‘Miracle cure’ that could see canonisation and sainthood
THE beatification of Cardinal Newman – a vital step in the long journey to sainthood – was carried out by Pope Benedict XVI during his visit to Birmingham in September 2010.
A 60,000-strong crowd saw the Pope celebrate an open-air Mass at Cofton Park, before he made the journey across the city to Cardinal Newman’s former home at the Oratory in Edgbaston. Well-wishers also lined the streets to catch a glimpse of the famous Popemobile on the Hagley Road, before Benedict made his final stop at Oscott College in Sutton Coldfield.
Jack Sullivan, the recipient of the cardinal’s alleged ‘miracle’, visited Birmingham in November 2012, to talk at the Oratory. He also read from the Bible at the Beatification Mass.
After being left unable to walk following an operation, medics told Mr Sullivan it would be physically impossible for him to return to studies to become an ordained deacon. He said he turned to prayer after seeing a TV documentary on the life of Cardinal Newman.
“My prayer was simple,” he claimed. “It was not for healing, only for me to realise my dream. I said ‘Please Cardinal Newman, help me to walk so that I may return to classes and be ordained’.
“Suddenly, I felt an intense heat and a tingling all over that lasted for a long time. I experienced a sense of joy that I had never felt before, something that didn’t come from me.” After being discharged from hospital the next day, Mr Sullivan contacted the Birmingham Oratory to tell them of his miraculous ‘healing’. His letter set in motion an eight-year investigation into his cure, which was subjected to tests by a panel of doctors and then by a group of theologians set up by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints in Rome.