Cardinal Newman to be Beatified!!!

I leave Birmingham at weekends when possible and travel home to see family and friends. There is often news on my arrival back on a Sunday evening or Monday morning and this weekend was no different.

This evening when I approached the Oratory for Vespers I saw they had a Flag flying at full mast I thought this to be very unusual as it usually stands bear, just imagine my delight when I entered Church to find that on Friday the Pope had authorised the Congregation for the Causes of Saints to promulgate a miracle attributed to the Venerable Servant of God, John Henry Newman.

I have a particular devotion to Cardinal Newman which has grown along side my faith as a convert to Catholicism and pray daily that like Deacon Jack Sullivan that my own Father who on a daily basis at every waking moment endures horrific and debilitating back pain is also granted a miraculous healing through the intercession of Cardinal Newman.

Birmingham Oratory Newsletter below:


CARDINAL NEWMAN TO BE BEATIFIED

The Provost writes

Many of you reading this will already be aware of the great news which reached us on Friday last, July 3rd. That morning, in Rome, Pope Benedict XVI authorised the issuing of a Decree recognising the authenticity of a miracle obtained through the intercession of Cardinal Newman.

The miraculous event took place in August 2001, when a permanent Deacon of the Archdiocese of Boston, USA, named Jack Sullivan, was cured of a crippling disease of the spine. His prayer to Newman had been prolonged and intense and finally on that August day, the prayer was answered.

Careful investigation into the event, undertaken by both doctors and theologians, led to the conclusion that what had happened could not be explained in terms of medical science, and could be ascribed to Cardinal Newman’s intercession. That verdict was accepted last month by the Cardinals and Prelates of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints in Rome, and on Friday by the Pope himself.

People all around the world have greeted this news with great joy and thanksgiving. It is the culmination of fifty years’ work, centred here at the Birmingham Oratory, which has involved so many people, many known to us personally, and not a few no longer with us here on earth.

What happens next? Various conversations will take place in order to fix both a date and a place for the ceremony of Beatification. Given that summer holidays are now beginning, it may be a few weeks before these important decisions can be made. Once the ceremony has taken place, Cardinal Newman becomes “Blessed John Henry Newman” and he will have his own feast day in the Church’s calendar, as well as special prayers and readings for his proper Mass and Office.

The significance of what is to happen is huge. Cardinal Newman has long been admired by people around the world, whether for the beauty of his prose, his deep theological and philosophical writings, his inspiring sermons and poetry.

By beatifying him, Pope Benedict is holding up to the whole Church the life and teachings of Cardinal Newman as a sure guide for us to follow, and as an inspiration for the Church today. Cardinal Newman foresaw many of the problems that both church and Society have to contend with in our day and age. He will be an authentic teacher for the Church in a new way now that he is to receive the ‘honours of the altar’.

We should regard it as an enormous privilege to be able to come to the Oratory he founded, to walk in the spots where he walked, and to be in a very special way heirs to his great tradition. In the months to come this Oratory will be a worldwide focus of attention and there will be much work to be done as we prepare for the great day of the Beatification.

Please keep the Fathers in your prayers at this time and especially thank God for the enormous grace He has bestowed on us through His faithful servant, John Henry Newman : Te Deum Laudamus!