Cardinal Newman

Background

Newman was born in 1801, the son of a London banker whose wife was a descendant of French Huguenot refugees. The eldest of three boys and three sisters, Newman's parents were disposed toward the evangelical branch of the Anglican Church. After attending George Nicholas's Great Ealing School, in 1816, Newman had an epiphany, converting to evangelical Calvinism and embracing many anti-Catholic opinions. He next enrolled at Trinity College, Oxford, where he studied a broad range of topics, and after graduating, he became a fellow of Oriel College, Oxford, considered by many to be the intellectual center of the Oxford University circle. By 1824, Newman had been ordained as an Anglican priest, and he was made the vice principal of Alban Hall the following year. In 1828, Newman became the vicar of St. Mary's, Oxford, after which he became interested in what would be known as the Oxford movement.

[Page 120]The Oxford movement was composed of individuals who believed that ecclesiastical, liturgical, and theological matters should emphasize formality and a resistance to modernization. Sometimes considered to encompass the “high-church” faction, the Oxford movement advocated using a number of rituals more commonly associated with the Catholic Church. Newman, who possessed strong administrative skills and a keen intellect, soon became a leader of the Oxford movement, writing a variety of influential essays. Newman began writing a series of 90 publications, Tracts for the Times, issues of which ultimately were written by most of the movement's leaders. The low cost and ready availability of the tracts helped make the objectives of the Oxford movement widely known, and catapulted Newman to a position of leadership among high-church Anglicans.

In 1839, Newman began to have doubts regarding the ascendancy of the Anglican Church, although he kept these misgivings private. In 1842, Newman left Oxford and moved to Littlemore, where he lived with a small group of adherents in monastic conditions. In 1843, Newman published an anonymous retraction of all criticisms that he had previously made of the Roman Catholic Church, and he formally converted to Catholicism in 1845. Ordained as a Catholic priest the following year, Newman moved to Birmingham, where he established a religious community where he would live for the next 40 years. Although Newman had converted to Catholicism in midlife, he soon became an apologist for his new faith.

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