Preview: 2025 Anniversaries: Fisher and More, Canonized

Ninety years ago, Pope Pius XI presided over the canonizations of John Cardinal Fisher and Sir Thomas More in Vatican City on May 19, 1935. It's important to note that Pope Pius XI beatified many other martyrs from the English Reformation and Recusant era (136 on December 15, 1929, witnessed by G.K. Chesterton!) and canonized several other significant men and women during his pontificate (1922-1939): Saints Therese of Lisieux, John Eudes, John Vianney, Robert Bellarmine, Bernadette Soubirous, and the North American/Canadian Jesuit martyrs.

So we'll remember this anniversary on Monday, June 16 on the Son Rise Morning Show. So I'll be on the air at the usual time at about 7:50 a.m. Eastern/6:50 a.m. Central. Please listen live here or catch the podcast later here.

Before we go any further, you have to see this brief video of how men risked life and limb to illuminate Saint Peter's Basilica for the canonization Mass celebrated inside!!

Pope Pius XI spoke of Fisher and More in his homily as being: 

the bright champions and the glory of their nation, were given to the Christian people, in the words of the prophet Jeremias, “as a fortified city, and a pillar of iron, and a wall of brass.” Therefore they could not be shaken by the fallacies of heretics, nor frightened by the threats of the powerful. They were, so to speak, the leaders and chieftains of that illustrious band of men who, from all classes of the people and from every part of Great Britain, resisted the new errors with unflinching spirit, and in shedding their blood, testified their loyal devotedness to the Holy See.

Of Saint John Fisher, he contrasted the Cardinal Bishop's pastoral gentleness with his doctrinal and moral zeal:

Nevertheless, whilst he was meek and affable towards the afflicted and the suffering, whenever there was question of defending the integrity of faith and morals, like a second Precursor of the Lord, in whose name he gloried, he was not afraid to proclaim the truth openly, and to defend by every means in his power the divine teachings of the Church. You are well aware, Venerable Brethren and Beloved Sons, of the reason why John Fisher was called in judgment and obliged to undergo the supreme test of martyrdom. It was because of his courageous determination to defend the sacred bond of Christian marriage—a bond indissoluble for all, even for those who wear the royal diadem—and to vindicate the Primacy with which the Roman Pontiffs are invested by divine command.

Of the layman, Thomas More, he praised the continuity of his life and death:

Endowed with the keenest of minds and supreme versatility in every kind of knowledge, he enjoyed such esteem and favour among his fellow-citizens that he was soon able to reach the highest grades of public office. But he was no less distinguished for his desire of Christian perfection and his zeal for the salvation of souls. Of this we have testimony in the ardour of his prayer, in the fervour with which he recited, whenever he could, even the Canonical Hours, in the practice of those penances by which he kept his body in subjection, and finally in the numerous and renowned accomplishments of both the spoken and the written word which he achieved for the defence of the Catholic faith and for the safeguarding of Christian morality.

A strong and courageous spirit, like John Fisher, when he saw that the doctrines of the Church were gravely endangered, he knew how to despise resolutely the flattery of human respect, how to resist, in accordance with his duty, the supreme head of the State when there was question of things commanded by God and the Church, and how to renounce with dignity the high office with which he was invested. It was for these motives that he too was imprisoned, nor could the tears of his wife and children make him swerve from the path of truth and virtue.

Of course, this event was not without controversy: in Great Britain, King George V and Queen Mary were celebrating their Silver Jubilee; Catholics had just been granted more rights in 1929--being allowed to include bequests in their last wills and testaments for Masses said after their deaths for example--and this raising of two Englishmen who had defied their King and Parliament could raise some hackles. 

Arthur Cardinal Hinsley, the Archbishop of Westminster (1935-1943) even "asked the British Minister to the Holy See, Sir Charles Wingfield whether it would be possible for the king to send a special mission to the canonisation ceremony to highlight the special patriotic loyalty of the English and Welsh Catholic community" according to Moloney, Thomas, Westminster, Whitehall and the Vatican: the Role of Cardinal Hinsley 1938–1943, (London, 1985), p. 41." which could be considered rather bold!

But King George V, like his father Edward VII before him, had wanted the anti-Catholic denunciations to be removed from the Parliamentary/Coronation Oath he was required to make, and they were, in the "Act to alter the form of the Declaration required to be made by the Sovereign on Accession" in 1910, so perhaps he was not offended at all. But unlike the canonization of Saint John Henry Newman, which then Prince Charles attended, I found no indication that any official delegation attended in 1935.

You might recall that when Pope Benedict XVI made his state visit to Scotland and England during which he beatified John Henry Newman, there was a diplomatic incident, when an internal memo got out: 

The memo suggested that Pope Benedict XVI, during his visit, could launch a range of branded condoms, visit an abortion clinic, bless a gay marriage and apologise for the Spanish Armada.[3] The cover note to the memo read "Please protect; these should not be shared externally. The 'ideal visit' paper in particular was the product of a brainstorm which took into account even the most far-fetched of ideas."

Perhaps not all brainstorming sessions should be documented. The government apologized, of course.

Saint John Fisher, pray for us!

Saint Thomas More, pray for us! 

Note that 25 years ago, Pope Saint John Paul II declared St. Thomas More Patron of Statesmen and Politicians (October 31, 2000). The anniversaries just keep coming! And in my research for this post I found this article about St. Thomas More as one of the intercessors for Opus Dei!

Image Source (Public Domain): Portrait of King/Emperor George V by Arthur Stockdale Cope, 1933

Preview: The 100th Anniversary of St. Therese of Lisieux's Canonization

On Monday, April 28, we'll resume our Son Rise Morning Show series on great 2025 anniversaries by looking back at the 100th Anniversary of the Canonization of St. Therese of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face. 

I'll be on the air at my usual time at the top of the second national hour of the Son Rise Morning Show on EWTN, about 7:50 a.m. Eastern/6:50 a.m. Central. Please listen live here or catch the podcast later here.

Since this anniversary occurs during the Jubilee Year of Hope, her shrine in Lisieux has planned many events through the year:

From January 4 to Christmas, the Sanctuary of Lisieux will experience a new great Theresian year in 2025, marked by the 100th anniversary of the canonization of Saint Therese on May 17, rich in spiritual and cultural events. It is the story of Therese's life and posterity that inspired us to create a program on the theme of joy in holiness.

This approach is also at the heart of the jubilee of the Catholic Church, “Pilgrims of Hope”, desired by Pope Francis for 2025.

Saint Therese died on September 30, 1897; she was beatified on April 29, 1923 and canonized on May 17, 1925, both Masses celebrated by Pope Pius XI. Her Cause had been hastened through the years: Pope St. Pius X had opened the process of canonization on June 10,1914. Pope Benedict XV sped up the process, bypassing the required 50 year gap between death and beatification, and declared her Venerable on August 14, 1921.

More details here.

Pope St. Paul VI wrote a letter to the Bishop of Lisieux on the one hundredth anniversary of her birth in 1973. Before his brief pontificate, Pope St. John Paul I published a letter to St. Therese. Pope St. John Paul II declared her a Doctor of the Church in 1977. Pope Benedict XVI praised her Story of a Soul in a Papal audience in 2011. In 2023, Pope Francis wrote about her in an Apostolic Exhortation on the one hundred fiftieth anniversary of her birthday, C’est la Confiance. 

And we shouldn't forget that she went to Pope Leo XIII to try to get him to allow her to go into the Carmel in 1887, when she was too young! He may be the only pope who didn't cooperate with her "cause" at the time.

I think the historical circumstance of the Papacy in Rome during the time of her beatification and canonization by Pope Pius XI is important to consider when we look at some of the details about how her canonization was celebrated--with a packed St. Peter's, lights on the exterior of the basilica, massive crowds in the square. This blog offers some examples of the crowds and decorations of St. Peter's:

The New York Times reported that at least 25,000 French and fully 15,000 American pilgrims were present for the six-hour ceremony. The basilica held almost 60,000 pilgrims, and 200,000 more waited in the square outside. For the first time, loudspeakers were installed in the Basilica, so that all the pilgrims crowded inside (many of whom could not see the sanctuary) were able to hear the Pope’s every word. This innovation was a big success.

Countless electric lights had been installed in the basilica for the ceremony. The newspapers reported extensively that that night, for the first time since 1870, the outer façade of St. Peter’s was illumined.

The illumination was done entirely with thousands of torches and lanterns, which, flickering in the breeze, gave the impression that the whole basilica was enveloped in a curtain of fire. It is estimated that this beautiful scene was witnessed by about a million people. [The New York Times, May 18, 1925, p. 2.]

The illumination was considered a step toward the reconciliation of the church and the Italian state, for it was the first time the facade [of] the Basilica had been lit up since the Pope became a voluntary “prisoner in the Vatican” after the Italian government declared war on the Papal States in 1870.

You see it, don't you? Through this CLOISTERED Carmelite nun and saint, the Vatican opened up to the world and the world--hundreds of thousands of them--came into the basilica and Vatican City for the canonization and to see the basilica illuminated. Many thousands gathered in Lisieux and it was an international event.

The situation between the city of Rome and the city of the Vatican had been tense and difficult since 1870: Pope Pius IX had titled himself the Prisoner of the Vatican; Pope Leo XIII had even considered moving the papacy out of Rome into Malta, or Spain, or Austria. 

It would not be until 1929 that the Lateran Treaty would restore the sovereignty of the reduced Papal States of the Holy See. 

President Woodrow Wilson and others ignored Pope Benedict XV's peace and reconciliation efforts after World War I. Pope XI negotiated many Concordats with European nations to recognize Church interests before he died in 1939--did you know that the USA does not have an Concordat with the Holy See? The US Federal government did not establish official diplomatic ties with the Holy See until 1984.

Isn't that the wonder of St. Therese of Lisieux? Her canonization is an event of immense impact. A Bourgeois young woman with five years of formal education (and a student of St, John of the Cross) is named a Doctor of the Church (by a student of St. John of the Cross); a Cloistered Carmelite is named co-patron of the Missions with Saint Francis Xavier, the "Apostle of the Indies", "Apostle of the Far East", "Apostle of China" and "Apostle of Japan" in 1927.

Pope Francis described her "missionary soul" thus in 2023:

As with every authentic encounter with Christ, this experience of faith summoned her to mission. Therese could define her mission in these words: “I shall desire in heaven the same thing as I do now on earth: to love Jesus and to make him loved”. [15] She wrote that she entered Carmel “to save souls”. [16] In a word, she did not view her consecration to God apart from the pursuit of the good of her brothers and sisters. She shared the merciful love of the Father for his sinful son and the love of the Good Shepherd for the sheep who were lost, astray and wounded. For this reason, Therese is the Patroness of the missions and a model of evangelization. . . .

His closing prayer to her:

Dear Saint Therese,
the Church needs to radiate the brightness,
the fragrance and the joy of the Gospel.
Send us your roses!
Help us to be, like yourself,
ever confident in God’s immense love for us,
so that we may imitate each day
your “little way” of holiness.
Amen.

Saint Therese of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face, pray for us!

Eternal rest grant until to him, O Lord, and let Perpetual Light shine upon him. May Pope Francis's soul and the souls of all the faithful departed, rest in peace. May Pope Francis rest in peace.

Preview: The 800th Anniversary of Saint Thomas Aquinas's Birth

On Monday, February 3, we'll continue our series on the Son Rise Morning Show marking special anniversaries this year. We just celebrated the feast day of Saint Thomas Aquinas  on January 28--on the 1962 calendar and some Dominican calendars it's on the day of his death on March 7--and Dominicans and the Church are in the midst of a three year jubilee celebration. It began with the 700th anniversary of his canonization (1323 to 2023), continued with the 750th anniversary of this death (1274-2024), and concludes with the 800th anniversary of Thomas Aquinas' birth (1225 to 2025), so it seems appropriate to comment upon that last jubilee celebration.

I'll be on the air at my usual time at the top of the second national hour of the Son Rise Morning Show on EWTN, about 7:50 a.m. Eastern/6:50 a.m. Central. Please listen live here or catch the podcast later here.

We know the date of his canonization, July 18, 1323, in Avignon by Pope John XXII; we know the date of his death, March 7, 1274 in the Cistercian Fossanova Abbey in Italy as he was en route to the Second Council of Lyon in France; we know the date of the original transfer of his remains from Fossanova to the Church of Jacobins in Toulouse, France, January 28, 1369. 

We don't know the date of his birth! According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, "The end of 1225 is usually assigned as the time of his birth." That's helpful?

G.K. Chesterton offers some background on Saint Thomas's birthright, if not his birth date:

Thomas Aquinas, in a strange and rather symbolic manner, sprang out of the very centre of the civilised world of his time; the central knot or coil of the powers then controlling Christendom. He was closely connected with all of them; even with some of them that might well be described as destroying Christendom. The whole religious quarrel, the whole international quarrel, was for him, a family quarrel. He was born in the purple, almost literally on the hem of the imperial purple; for his own cousin was the Holy Roman Emperor. He could have quartered half the kingdoms of Europe on his shield-- if he had not thrown away the shield. He was Italian and French and German and in every way European.

[I cannot help but recall the student blooper reported by Richard Lederer in Anguished English: "Handel was half German, half Italian, and half English. He was very large."] 

To this cosmopolitan comprehensiveness in his inherited position, he afterwards added many things of his own, that made for mutual understanding among the peoples, and gave him something of the character of an ambassador and interpreter. He travelled a great deal; he was not only well known in Paris and the German universities, but he almost certainly visited England; probably he went to Oxford and London; and it has been said that we may be treading in the footsteps of him and his Dominican companions, whenever we go down by the river to the railway-station that still bears the name of Black-friars. [?] But the truth applies to the travels of his mind as well as his body. He studied the literature even of the opponents of Christianity much more carefully and impartially than was then the fashion; he really tried to understand the Arabian Aristotelianism of the Moslems; and wrote a highly humane and reasonable treatise on the problem of the treatment of the Jews. He always attempted to look at everything from the inside; but he was certainly lucky in having been born in the inside of the state system and the high politics of his day.

Because he and his family were so integrated into the power structures of his day, Thomas's choice of vocation as a young man (about 19 years old) was disappointing to his family. While he felt called to Saint Dominic's Order of Preachers, his family wanted him to become the Abbot of Monte Cassino, succeeding his uncle. He'd begun his studies at that Benedictine abbey but then went to study at the university in Naples, where he encountered the Dominican order. 

His brothers captured him as he was on his way to Paris with some friars and he was held in the family castles at Monte San Giovanni and Roccasecca near Aquino for almost two years. His mother Theodora finally relented, and helped him escape and he was lowered in a basket to Dominican friars waiting below. He'd been studying all the time and was ready to continue doing so under the direction of Saint Albert the Great at Paris and Cologne. And of course there's the famous story of his brothers tempting him with a prostitute: he forced her away from him with a burning log and marked the wall with a cross with it, then angels visited him in a vision, promising the virtue of perfect chastity!

Except for the Blessed Virgin Mary and Saint John the Baptist we don't celebrate the births of saints as feasts on the Church calendar, but the renown of Saint Thomas Aquinas and his importance to Catholic theology and liturgy (the Feast of Corpus Christi), etc., means that this anniversary is important as it caps off the jubilees the Dominicans and the Church have been celebrating. 

In 2027, by the way, we could highlight the 460th anniversary of his being named a Universal Doctor of the Church in 1567 by Pope Saint Pius V and this year we could also remember that Pope Leo XIII named him the Patron of Catholic schools, universities, and colleges 145 years ago on August 4, 1880!

Saint Thomas Aquinas, pray for us!

Image credits (both Public Domain): top right: Detail of The Apotheosis of Saint Thomas Aquinas by Francisco de Zurbarán, 1631; bottom left: Thomas is girded by angels with a mystical belt of purity after his proof of chastity. Painting by Diego Velázquez.

Preview: The Canonization of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales

We'll take another detour Monday morning, October 23, in our Son Rise Morning Show series on Father Henry Sebastian Bowden's Mementoes of the English Martyrs and Confessors For Every Day in the Year. This time, Matt Swaim or Anna Mitchell and I will remember the canonization of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales by Pope St. Paul VI on October 25, 1970, 53 years ago.

So I'll be on the air about 6:50 a.m. Central/7:50 a.m. Eastern, the last segment in the second national hour on EWTN Radio. Please listen live here and/or catch the podcast later here.

I did consult the index prepared by Sophia Institute Press for Father Bowden's book and discovered that he does not include six of the Forty Martyrs in his daily reflections: Saints Thomas Garnet, SJ; Richard Gwyn; John Jones, OSF; David Lewis, SJ; Nicholas Owen, SJ; Polydore Plasden. Why didn't Father Bowden include them? I don't know. We should remember that he was writing in the early Twentieth century to English Catholics, trying to inspire them spiritually and morally to be as true to their Faith in Christ and His Church as these English martyrs and confessors had been. He wasn't writing a comprehensive history/biography of the martyrs and confessors.

In 1910 when this book was published, 20 of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales had only been declared Venerable, and one of those canonized in 1970, John Lloyd, is only mentioned in the memento of Saint Philip Evans, SJ (then Venerable) on July 22, page 237. Please note that Evans and Lloyd were executed together on July 22, 1679 in Pwllhalog, near Cardiff in Wales at a site known as the "Death Junction", in the throes of the so-called "Popish Plot" and they are two of the six Martyrs of "and Wales" in the title.

We must remember that the Causes of the English and Welsh Catholic martyrs of the Reformation and Recusant eras did not start until after the Restoration of the Hierarchy in 1850. After that process Pope Leo XIII beatified 54 in 1886 and nine more in 1895. Pope Pius XI beatified 136 more in 1929 and canonized Fisher and More on May 19, 1935. Then, after World War II, the Cause began again and these 40 were canonized. Pope St. John Paul II beatified 85 more in 1987.

There are many, many resources on-line (not to mention my blog!) and in print describing the processes of beatification and canonization of the English and Welsh martyrs. Here's one about the Forty Martyrs focused on Lancashire. Here's another from the Archdiocese of Southwark.

But for Monday's discussion, I'd like to focus on Pope Paul VI's comments about the martyrs he declared saints on October 25, 1970. The Vatican website does not translate all of his homily into English, just the introductory and closing sections; a Jesuit website (ten of those canonized that day were Jesuits) provides another portion.

In the English sections of his homily, Pope Paul VI welcomed not only the English Catholic hierarchy in attendance at the Mass but the Anglican dignitaries present--assuring the latter that the canonization of these martyrs was not meant to be a point of division between the Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion, which had just begun ecumenical talks:

We extend Our greeting first of all to Our venerable brother Cardinal John Carmel Heenan, Archbishop of Westminster, who is present here today. Together with him We greet Our brother bishops of England and Wales and of all the other countries, those who have come here for this great ceremony. . . . Thanks to them we are celebrating Christ’s glory made manifest in the holy Martyrs, whom We have just canonized, with such keen and brotherly feelings that We are able to experience in a very special spiritual way the mystery of the oneness and love of the Church. We offer you our greetings, brothers, sons and daughters; We thank you and We bless you.

While We are particularly pleased to note the presence of the official representative of the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Reverend Doctor Harry Smythe, We also extend Our respectful and affectionate greeting to all the members of the Anglican Church who have likewise come to take part in this ceremony. We indeed feel very close to them. We would like them to read in Our heart the humility, the gratitude and the hope with which We welcome them.

And he closed his comments with words of hope about the day when "the unity of the faith and of Christian life is restored": "Perhaps We shall have to go on, waiting and watching in prayer, in order to deserve that blessed day. But already We are strengthened in this hope by the heavenly friendship of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales who are canonized today. Amen."

Obviously we are still waiting and watching for that day, for various reasons.

About the martyrs themselves, he offered this praise:

. . . it is perfectly clear that they are worthy to stand alongside the greatest martyrs of the past; and this is not merely because of their fearless faith and marvellous constancy, but by reason of their humility, simplicity and serenity, and above all the spiritual joy and that wonderously radiant love with which they accepted their condemnation and death. 

The high tragedy in the lives of these martyrs was that their honest and genuine loyalty came into conflict with their fidelity to God and the dictates of their conscience illumined by the Catholic faith. 

Faced with the choice of remaining steadfast in their faith and of dying for it, or of saving their lives by denying that faith, without a moment’s hesitation and with a truly supernatural strength they stood for God and joyfully confronted martyrdom. 

The 40 Martyrs of England and Wales canonized 53 years ago are: Alban Roe, Alexander Bryant, Ambrose Barlow, Anne Line, Augustine Webster, Cuthbert Mayne, David Lewis, Edmund Arrowsmith, Edmund Campion, Edmund Gennings, Henry Morse, Henry Walpole, John Almond, John Boste, John Houghton, John Jones, John Kemble, John Lloyd, John Payne, John Plessington, John Rigby, John Roberts, John Stone, John Southworth, John Wall, Luke Kirby, Margaret Clitherow, Margaret Ward, Nicholas Owen, Philip Evans, Philip Howard, Polydore Plasden, Ralph Sherwin, Richard Gwyn, Richard Reynolds, Robert Lawrence, Robert Southwell, Swithun Wells, and Thomas Garnet.

In England, their feast is celebrated on May 4, the date of the first martyrs at Tyburn. In Wales, their feast is celebrated on October 25, highlighting the Six Welsh Martyrs.

Forty Martyrs of England and Wales, pray for us!

Pope Pius IX Elected in 1846

Giovanni Maria Cardinal Mastai Ferretti became Pope Pius IX on June 16, 1846, succeeding Pope Gregory XVI. His reign as pope would last 32 years; his rule over the Papal States 24. To say that he is a controversial pope is to make an understatement. Pope St. John Paul II beatified Pope Pius IX on September 3, 2000:

In the context of the Jubilee Year, it is with deep joy that I have declared blessed two Popes, Pius IX and John XXIII, and three other servants of the Gospel in the ministry and the consecrated life: Archbishop Tommaso Reggio of Genoa, the diocesan priest William Joseph Chaminade and the Benedictine monk Columba Marmion.

Five different personalities, each with his own features and his own mission, all linked by a longing for holiness. It is precisely their holiness that we recognize today: holiness that is a profound and transforming relationship with God, built up and lived in the daily effort to fulfil his will. Holiness lives in history and no saint has escaped the limits and conditioning which are part of our human nature. In beatifying one of her sons, the Church does not celebrate the specific historical decisions he may have made, but rather points to him as someone to be imitated and venerated because of his virtues, in praise of the divine grace which shines resplendently in him.

Of Pope Pius IX, Pope John Paul II said:

Listening to the words of the Gospel acclamation: "Lord, lead me on a straight road", our thoughts naturally turn to the human and religious life of Pope Pius IX, Giovanni Maria Mastai Ferretti. Amid the turbulent events of his time, he was an example of unconditional fidelity to the immutable deposit of revealed truths. Faithful to the duties of his ministry in every circumstance, he always knew how to give absolute primacy to God and to spiritual values. His lengthy pontificate was not at all easy and he had much to suffer in fulfilling his mission of service to the Gospel. He was much loved, but also hated and slandered.

However, it was precisely in these conflicts that the light of his virtues shone most brightly: these prolonged sufferings tempered his trust in divine Providence, whose sovereign lordship over human events he never doubted. This was the source of Pius IX's deep serenity, even amid the misunderstandings and attacks of so many hostile people. He liked to say to those close to him: "In human affairs we must be content to do the best we can and then abandon ourselves to Providence, which will heal our human faults and shortcomings".

Sustained by this deep conviction, he called the First Vatican Ecumenical Council, which clarified with magisterial authority certain questions disputed at the time, and confirmed the harmony of faith and reason. During his moments of trial Pius IX found support in Mary, to whom he was very devoted. In proclaiming the dogma of the Immaculate Conception, he reminded everyone that in the storms of human life the light of Christ shines brightly in the Blessed Virgin and is more powerful than sin and death.

Please note that he became pope seven months after John Henry Newman became a Catholic. After Newman studied for the Catholic priesthood and was ordained in Rome, Pope Pius IX approved his founding of the Oratory of St. Philip Neri in England. On August 22, 1850, Pius IX conferred an honorary doctorate degree on Newman before he became the Rector the Catholic University of Ireland, another foundation Pope Pius IX approved so Catholics in Ireland would have a college to attend.

But Newman and Pius IX also had their difficulties. There are some websites that descry the canonization of Newman (a canonization approved by the current pope) because they think Newman did not respect the authority of the pope highly enough. I'm sure you see the contradiction there.

The website organized by the Oratories in England on the occasion of Newman's canonization dedicated a page to Newman's thoughts about the papacy and papal authority:

In 1852 Newman was appointed Rector of the newly-founded Catholic University in Dublin. Pope Pius IX had forbidden Irish Catholics to attend new ‘mixed’, i.e. secular, colleges which the British government were setting up. Instead, a Catholic university should be founded. Newman knew that it would be a tough job to get the new university off the ground, as nearly half the Irish Catholic bishops didn’t support it. In public lectures he answered those who doubted its practicality by saying it would succeed because the Pope had decreed it and the papacy had a perpetual wisdom down the ages. It was a brave argument to make, but in the ensuing years, Newman came to realise that he himself actually knew more about the situation in Ireland than the Pope did. When he later published his lectures as The Idea of a University he revised the passages in which he had lauded the papacy’s perpetual wisdom.

During the 1860’s there was a growing pressure by the ‘Ultramontane’ party within the Church to have the doctrine of Papal Infallibility officially declared. Newman believed in the doctrine - he had demonstrated it in action in early church history - but it was now being pushed in an extreme form to cover everything that a pope said. A leading Ultramontane proclaimed that he wanted an infallible statement with his copy of the Times at breakfast every morning. In this atmosphere, Newman thought it would be inopportune for a definition to be made.

The Vatican Council of 1870 did define the doctrine but in very precise terms. Administrative or political decisions were not covered. Nevertheless, the Ultramontane party claimed that they were. Many ordinary Catholics were troubled . . .

Then Dr. Andrew Nash describes Newman's Letter to the Duke of Norfolk which I think I covered in this blog pretty well. Nash concludes:

Newman’s journey to a balanced understanding of papal authority remains helpful for Catholics today. His canonisation gives us a good opportunity to explain this much misunderstood doctrine to others.

Image Credit (Public Domain) Pope Pius IX in 1846

Today: The 40 at 50

Today is the 50th anniversary of the canonization of the 40 Martyrs of England and Wales in Rome by Pope Paul VI.

The Bishop of Plymouth, Mark O'Toole, issued a Pastoral Letter:

This weekend we mark an historic moment - the fiftieth anniversary of the Canonisation of the forty martyrs of England and Wales, which took place on 25th October 1970. On that occasion, Pope Paul VI reminded us:

"We have among the 40 holy Martyrs secular and regular priests, religious of various orders, and of different rank, lay people of very noble descent, as well as of modest condition; we have women who were married, mothers with a family. What unites them all is that interior attitude of fidelity to the call of God asked of them, as an answer of love…….The drama of the existence of these martyrs, was that their honest and sincere loyalty to the civil authority came to be in conflict with fidelity to God and with what, according to the dictates of their conscience illuminated by the Catholic faith, they knew to involve the revealed truths, especially to the Holy Eucharist and on the inalienable prerogatives of the successor of Peter, who, at the behest of God, is the universal Pastor of the Church of Christ." (Pope Paul VI, Homily at the Canonisation of the Forty Martyrs)

Bishop O'Toole then highlighted the diocesan martyr among the 40, St. Cuthbert Mayne:

Today, as we keep the memory of this great and well-loved saint, we see where his martyrdom can be truly rooted. It is founded on the death of Jesus, on His supreme sacrifice of love, consummated on the Cross, that we might have life (cf. Jn 10: 10). It is these two truths - the sacrifice of Jesus manifest anew in the sacrifice of the Mass and communion with the Holy Father - for which he and so many others died. These two truths have, for many centuries, been the hallmarks of the Catholic Faith in these islands.

St Cuthbert's strength to face martyrdom, came from his deep and intimate union with Jesus Christ. We know that in the months he spent in the dark prison cell in Launceston Castle, before his death, St. Cuthbert never lost heart. He spent his long wait by encouraging his fellow prisoners. He often fell on his knees to say his prayers, which lasted far into the night. On one occasion, just after midnight, it is recorded, St. Cuthbert was meditating and praying, and suddenly a bright light shone around him, lighting up the terrible wall of the dungeon. It awakened the other prisoners who wondered where the light was coming from. St. Cuthbert gently told them to go back to sleep and would not talk about it the following day. A miraculous consolation had been given to him in his dismal dungeon. Indeed, the Holy Spirit was preparing him for an eloquence beyond human speech.

At the Jesuits in Britain website, Father Dennis Blackledge shares his memories of the canonization, which he attended. The Arundel Cathedral website offers a downloadable booklet for a Votive Mass celebrating the anniversary which includes brief biographies of each of the martyrs.

On the Calendar of the Roman Missal of 1962 for the Extraordinary Form of the Latin Mass, today is the Feast of Christ the King as established by Pope Pius XI in 1925:

28. Therefore by Our Apostolic Authority We institute the Feast of the Kingship of Our Lord Jesus Christ to be observed yearly throughout the whole world on the last Sunday of the month of October - the Sunday, that is, which immediately precedes the Feast of All Saints. We further ordain that the dedication of mankind to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, which Our predecessor of saintly memory, Pope Pius X, commanded to be renewed yearly, be made annually on that day. This year, however, We desire that it be observed on the thirty-first day of the month on which day We Ourselves shall celebrate pontifically in honor of the kingship of Christ, and shall command that the same dedication be performed in Our presence. It seems to Us that We cannot in a more fitting manner close this Holy Year, nor better signify Our gratitude and that of the whole of the Catholic world to Christ the immortal King of ages, for the blessings showered upon Us, upon the Church, and upon the Catholic world during this holy period.

29. It is not necessary, Venerable Brethren, that We should explain to you at any length why We have decreed that this feast of the Kingship of Christ should be observed in addition to those other feasts in which his kingly dignity is already signified and celebrated. It will suffice to remark that although in all the feasts of our Lord the material object of worship is Christ, nevertheless their formal object is something quite distinct from his royal title and dignity. We have commanded its observance on a Sunday in order that not only the clergy may perform their duty by saying Mass and reciting the Office, but that the laity too, free from their daily tasks, may in a spirit of holy joy give ample testimony of their obedience and subjection to Christ. The last Sunday of October seemed the most convenient of all for this purpose, because it is at the end of the liturgical year, and thus the feast of the Kingship of Christ sets the crowning glory upon the mysteries of the life of Christ already commemorated during the year, and, before celebrating the triumph of all the Saints, we proclaim and extol the glory of him who triumphs in all the Saints and in all the Elect. Make it your duty and your task, Venerable Brethren, to see that sermons are preached to the people in every parish to teach them the meaning and the importance of this feast, that they may so order their lives as to be worthy of faithful and obedient subjects of the Divine King.

You might remember that it was Pope Pius XI who beatified 29 of the 40 Martyrs of England and Wales in 1929 and who canonized Saint John Fisher and Saint Thomas More in 1935. 

These 40 Martyrs of England and Wales truly knew what King they served and to whom they owed faithful obedience! Here is a Litany of these Saints (for private devotion).

Christ the King, have mercy on us!

Holy Martyrs of England and Wales, pray for us!

Image Credit for Christ in Majesty: Romanesque illuminated manuscript Gospel Book, c.1220 (public domain).

Book Review: Duffy's Newman

This book was published as an introduction to John Henry Cardinal Newman before his canonization last year. A reader who knew nothing about Newman before reading this book would likely ask by the end of it: "why was he canonized? He seems like a most disagreeable person, selfish, dishonest, manipulative, tyrannical--what in him was holy?" We are assured that he strove for holiness but Duffy's portrayal of his works, projects, and legacy emphasizes only his mind, his literary brilliance, and the opposition he faced--and all his faults and frailties.

I had purchased the book because I have trusted Eamon Duffy's works on the English Reformation from The Stripping of the Altars to Reformation Divided. Lucy Beckett, whose works I have read and somewhat enjoyed, liked the book too and recommended it in the pages of the Wall Street Journal. I also liked the extensive chronology at the front of the book. Duffy does pack quite a bit of detail, citations from Newman's works, letters, and sermons, into "A very short history" (145 pages, including the index) but is it really a good introduction to Newman, written in conjunction with his canonization, following a process in which the Catholic Church's hierarchy determined first that he was Venerable and thus had practiced the theological virtues of Faith, Hope, and Charity to an heroic degree, and in which the faithful had the devotion to pray for his intercession with the Holy Trinity to answer prayers for great miracles of healing?

I'd have to say: No. It's a good critical study of Newman but seems to have missed the sense of the occasion: Newman being proclaimed a Saint of the Church, someone we believe lived a holy life and thus merited not only the glories of the Beatific Vision in Heaven but also devotion and imitation on earth after his death. Additionally, for an introduction to a man's life and work--probably because of space limitations--the absence of even a biographical sketch is almost strange.

I'd also have to say that I disagree entirely with this statement in the review I excerpted recently by Dr. Bud Marr, Director of the National Institute of Newman Studies and Associate Editor of the Newman Studies Journal:

The strength of Duffy’s treatment is rooted in the way that he navigates a via media between biographers who are overly hagiographical in their approach to Newman’s life and those scholars who are hypercritical and, in some cases, even hostile to Newman as a historical figure. Duffy strikes a nice balance. On the one hand, he’s more than happy to acknowledge Newman’s enduring legacy as one of the great Catholic thinkers of the modern era. On the other hand, Duffy refuses to paper over some of Newman’s rougher edges for the sake of preserving a supposedly pristine understanding of the English convert’s saintliness.

In Duffy's book there is barely a mention of any virtue in Newman at all unless it is intellectual. His love for God, for his family, for his friends, for his spiritual correspondents, for his parishioners, both Anglican and Catholic, for the poor, for the men and boys he taught at Oxford and Birmingham, is never highlighted. His faith in God's providence and love; his hope in the reality and truth of God's revelation and salvation are also never adequately conveyed.

Even his intellectual virtues are criticized because they are idiosyncratic to Newman. There's not even a hint of hagiography here, nor really of "the English convert's saintliness". Duffy doesn't just refuse "to paper over some of Newman's rougher edges"; he emphasizes and highlights them!

There were some insights I gained from reading this book. Duffy's explanation of Newman's campaign, after the excellent reception of the Apologia pro Vita Sua, to reach out to his Anglican friends on subjects like the doctrinal declarations of Mary's Immaculate Conception and of the Infallibility of the Pope in matters of faith and morals, was incisive. Duffy describes how Newman seized those opportunities to defend the Church with the intellectual and rhetorical skills unique to him, in terms his Anglican audience would understand--as they indeed better understood him and his conversion to Catholicism.

Overall it was a disappointing read, and one which will not persuade me to to go back to the older view of the hyper-sensitive, dishonest, self-absorbed Newman described by Frank Newman, Bremond, and Abbott. As I have before I call your attention to the former Bishop of Raphoe, Reverend Philip Boyce's article on Newman's holiness. 

This Morning: New Series on the 40 Martyrs of England and Wales

As promised, I'll be on the Son Rise Morning Show with Anna Mitchell at about 7:50 a.m. Eastern/6:50 a.m. Central to begin our new series on the 40 Martyrs of England and Wales, leading up to the 50th anniversary of their canonization on October 25, 1970.

Please listen live here; the podcast will be archived here.

It's interesting to note that on the Vatican website, the homily Pope Paul VI preached at the Mass and Canonization is mostly in Italian, with an introduction in English welcoming Cardinal John Carmel Heenan, Archbishop of Westminster, other Catholic bishops and priest, and laity from England. He also welcomed the official representative of the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Reverend Doctor Harry Smythe and other Anglicans. But when he discusses the reasons for the canonization and presents some of the martyrs individually, that portion of the homily is only in Italian. There is a translation into Portuguese, if that's helpful to you.

He concluded with another portion in English:

May the blood of these Martyrs be able to heal the great wound inflicted upon God’s Church by reason of the separation of the Anglican Church from the Catholic Church. Is it not one--these Martyrs say to us--the Church founded by Christ? Is not this their witness? Their devotion to their nation gives us the assurance that on the day when--God willing--the unity of the faith and of Christian life is restored, no offence will be inflicted on the honour and sovereignty of a great country such as England. There will be no seeking to lessen the legitimate prestige and the worthy patrimony of piety and usage proper to the Anglican Church when the Roman Catholic Church--this humble “Servant of the Servants of God”--is able to embrace her ever beloved Sister in the one authentic communion of the family of Christ: a communion of origin and of faith, a communion of priesthood and of rule, a communion of the Saints in the freedom and love of the Spirit of Jesus.

Perhaps We shall have to go on, waiting and watching in prayer, in order to deserve that blessed day. But already We are strengthened in this hope by the heavenly friendship of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales who are canonized today. Amen.

The New York Times covered the event and noted the emphasis on ecumenism and inter-faith harmony, but also noting that some Catholics unhappy with the changes in the liturgy protested the event.

On Friday this week, I'll offer you a preview of the first three martyrs we'll discuss, three of the protomartyrs of the English Reformation under Henry VIII:

John Houghton, Carthusian Prior, London Charterhouse
Augustine Webster, Carthusian Prior, Epworth Charterhouse (Isle of Axholme, Lincolnshire)
Robert Lawrence, Carthusian Prior, Beauvale Charterhouse, Nottinghamshire

New Series on the SRMS: 50 years of the 40 Martyrs

Before Matt Swaim, Anna Mitchell and I began the series on Lenten and Easter reflections based on St. John Henry Newman's sermons, we had been doing a series on the great anniversaries this year: events, births, deaths, etc, from the Battle of Thermopylae to the birth of Karol Wojtyla (Pope St. John Paul II).

One of the anniversaries to mark this year is October 25, 1970, the 50th anniversary of the canonization of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales by Pope St. Paul VI. So we are starting a new series on the Son Rise Morning Show on Monday, June 8 (at the usual time, 6:50 a.m. Central/7:50 a.m. Eastern). Each Monday morning, we will highlight two (or three) martyrs, concluding on Monday, October 26 the day after the anniversary.

Please listen live here; the podcast will be archived here.

To start us off, on Monday, June 8, I'll talk to Anna about the time and the context of the canonizations in 1970, 35 years after St. John Fisher and St. Thomas More were canonized by Pope Pius XI--eleven of these 40 martyrs had been beatified with Fisher and More by Pope Pope Leo XIII in 1886 (84 years before); 29 more of these 40 martyrs had been beatified by Pope Pius XI in 1929 (41 years before).

So why did Pope Paul VI canonize these 40 martyrs in 1970? Why were there some who thought the timing inopportune?

For answers, we turn to this article from the weekly English edition of L'Osservatore Romano on October 29, 1970, preserved for us in the EWTN library.

To examine the second question first: Pope Paul VI and Michael Ramsey, the Archbishop of Canterbury, had met in Rome and issued The Common Declaration by Pope Paul VI and the Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Michael Ramsey on March 24, 1966. They agreed to enter into a dialogue, seeking unity:

In willing obedience to the command of Christ who bade His disciples love one another, they declare that, with His help, they wish to leave in the hands of the God of mercy all that in the past has been opposed to this precept of charity, and that they make their own the mind of the Apostle which he expressed in these words: ‘Forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press towards the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus’ (Phil 3:13-14).

They affirm their desire that all those Christians who belong to these two Communions may be animated by these same sentiments of respect, esteem and fraternal love, and in order to help these develop to the full, they intend to inaugurate between the Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion a serious dialogue which, founded on the Gospels and on the ancient common traditions, may lead to that unity in truth, for which Christ prayed.

The dialogue should include not only theological matters such as Scripture, Tradition and Liturgy, but also matters of practical difficulty felt on either side. His Holiness the Pope and His Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury are, indeed, aware that serious obstacles stand in the way of a restoration of complete communion of faith and sacramental life; nevertheless, they are of one mind in their determination to promote responsible contacts between their Communions in all those spheres of Church life where collaboration is likely to lead to a greater understanding and a deeper charity, and to strive in common to find solutions for all the great problems that face those who believe in Christ in the world of today. . . .

As the L'Observatore Romano article notes, the canonization of these 40 Martyrs seemed to contradict the quotation from Saint Paul's Letter to the Philippians ("Forgetting those things which are behind"), and Dr. Ramsey opined that it was not timely, ecumenically speaking:

In more recent times—November 1969—the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Ramsey, had expressed his apprehension that this Canonization might rekindle animosity and polemics detriment to the ecumenical spirit that has characterized the efforts of the Churches recently. But the reaction of the press, lay, Anglican and Catholic, showed clearly that this concern—though shared by some Anglicans and Catholics—did not correspond to the view of the vast majority. Many people, in fact, both Anglicans and Catholics, were aware of the fact that, right from the beginning of the re-opening of the Cause, the policy of its Promoters had been characterized by an extremely serene and ecumenical note; what is more, they realized the positive repercussions it offers just in this field if it is presented in this very spirit.

In fact, public opinion seemed to accord with the postulator's view:

The vast majority of people understood all this. The most authoritative voice in this sense was that of the British Council of Churches, which made a public declaration on the matter on December 17th, 1969. Not only does it recognize the importance for the Catholic Church to venerate its Martyrs, to whom the survival of the Catholic Church in England and Wales is essentially due, but it also expressed satisfaction that the various Christian denominations are united today in recognizing the tradition of the Martyrs as a common element from which we must all draw strength disregarding denominational frontiers.

As to why the cause of the English martyrs was revived so many years after the previous beatifications and canonizations Fr. Paolo Molinari, SJ the postulator of the cause explained:

In still more recent times, the Hierarchy of England and Wales, conscious of the deep devotion to the martyrs who on different occasions had been declared blessed by the apostolic See, and aware that this devotion was addressed especially to some of the most popular of them was induced by the requests of the faithful and the multiplicity of favours obtained, to promote the canonization not of the whole host of these martyrs, but of a limited group of them. Right from the beginning of the negotiations, the Canonization Cause of these Martyrs was entrusted by the Hierarchy of England and Wales to Fr. Paolo Molinari, Postulator General of the Society of Jesus and President of the College of Postulators. He in turn nominated as Assistant Postulators Father Philip Caraman and James Walsh of the English Province of the Society.

Furthermore, there were miracles attributed to the intercession of the martyrs:

Even before the rehearing of the Cause, many reports of favours and apparently miraculous cures attributed to the intercession of our Blessed Martyrs, had come to the knowledge of the Catholic Hierarchy of England and Wales, which hastened to inform the competent Roman Authorities.

Catholics in England had been encouraged to honor the martyrs and to seek their prayers:

As a result of the intensification of the devotion of the faithful and their prayers, a good many events took place which looked like miracles. Sufficient data were collected about them to induce the Archbishop of Westminster, then Cardinal William Godfrey, to send a description of 24 seemingly miraculous cases to the Sacred Congregation.

The most striking of these and of the others that continued to be notified to the Postulation were first examined with special care by doctors of high repute. On the basis of their answers, two cases were chosen and the usual Apostolic Proceedings were instituted, and the acts were sent to the Sacred Congregation of Rites in Rome.

So on May 18, 1970, Pope Paul VI announced the canonization of the 40 Martyrs of England and Wales:

"We greatly rejoice that unanimously you have asked that these blessed Martyrs of England and Wales be canonized; this is also our desire. It is our intention to enroll them among the saints and to declare them worthy of the honours that the Church attributes to those holy persons who have obtained their heavenly reward. With God's help, we will do this on the twenty-fifth day of October of this year in the Vatican Basilica".

The 40 Martyrs are, in the chronological order in which we'll discuss them on the Son Rise Morning Show (unless otherwise noted, they are priests; unless otherwise noted, they are seminary, non-order priests):

From the reign of Henry VIII:

John Houghton, Carthusian Prior, London Charterhouse
Augustine Webster, Carthusian Prior, Epworth Charterhouse (Isle of Axholme, Lincolnshire)
Robert Lawrence, Carthusian Prior, Beauvale Charterhouse, Nottinghamshire
Richard Reynolds, Briggitine Priest of Syon Abbey
John Stone, Augustinian Canon of Canterbury Abbey

From the reign of Elizabeth I:

Cuthbert Mayne
Ralph Sherwin
Edmund Campion, SJ
Alexander Briant, SJ
John Payne
Luke Kirby
Richard Gwyn, layman*
Margaret Clitherow
Margaret Ward
Swithun Wells, layman
Eustace White
Polydore Plasden
Edmund Gennings
John Boste
Philip Howard, layman
Robert Southwell, SJ
Henry Walpole, SJ
John Jones (Griffith), Franciscan*
John Rigby, layman
Anne Line

During the reign of James I:

Nicholas Owen, Jesuit lay-brother
Thomas Garnet, SJ
John Roberts, OSB*
John Almond

During the reign of Charles I and/or the Civil War/Interregnum period:

Edmund Arrowsmith, SJ
Ambrose Barlow, OSB
Alban Roe, OSB
Henry Morse, SJ

During the reign of Charles II:

John Southworth

The Popish Plot Martyrs during the reign of Charles II:

Philip Evans, SJ*
David Lewis, SJ*
John Wall, Franciscan
John Kemble
John Lloyd*
John Plessington

*The six Welsh martyrs are:

Richard Gwyn, layman
John Jones (Griffith), Franciscan
John Roberts, OSB
Philip Evans, SJ
Davis Lewis, SJ
John Lloyd

Holy Martyrs of England and Wales, pray for us!

Tracey Rowland Searches for Newman's University

She searches for it, but doesn't find it very often.

Speaking at the Newman the Prophet: A Saint for Our Times conference held at The Angelicum in Rome before the canonization of St. John Henry Newman and the four women saints, Tracey Rowland, the St. John Paul II Chair of Theology at the University of Notre Dame (Australia) and a Member of the International Theological Commission, commented on what she sees:

First I would argue that most of our universities are what Newman would call factories, mints, and treadmills, that is, places where thousands of students, known to the university only by their student numbers, pass exams to qualify for employment in a particular field. Some small number of institutions do however retain an interest in the liberal arts and these cater mostly for students from upper middle class families where there is less concern about being trained for a particular job. However for many of these elite institutions the liberal arts are no longer linked to the transcendentals of truth, beauty and goodness, all of which are regarded as ‘bourgeois nonsense’. Instead in so many of these institutions the liberal arts have morphed into social theory subjects like gender studies and the objective is no longer to produce gentlemen but to form social activists, people who act like trained assassins against the last vestiges of Greco-Roman and Judeo-Christian civilisation.

This leaves us with only a very small number of academic institutions anywhere in the world where something like Newman’s vision has any possibility of success. Most of these institutions operate at the level of liberal arts colleges that are specifically Catholic and have been established by visionary lay people who wanted their children and grandchildren to receive the kind of formation Newman set out in his Idea of a University. Some extremely small number of such institutions can be found at the higher university level. Excluded are numerous institutions with the adjective Catholic in their title where no attempt is made to offer a specifically Christian formation of every aspect of the soul, or a specifically Christian integration of the various disciplines, but where there are merely buildings named after local Catholic worthies, a chapel, a chaplain who is a priest if you are lucky, and lots of opportunities to improve the welfare of minority groups. The accountants who normally run such institutions might be members of the Catholic Church but the institutions themselves, their ethos, the content of their curricula, their marketing strategies, the beliefs of their faculty members, administrators, janitors and librarians and the bureaucratic idioms found in their policies are not only not Christian but in many cases simply the outcome of corporate ideology. Newman would not recognise these institutions as in any sense consistent with his own vision.

Sadly enough, Newman University, our local Catholic university--which has formed a partnership with the Diocese with its School of Catholic Studies to offer undergraduate degrees to the young men in the Diocesan House of Studies before they go off to seminaries in other dioceses--announced the need to eliminate degree programs to confront a budget shortfall. Where do they look for cuts? Theology and Philosophy. among other undisclosed majors:

At their September meeting, the board of trustees at Newman University approved cutting four majors and also decided to realign two other departments.

This comes after the board approved cost cutting recommendations from their financial task force. In an update from the university's newspaper, the Vantage, they confirmed the cutting of four majors while realigning theology and philosophy. . . .

No final decisions have been made regarding which majors are going to be cut, according to Clark Schafer, the Director of University Affairs at Newman University, but classes will still be offered for those particular subjects.

What will that mean for the School of Catholic Studies? What will that mean for Newman University's efforts to fulfill the vision of its patron, whom it just celebrated so joyfully when he was canonized last week?

St. John Henry Newman, pray for us!

Son Rise Morning Show "Santo Subito" Wrap Up

As promised, Matt Swaim and I will wrap up our Son Rise Morning Show Santo Subito series this morning at 7:50 a.m. Eastern/6:50 a.m. Central. 

I celebrated the day by ordering holy cards, which happily for me feature the prayer I said so often while attending St. Paul's Parish-Newman Center at Wichita State University! I also attended a Solemn Mass in the evening at Newman University! Students there had been in a lock down Saturday night to watch the canonization live (3:00 a.m.!) after an period of Eucharistic Adoration under the stars. Ah, youth!

I prayed the Glorious Mysteries with St. John Henry Newman's meditations, the CD from Aid to the Church in Need UK package having arrived on Saturday! and listened to one of my late husband's favorite devotional CDs, Heart Speaks to Heart!

The BBC reports that thousands of Britons attended the ceremony (video from the Vatican)held in the square of St. Peter's Basilica and that tens of thousands of pilgrims were there. The booklet for the Mass and canonizations may be accessed here.

Pope Francis gave a homily on the Gospel (Luke 17:11-19, the story of the ten lepers) at Sunday's canonization Mass, mentioning the five new saints only at the end. Pope Francis's allusions to St. John Henry Newman were indirect in his homily, quoting one of his Parochial and Plain Sermons, a passage from the Meditations and Devotions, and a phrase from "The Pillar and the Cloud/Lead, Kindly Light"; he mentioned the three religious sisters briefly and highlighted St. Marguerite Bays most directly, though also briefly:

To cry out. To walk. To give thanks. Today we give thanks to the Lord for our new Saints. They walked by faith and now we invoke their intercession. Three of them we religious women; they show us that the consecrated life is a journey of love at the existential peripheries of the world. Saint Marguerite Bays, on the other hand, was a seamstress; she speaks to us of the power of simple prayer, enduring patience and silent self-giving. That is how the Lord made the splendour of Easter radiate in her life. Such is the holiness of daily life, which Saint John Henry Newman described in these words: “The Christian has a deep, silent, hidden peace, which the world sees not… The Christian is cheerful, easy, kind, gentle, courteous, candid, unassuming; has no pretence… with so little that is unusual or striking in his bearing, that he may easily be taken at first sight for an ordinary man” (Parochial and Plain Sermons, V,5).

Let us ask to be like that, “kindly lights” amid the encircling gloom. Jesus, “stay with me, and then I shall begin to shine as Thou shinest; so to shine as to be a light to others” (Meditations on Christian Doctrine, VII, 3). Amen.’

Before the canonization, Charles, the Prince of Wales, praised Newman, as excerpted in this CNA story:

The Prince of Wales said Saturday that the canonization of Cardinal John Henry Newman is a cause for celebration among all Britons, those who are Catholic and those who “cherish the values by which he was inspired.”

“His faith was truly catholic in that it embraced all aspects of life. It is in that same spirit that we, whether we are Catholics or not, can, in the tradition of the Christian Church throughout the ages, embrace the unique perspective, the particular wisdom and insight, brought to our universal experience by this one individual soul,” Prince Charles, heir to the British throne, wrote in an Oct. 12 column for L’Osservatore Romano (in Italian).

“Whatever our own beliefs, and no matter what our own tradition may be, we can only be grateful to Newman for the gifts, rooted in his Catholic faith, which he shared with wider society: his intense and moving spiritual autobiography and his deeply-felt poetry,” the prince wrote.

He even quoted The Dream of Gerontius!

Vatican News provides the entire text. Prince Charles highlighted Newman's Englishness: 

That confidence was expressed in his love of the English landscape and of his native country’s culture, to which he made such a distinguished contribution. In the Oratory which he established in Birmingham, and which now houses a museum dedicated to his memory as well as an active worshipping community, we see the realisation in England of a vision he derived from Rome which he described as ‘the most wonderful place on Earth’. In bringing the Oratorian Congregation from Italy to England, Newman sought to share its charism of education and service.

He loved Oxford, gracing it not only with passionate and erudite sermons, but also with the beautiful Anglican church at Littlemore, created after a formative visit to Rome where, seeking guidance on his future spiritual path and pondering his relationship with the Church of England and with Catholicism, he wrote his beloved hymn, ‘Lead Kindly Light’. When he finally decided to leave the Church of England, his last sermon as he said farewell to Littlemore left the congregation in tears. It was entitled ‘The Parting of Friends.’

As we mark the life of this great Briton, this great churchman and, as we can now say, this great saint, who bridges the divisions between traditions, it is surely right that we give thanks for the friendship which, despite the parting, has not merely endured, but has strengthened.

You might recall that Prince Charles represented Queen Elizabeth II at Pope St. John Paul II's funeral, postponing his wedding with Camilla Parker Bowles! His understanding of Newman--or his speech writers--seems just as extraordinary. He attended Newman's canonization Mass yesterday.

Saint John Henry Newman, pray for us!

Will Newman Be Named a "Doctor of the Church" Today?

Pope Pius IX granted Father John Henry Newman an honorary Doctorate in Divinity (D.D.) in 1850; Trinity College (his alma mater) named Doctor John Henry Newman an honorary Fellow in 1877; Pope Leo XIII named him a Cardinal Deacon in 1879; Pope Benedict XVI beatified him in 2010; Pope Francis will canonize him today at St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City, Rome--will Pope Francis also name him a Doctor of the Church?

His famed biographer Father Ian Ker thinks that St. John Henry Newman should be added to the roster of Doctors of the Church, which now numbers 36. Who are the Doctors of the Church and how did those 36 gain that title? According to Dr. Marcellino D'Ambrosio writing for the Crossroads Initiative:

The title “Doctor of the Church,” unlike the popular title “Father of the Church,” is an official designation that is bestowed by the Pope in recognition of the outstanding contribution a person has made to the understanding and interpretation of the sacred Scriptures and the development of Christian doctrine.

As of 2019, the official list includes thirty-six men and women who hail from all ages of the Church’s history. Of these, four are women (Catherine of Siena, Teresa of Avila, Therese of Lisieux, Hildegard of Bingen) and twenty-four are quoted in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (Those who are not quoted are Saints Ephraem, Isidore, “the Venerable” Bede, Albert the Great, Anthony of Padua, Peter Canisius, Robert Bellarmine, John of Avila, Hildegard of Bingen, Gregory of Narek and Lawrence of Brindisi).

There are three requirements that must be fulfilled by a person in order to merit being included in the ranks of the “Doctors of the Catholic Church”:

1) holiness that is truly outstanding, even among saints;

2) depth of doctrinal insight; and

3) an extensive body of writings which the church can recom­mend as an expression of the authentic and life-giving Catholic Tradition.

Cardinal Marc Ouellet of Canada also believes that St. John Henry Newman fulfills those criteria, according to this article in The Tablet:

John Henry Newman should be considered a Doctor of the Church who ranks alongside early Christianity’s great thinkers, a senior cardinal has argued.

In a powerfully argued speech ahead of Newman’s canonisation, Cardinal Marc Ouellet, Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops and a respected theologian, said the new English saint was eligible thanks to his contribution to the development of Christian teaching. Doctors of the Church are saints who have helped deepen understanding of the faith. Just 36 men and women have been elevated to the position in Christian history.

“It seems to me that the English master ranks among such Doctors of the Faith as Athanasius and Augustine, whose lives were confessions of faith at the cost of great sacrifice, and who provided decisive insights on either its content or its act,” the 75-year-old Canadian cardinal said during a speech at the Casino Pio IV, in the Vatican gardens.

Newman will be canonised in a ceremony in St Peter’s Square tomorrow, along with four others. To mark the event the British Embassy to the Holy See hosted an event to celebrate his life. . . .

The praise for Newman was echoed by Cardinal Fernando Filoni, the Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples, who told the gathering that the Victorian priest as a “modern-day Saint Augustine”. Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Holy See’s Secretary of State, added that Pope Paul VI had described Newman as an “invisible presence at Vatican II”. 

Please read the rest there.