The influence of the cardinal RODERICK STRANGE
Newman’s diffident holiness
Cardinal Newman was one of the most notable Victorians. He is not only an historical figure, says his biographer, but a man for our time
course, that he is not an inspiration to many others elsewhere. In fact, the irony of this long-awaited occasion arises in particular because he is already a model for them. He is acclaimed internationally. There are people devoted to him in France and Germany, in Spain, Italy and the Netherlands. His influence is felt in Australia and New Zealand, in America and elsewhere. Indeed, perhaps noth- ing illustrates better Newman’s international status than the fact that Pope Benedict is making an exception to his customary practice and will himself declare Newman “Blessed”. The fact that he is not delegating the task is down to his own devotion for Newman. In January 1946, when the young Joseph Ratzinger began to study theology in Freising in preparation for ordained ministry, he soon discovered Newman through his friend Alfred Läpple. He has declared, “Newman was always present to us.” Newman’s influence was felt in war-damaged Germany, but in Britain it was more hidden. We British tend to be rather diffident and undemonstrative, and so it has taken some time to establish evidence of local devotion, even though universal and inter- national devotion has been unmistakable. There’s the irony. That diffidence, however, can be found in
W
Newman himself. Various people recently have been quoting his words, “‘I have nothing of a saint about me”, and “I have no tendency to be a saint – it is a sad thing to say. Saints are not literary men, they do not love the clas- sics, they do not write tales.” They have interpreted these remarks as evidence that Newman was indifferent to the saints, when nothing could be further from the truth; rather, he was dismissive of any such judge- ment being made about himself. “I may be well enough in my way,” he wrote, “but it is not the ‘high line’.” What else should we expect? A saint convinced of his own sanctity could hardly be credible. In fact, Newman was reacting to remarks made by an earnest young woman who had
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hen Newman is beatified, he is being held up as a model of holiness for the Church in Britain. That is not to claim, of
called him a saint and he was having none of it. He observed, “It is enough for me to black the saints’ shoes – if St Philip uses blacking, in heaven” (Letters and Diaries , xiii, p. 419). It would be a mistake to miss the humour in this reply. It would also be a mistake to sup- pose that Newman failed to take holiness seriously. There is something almost iconic about the title of his first published sermon, “Holiness necessary for future blessedness” (Parochial and Plain Sermons i, pp. 1-14). He was serious enough about it, but we need to notice how his holiness can be an influence on ours. What is the beatified Newman able to teach British Catholics? Newman has so much to teach us that it would be easy to get the answer wrong. He has been hailed as the hidden father of the Second Vatican Council, and with some jus- tification. Fr Stephen Dessain, the great Newman scholar, used to say that Newman’s devotion to revealed religion, his conviction that what we believe is not of our own making but a gift from God, was the cause that gave his life its unity. Once you have noticed that, you find the theme recurring constantly in Newman’s writings. And a renewed under- standing of the theology of revelation was fundamental to the council’s work. Then the first half of Newman’s life was a kind of jour- ney to discover the Church in its fullness. And when that journey, filled with anguish, came to an end in 1845 with his reception into full communion with the Catholic Church, he found himself drawn gradually into a struggle of a different kind, to help renew the com- munity he had joined, so that the Church would be prepared for converts, as well as converts for the Church. Again the Second Vatican Council itself reflected his experience, exploring what it means for the Church to be holy, though always in need of reform – sancta, sed semper reformanda. Newman has often been called prophetic: there is his teaching on the laity, his approach to church unity, his teaching on the Mother of Jesus, his handling of the controversy sur- rounding papal infallibility, and the importance he attached to conscience as the voice of God. In these and so many other
Cardinal John Henry Newman by George Richmond, 1844. Photo: National Portrait Gallery, London
ways, Newman has much to teach us. But we need to go deeper. All these subjects
– revelation, the Church, the lay faithful, ecu- menism, Marian doctrine and devotion, papal infallibility and conscience, and the rest – are of immense importance and Newman has wise and inspiring things to say about them, because he was a gifted teacher. Indeed, that may be why there are those who would like to bypass Newman’s beatification and possible future canonisation and have him declared a Doctor of the Church without more ado. However, there are others too who teach well on these matters. But what about the beatified John Henry Newman? What has he to teach us? What model of holiness does he offer the British? There is a well-known sentence from
Newman’s Anglican years that he endorsed, so to speak, by introducing it at a key point in his late Catholic work, A Grammar of Assent: “Persons influence us, voices melt us, looks subdue us, deeds inflame us” (p. 93; see Discussions and Arguments, p. 293). Newman the gifted teacher may be able to teach us many things, but what does the person teach us? What might be Newman’s personal influence on us? I have mentioned his diffident sense of humour already. It would not be a bad place to begin. And coupled with it there is his passion for truth. In 1964, after reading and being entranced
by Meriol Trevor’s biography of Newman, I read Newman’s Apologia pro Vita Sua. To deepen my understanding, I wrote my own precis of his account. Since then, of course, I have returned to the text often. But recently, for the first time since those days, setting off on a long journey, I took a pocket edition with
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