St John Henry Newman to be declared a Doctor of the Church

The announcement yesterday from the Vatican that St John Henry Newman is to be declared a Doctor of the Church is very good news indeed.

St John Henry Newman by John Everett Millais, 1881

Image:sevenoaksordinariate.wordpress.com

It is all the more appropriate that just as St John Henry was made a Cardinal by Pope Leo XIII at the beginning of his pontificate, so now Pope Leo XIV at the commencement of his has authorised the saint’s status as the thirty eighth Doctor of the Church. 

As an Englishman Newman will join the very select, and very distinguished, company of St Bede the Venerable, the only other Doctor born in these islands. To this pair can be added an adoptive son in St Anselm.

For Oratorians and their congregations he is the first son of St Philip to be given this honour, and Newman exemplified the Oratorian vocation.

For Oxford University he is the first Doctor of the Churxh to have been educated there and to have been for many years a significant contributor to its life and purpose,

For both Trinity College and Oriel College it is an honour, and one that for the latter that happily falls in the seven hundredth anniversary year of its existence.

St John Henry Newman pray for us.