John Henry Newman

John Henry Newman was born in London in 1801, the eldest son of a banker. He studied at Trinity College, Oxford, became a fellow of Oriel College, and was ordained in the Church of England. As vicar of the University Church of St Mary the Virgin, he became a famous preacher. In the 1830s he was a leader of the Oxford Movement, which sought to renew the Church of England by recovering its links with the early Church; he wrote many of its Tracts for the Times. His study of church history gradually led him to the Catholic Church, which he joined in 1845. He founded the Oratory in Birmingham and served as the first rector of the Catholic University in Dublin; his lectures there became The Idea of a University. In 1864, replying to an attack by the novelist Charles Kingsley, he wrote Apologia Pro Vita Sua, an account of his religious opinions. He also wrote hymns, including 'Lead, Kindly Light'. Pope Leo XIII made him a cardinal in 1879. He died in Birmingham in 1890 and was canonized in 2019.

John Henry Newman is also an author in the library: author page and works.

Faith: Underwent a conversion at fifteen; an Anglican leader who became a Catholic and a leading Catholic apologist. Source: Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)