Beatification of John Henry Newman, Cofton Park, Birmingham Homily of
the Holy Father
Beatification of John Henry Newman, Cofton Park, Birmingham Homily of
the Holy Father
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, This day that
has brought us together here in Birmingham is a most auspicious one. In the first
place, it is the Lord’s day, Sunday, the day when our Lord Jesus Christ rose from
the dead and changed the course of human history for ever, offering new life and hope
to all who live in darkness and in the shadow of death. That is why Christians all
over the world come together on this day to give praise and thanks to God for the
great marvels he has worked for us. This particular Sunday also marks a significant
moment in the life of the British nation, as it is the day chosen to commemorate the
seventieth anniversary of the Battle of Britain. For me as one who lived and suffered
through the dark days of the Nazi regime in Germany, it is deeply moving to be here
with you on this occasion, and to recall how many of your fellow citizens sacrificed
their lives, courageously resisting the forces of that evil ideology. My thoughts
go in particular to nearby Coventry, which suffered such heavy bombardment and massive
loss of life in November 1940. Seventy years later, we recall with shame and horror
the dreadful toll of death and destruction that war brings in its wake, and we renew
our resolve to work for peace and reconciliation wherever the threat of conflict looms.
Yet there is another, more joyful reason why this is an auspicious day for Great Britain,
for the Midlands, for Birmingham. It is the day that sees Cardinal John Henry Newman
formally raised to the altars and declared Blessed. I thank Archbishop Bernard
Longley for his gracious welcome at the start of Mass this morning. I pay tribute
to all who have worked so hard over many years to promote the cause of Cardinal Newman,
including the Fathers of the Birmingham Oratory and the members of the Spiritual Family
Das Werk. And I greet everyone here from Great Britain, Ireland, and further afield;
I thank you for your presence at this celebration, in which we give glory and praise
to God for the heroic virtue of a saintly Englishman. England has a long tradition
of martyr saints, whose courageous witness has sustained and inspired the Catholic
community here for centuries. Yet it is right and fitting that we should recognize
today the holiness of a confessor, a son of this nation who, while not called to shed
his blood for the Lord, nevertheless bore eloquent witness to him in the course of
a long life devoted to the priestly ministry, and especially to preaching, teaching,
and writing. He is worthy to take his place in a long line of saints and scholars
from these islands, Saint Bede, Saint Hilda, Saint Aelred, Blessed Duns Scotus, to
name but a few. In Blessed John Henry, that tradition of gentle scholarship, deep
human wisdom and profound love for the Lord has borne rich fruit, as a sign of the
abiding presence of the Holy Spirit deep within the heart of God’s people, bringing
forth abundant gifts of holiness. Cardinal Newman’s motto, Cor ad cor loquitur,
or “Heart speaks unto heart”, gives us an insight into his understanding of the Christian
life as a call to holiness, experienced as the profound desire of the human heart
to enter into intimate communion with the Heart of God. He reminds us that faithfulness
to prayer gradually transforms us into the divine likeness. As he wrote in one of
his many fine sermons, “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” (Parochial and Plain Sermons, iv, 230-231).
Today’s Gospel tells us that no one can be the servant of two masters (cf. Lk 16:13),
and Blessed John Henry’s teaching on prayer explains how the faithful Christian is
definitively taken into the service of the one true Master, who alone has a claim
to our unconditional devotion (cf. Mt 23:10). Newman helps us to understand what
this means for our daily lives: he tells us that our divine Master has assigned a
specific task to each one of us, a “definite service”, committed uniquely to every
single person: “I have my mission”, he wrote, “I am a link in a chain, a bond of connexion
between persons. He has not created me for naught. I shall do good, I shall do his
work; I shall be an angel of peace, a preacher of truth in my own place … if I do
but keep his commandments and serve him in my calling” (Meditations and Devotions,
301-2). The definite service to which Blessed John Henry was called involved applying
his keen intellect and his prolific pen to many of the most pressing “subjects of
the day”. His insights into the relationship between faith and reason, into the vital
place of revealed religion in civilized society, and into the need for a broadly-based
and wide-ranging approach to education were not only of profound importance for Victorian
England, but continue today to inspire and enlighten many all over the world. I would
like to pay particular tribute to his vision for education, which has done so much
to shape the ethos that is the driving force behind Catholic schools and colleges
today. Firmly opposed to any reductive or utilitarian approach, he sought to achieve
an educational environment in which intellectual training, moral discipline and religious
commitment would come together. The project to found a Catholic University in Ireland
provided him with an opportunity to develop his ideas on the subject, and the collection
of discourses that he published as The Idea of a University holds up an ideal from
which all those engaged in academic formation can continue to learn. And indeed,
what better goal could teachers of religion set themselves than Blessed John Henry’s
famous appeal for an intelligent, well-instructed laity: “I want a laity, not arrogant,
not rash in speech, not disputatious, but men who know their religion, who enter into
it, who know just where they stand, who know what they hold and what they do not,
who know their creed so well that they can give an account of it, who know so much
of history that they can defend it” (The Present Position of Catholics in England,
ix, 390). On this day when the author of those words is raised to the altars, I pray
that, through his intercession and example, all who are engaged in the task of teaching
and catechesis will be inspired to greater effort by the vision he so clearly sets
before us. While it is John Henry Newman’s intellectual legacy that has understandably
received most attention in the vast literature devoted to his life and work, I prefer
on this occasion to conclude with a brief reflection on his life as a priest, a pastor
of souls. The warmth and humanity underlying his appreciation of the pastoral ministry
is beautifully expressed in another of his famous sermons: “Had Angels been your
priests, my brethren, they could not have condoled with you, sympathized with you,
have had compassion on you, felt tenderly for you, and made allowances for you, as
we can; they could not have been your patterns and guides, and have led you on from
your old selves into a new life, as they can who come from the midst of you” (“Men,
not Angels: the Priests of the Gospel”, Discourses to Mixed Congregations, 3). He
lived out that profoundly human vision of priestly ministry in his devoted care for
the people of Birmingham during the years that he spent at the Oratory he founded,
visiting the sick and the poor, comforting the bereaved, caring for those in prison.
No wonder that on his death so many thousands of people lined the local streets as
his body was taken to its place of burial not half a mile from here. One hundred
and twenty years later, great crowds have assembled once again to rejoice in the Church’s
solemn recognition of the outstanding holiness of this much-loved father of souls.
What better way to express the joy of this moment than by turning to our heavenly
Father in heartfelt thanksgiving, praying in the words that Blessed John Henry Newman
placed on the lips of the choirs of angels in heaven: Praise to the Holiest in
the height And in the depth be praise; In all his words most wonderful, Most
sure in all his ways! (The Dream of Gerontius).