His case for beatification has been ready for years, but he’s needed a miracle. Perhaps not enough of his fans have thought to ask him for a cure? In any event, the wait for a miracle may soon be over for John Henry Cardinal Newman, always a Venerable, not yet a Blessed.
"England could soon have its first saint since the Reformation after a miracle cure was reported in the US.
"Cardinal John Henry Newman, who founded Birmingham Oratory in 1848, is being championed as a future saint by its current provost, Father Paul Chavasse.
"A case for his beatification, the stage before sainthood, is ready but it is lacking a miracle by the cardinal.
"Claims by a Boston deacon he prayed to the cardinal and his spinal problems were cured are now being investigated.
"The claim follows 50 years of work to introduce Cardinal Newman’s cause for canonisation — a process which includes collating more than 20,000 of his letters and evidence from personal witnesses to his suitability as a saint."
I wonder if it is a commentary on the state of the Christian faith in England that the process has taken so long, and that when a miracle came it was reported in the United States, not Great Britain. After all, a certain Nazarene of the ancient world noted that "a prophet is not without honor except in his own country" and was himself unable to perform many miracles in his own hometown because the people did not have faith (Matt. 13:57-58).
Are only medical miracles valid?
Are only medical miracles valid?
As I understand it, the Church requires pretty strict documentation, and it’s easiest to get that documentation in medical cases. But I’d love more insight on this.
“I wonder if it is a commentary on the state of the Christian faith in England that the process has taken so long, and that when a miracle came it was reported in the United States, not Great Britain.”
It wouldn’t be the first time an English saint’s beatification and canonization were held up – just ask St. Edmund Campion, a Renaissance martry who was beautified and canonized long after his martrydom (1970), and long after contemporary saints on the continent had been canonized. I think this does have something to do with England’s relative spiritual seperation after the Reformation, but I’m sure Renaissance scholars have hashed some of this issue out.
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05293c.htm
A great new book on Campion is coming out this December by Gerard Kilroy, containing some previously unpublished works.
Just a contribution from your friendly neighborhood English major. We should talk about Winter’s Tale sometime. 🙂
Medical miracles are preferred, because they’re a lot easier to document and prove. I mean, if you have a tumor one day and the next it’s gone… there you are.
But one of the recent folks had a miracle where a South American submarine miraculously escaped getting sunk.
*Googling*
http://www.zenit.org/english/visualizza.phtml?sid=36809
“Among the 50,000 pilgrims present at the beatification Mass today in the port of Dubrovnik was Roger Cotrina Alvarado. He was the lieutenant of the submarine Pacocha, which on Aug. 26, 1988, crashed into a Japanese fishing-vessel near the Peruvian port of Callao.
When the submarine began to sink, the then young officer commended himself to the intercession of Sister Maria of Jesus Crucified Petkovic, founder of the Franciscan Congregation of the Daughters of Mercy.
At that moment, Cotrina Alvarado was able to close an inside door with the strength of his arms, despite the pressure of the water that was flooding the submarine.
The maneuver was considered “humanly impossible” by two commissions, one military and the other Vatican. The miracle became the door that opened the way for the Croatian’s beatification.”
Now if we could just find a miracle that occured after someone prayed to GK Chesterton…
Friar Juan Macias was canonized after a miracle involving the multiplication of rice.
Newman will never be a catholic Saint. Not a chance.
He was a staunch rebel at Vatican I, and denounced those who favored defining papal infallibility.
Despite his Red Hat, which was procured for him by the Catholic Duke of Norfolk, despite the
popularity of Newman clubs in America, he will not see Sainthood.
Dude, you can’t be a “rebel” while the ball is still in play. The rules of the game are that you can argue as hard as you want before the Pope makes a pronouncement, as long as you go along afterward. I’m pretty sure you’re also allowed to moan, groan, complain, and drag your feet for a little bit afterwards.
And considering how many early Christian saints went back and forth into HUUUGE heresies, and still got to be saints as long as they came back into communion with everybody else before they died… well, a couple of harsh words during a spirited discussion is hardly going to debar Newman from canonization.
Anyway, the real problem is that a large chunk of Newman’s devotees are probably praying for help with tests. The rest of his miracles are probably conversions, but how are you going to prove that?
*Idea!*
Okay, everybody pray to Newman for Christopher Hitchens’ conversion! Get him to touch a relic, and then…
…and then everybody will say it was Mother Teresa. Hmm.
Okay, everybody pray to Newman for George Galloway’s conversion! Even the Vatican would admit that’d be miraculous….
*The Servant of God Newman smacks me a good one*
Actually, the Venerable did believe in apal infallibility as a theological opinion even before the Council- he just did not think it prudent for it to be defined. Thus he got slammed by both sides- the ones like Ward who wanted infallible pronouncements every day, and the the ones like Acton who thought papal infallibility flat out wrong.
For his views after the Council, check “A Letter to the Duke of Norfolk”.
“Now if we could just find a miracle that occured after someone prayed to GK Chesterton…”
The difficulty is, a Chestertonian miracle would likely involve a huge quantity of beer….
The difficulty is, a Chestertonian miracle would likely involve a huge quantity of beer
Sounds great to me. What’s the problem? 🙂
+J.M.J+
Thomas Aquinas will never be a catholic Saint. Not a chance.
He was a staunch opponent of the Immaculate Conception of Mary, and argued against it in his Summa Theologica.
Catherine of Siena also opposed this doctrine, even claiming that Our Lady herself told her during an apparition that she was not immaculately conceived
They will not see Sainthood.
Oh, wait…
In Jesu et Maria,
Those crazy Dominicans! 🙂
Thanks, Rosemarie, for a good point well made.