John Henry Cardinal Newman

Christian Scholar and Priest
1801 - 1890

Read the Wisdom of Cardinal Newman

John Henry Cardinal Newman was born in London on February 21, 1801 into a family that valued learning and cultural pursuits. As a child Newman took great delight reading the classics, essays of a religious/philosophical nature, and the Bible.

Despite his knowledge of the Judeo-Christian Faith, Newman had no religious convictions until he was 15 and experienced something of an "interior conversion" while attending a private school at Ealing. In 1818, he began studies at Trinity College, Oxford. In 1820, he received his BA, and two years later he was elected a Fellow of Oriel. At the age of 24, Newman was ordained a priest in the Anglican Church.He went on to serve as a tutor and University Chaplain at Oxford.

In 1833, he became a leader of the Oxford Movement, which promoted a return to Catholic tendencies and thought in the Anglican Church. In 1843, Newman resigned his pastoral responsibilities and withdrew to Littlemore, where for two years he studied and prayed regarding his future in the Church of England.

On October 9, 1845, Newman was received into the Catholic Church, and on May 30, 1847, he was ordained a priest. In 1864, he published his Apologia pro vita describing his spiritual and intellectual journey, which led him to embrace Catholicism. In 1879, John Henry Newman was elevated to the College of Cardinals. Cardinal Newman died at Edgbaston on August 11, 1890.

In John Henry Newman one finds intellectual integrity, academic excellence, and sanctity of life. As a Christian scholar and priest, Newman believed that education, be it formal or informal, and the exercise of one's intellect was formative to the spiritual and human development of the person.

Through his life and work, Newman sought to demonstrate that a harmonious relationship can and should exist between faith and science. In his work, The Idea of a University, he wrote: "...all branches of knowledge are connected together, because the subject matter of knowledge is intimately united in itself, as being the acts and works of the Creator."