he believed, should be holistic, producing well-rounded men and women with dispassionate minds, a sense of civic duty, strong moral compasses and courteous demeanors. The Newman Centers work to put theology in secular education, as Newman insisted, was absolutely necessary, for it provides a vital framework for understanding the world and our place in it.
When Newman was made cardinal by Pope Leo XIII in 1879, he was astounded and humbled by the honor. After all, he was not a bishop but a simple priest and since his conversion he had been treated with suspicion by both Anglicans and Catholics alike. In heaven, I can imagine him reacting to Pope Leo XIV’s acknowledgement of his holiness and theological clarity with the same lovely phrase that he chose as the motto for his cardinalate: “Cor ad cor loquitor” (“Heart speaks to heart”).
Explore the life and work of St. John Henry Newman, Doctor of the Church. Let his heart speak to your heart.
