New saint Newman ‘can be a beacon for Irish-British relations in difficult times’
POPE Francis has canonised Cardinal John Henry Newman, the Englishman who in 1851 founded the Catholic University in Dublin, the precursor of today’s UCD.
Cardinal Newman, a controversial figure in his day largely because of his conversion to Catholicism after 20 years as an Anglican clergyman, was yesterday canonised along with four women – Indian Mariam Thresia, Italian Giuseppina Vannini, and Brazilian Dulce Lopes Pontes, as well as the seamstress Marguerite Bays from Switzerland.
Also present among the 30,000 faithful in St Peter’s Square was Melissa Villalobos, the Chicago mother of seven who claims that she recovered from heavy haemorrhaging during a pregnancy in 2013 because she prayed for help to Cardinal Newman. She subsequently gave birth to her fifth child, Emma. The Catholic Church considers this the “second miracle” required by the complex sainthood process.
Even though it was formed late in the day, an important Irish delegation was present for canonisation of this first English Catholic saint in modern times.
Led by the Education Minister Joe McHugh, flanked by the Irish Ambassador to the Holy See Derek Hannon, the delegation also included bishops Francis Duffy of Ardagh and Clonmacnoise, Fintan Monahan of Killaloe, and Brendan Leahy of Limerick, and retired bishop Philip Boyce of Raphoe.
UCD was represented by university vice-president Professor Orla Feely.
Mr McHugh said there had never been any intention not to have a significant Government presence at the canonisation.
“The Taoiseach was always anxious that the Government be represented here, given the stature of Newman and given his huge contribution to Irish education,” he said.
Mr McHugh said that at a difficult time in British-Irish relations, “with all that is going on in Brexit”, it is difficult to know what the future may hold.
For that reason, he suggested, Newman was a historic figure from whom all those involved in Irish-British relations might learn.
Mr McHugh also said that, despite Brexit, relations between Ireland and the UK were still “in a good place... but we have to figure out the way forward”.
Inevitably, the Irish delegation cut a modest figure compared to the British one, led by Prince Charles, representing Queen Elizabeth, who no longer travels abroad.
Thousands of English pilgrims from Birmingham, Manchester and Oxford had also made the trip to Rome whilst the UK delegation included the Mayor of Birmingham Mohammed Azim, members of the All-Party Parliamentary Group to the Holy See, the recently appointed Special Envoy for Freedom of Religion, Rehman Chishti, as well as 17 English and Welsh bishops led by Cardinal Vincent Nichols.
Further underlining the current good relations between the UK and the Vatican, Pope Francis publicly greeted Prince Charles during the Angelus at the end of the ceremony. For his part, the prince broke new ground by writing an article for yesterday’s edition of the Vatican daily, ‘L’Osservatore Romano’, in which he called Newman a “great Briton” who had bridged “the divisions between traditions”.
“As an educator, his work was profoundly influential in Oxford, Dublin and beyond, while his treatise, ‘The Idea of a University’, remains a defining text to this day,” he added.
Pope Francis spoke of Newman’s understanding of the holiness of daily life, quoting: “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.”
‘His work was influential in Oxford, Dublin and beyond’
Newman ‘bridged the divisions between traditions’