Intercession: UCD founder Newman to be made saint after ‘second miracle’

POPE Francis will make Cardinal John Henry Newman, who was instrumental in founding the university that became UCD, a saint.

The Pope has decided that Newman has committed two miracles.

Newman was one of the highest-profile Anglicans to convert to Catholicism during the Victorian era.

Pope Benedict XVI beatified him in 2010, after ascribing a first miracle to the clergyman.

Pope Francis has now credited Newman with a second miracle, clearing the way for him to be declared a saint.

The purported miracle involved the recovery of a pregnant American from a life-threatening illness.

The Church claims the recovery had no scientific explanation and attributed it to Newman’s intercession.

“An expectant mother was suffering from unstoppable internal bleeding which threatened the life of her child in the womb,” the diocese of Westminster said on its website.

“She had long been a devotee of Blessed John Henry, and in prayer she directly and explicitly invoked Newman’s intercession to stop the bleeding. The miraculous healing was immediate, complete, and permanent.”

No date has yet been announced for a sainthood

ceremony, but it is expected to be in the autumn.

Born in London in 1801, Newman converted to Catholicism in 1845. According to UCD’s website, Newman came to Ireland in 1851, having been invited by Paul Cullen, then archbishop of Dublin, to be the rector of the Catholic University, which became University College Dublin. He served in the position until 1858.