12 May 1879 A.D. Leo XIII Incardinates Tractarian-Romanist John Newman
12 May 1879 A.D. Leo XIII Incardinates Tractarian-Romanist John Newman
Graves, Dan. “`Lead Kindly Light' Wrote John Newman.” Christianity.com. Apr 2007. http://www.christianity.com/church/church-history/timeline/1801-1900/lead-kindly-light-wrote-john-newman-11630593.html. Accessed 7 May 2015.
"I shall not die; I shall not die, for I have not sinned against
the light." In restless, fever-tossed dreams a young vicar repeated the
words again and again. "God still has a work for me to do. I have a work
to do in England." The vicar was right. He recovered and helped initiate
the Oxford Movement.
Becalmed at sea on his return from Italy, the vicar, John Henry Newman,
composed the hymn, "Lead, Kindly Light." Back in England, he preached
at his college, calling men to repentance. His messages attracted large
numbers. The church in Ireland had suffered some heavy-handed blows from the
English government. Anglicans felt threatened. The government took the stance
that it had absolute authority over the church. Newman's concern led him to
issue a series of Tracts for the Times. Through these he
hoped to define more clearly the Church of England's doctrine and position so
that the church would not be subject to the whims of the government.
One of his tracts argued that the Church of England had only
disassociated itself from the excesses of the Roman Catholic church, not its
fundamentals. This stirred a cry of outrage. Newman resigned his posts and went
to Littlemore with a group of friends to rethink his place in the Church. After
much deliberation and prayer, he decided he must leave the Anglicans and join
the Catholics. On a visit to Rome, he was ordained.
His secession from the Anglicans threw England into an uproar, so
influential had been his sermons and writings. Many of England's leaders had
been his friends. Now friends and family ostracized him.
Novelist Charles Kingsley accused Newman of teaching that priestly lies
are acceptable. Newman, with deep love for the truth, said he taught no such
thing. An exchange developed. Finally Newman answered with a masterpiece: Apologia
pro vita sua (Apology for My Life). Newman earlier had written The
Idea of the University, another respected work. Poetry came to him
with ease and he actually threw away The Dream of Gerontius, thinking it of
little worth. A friend rescued it and goaded him into printing it.
On this day May 12, 1879 Newman was created a cardinal by Leo XIII. The
move was extraordinary. Although he was an ordained priest, he held no churchly
function of any sort. The honor was given because of Newman's piety, zeal,
erudition and other virtues. "The cloud is lifted from me forever,"
said Newman. He had faithfully adhered to his deepest principles, and the honor
had possibly been unexpected. The Oxford Movement, in which he was so
influential, persisted with great strength even after he had become a Catholic.
Oxford itself later elected him as an honorary fellow, restoring his
association with them.
Bibliography:
D'Souza, Dinesh. The Catholic Classics. Huntington,
Indiana: Our Sunday Visitor, 1986.
Newman, John Henry. Apologia Pro Vita Sua. Garden City, New
York: Doubleday & Co., Image Books, 1956.
"Newman, John Henry." The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert
Appleton, 1914.
"Newman, John Henry." The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church.
Edited by F. L. Cross and E. A. Livingstone. Oxford: Oxford University Press,
1997.
Routley, Erik. Hymns and the Faith. Greenwich,
Connecticut: Seabury, 1956.
Wells, Amos R. A Treasure of Hymns; Brief biographies of 120 leading
hymn- writers and Their best hymns. Boston: W. A. Wilde company,
1945.
Last updated April, 2007.
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