The Cause of the Canonisation of John Henry Cardinal Newman

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Newman on the Conversion of St Paul: God’s ‘power made perfect in weakness’

Categorised as Featured and published Saturday, January 24th, 2009
Newman on Christian Unity
A Meditation for the Feast of the Presentation: ‘A sword will pierce your own soul too’

In this extract from the sermon ‘St. Paul’s Conversion Viewed in reference to His Office’ (1831), Newman draws attention to the connection between the dying prayer of St. Stephen and the conversion of the ‘Apostle to the Gentiles’:

We cannot well forget the manner of [St. Paul’s] conversion. He was journeying to Damascus with authority from the chief priests to seize the Christians, and bring them to Jerusalem. He had sided with the persecuting party from their first act of violence, the martyrdom of St. Stephen; and he continued foremost in a bad cause, with blind rage endeavouring to defeat what really was the work of Divine power and wisdom. In the midst of his fury he was struck down by a miracle, and converted to the faith he persecuted. Observe the circumstances of the case. When the blood of Stephen was shed, Saul, then a young man, was standing by, “consenting unto his death,” and “kept the raiment of them that slew him.” [Acts 22:20] Two speeches are recorded of the Martyr in his last moments; one, in which he prayed that God would pardon his murderers,—the other his witness, that he saw the heavens opened, and Jesus on God’s right hand. His prayer was wonderfully answered. Stephen saw his Saviour; the next vision of that Saviour to mortal man was vouchsafed to that very young man, even Saul, who shared in his murder and his intercession.

Strange indeed it was; and what would have been St. Stephen’s thoughts could he have known it! The prayers of righteous men avail much. The first Martyr had power with God to raise up the greatest Apostle. Such was the honour put upon the first-fruits of those sufferings upon which the Church was entering. Thus from the beginning the blood of the Martyrs was the seed of the Church. Stephen, one man, was put to death for saying that the Jewish people were to have exclusive privileges no longer; but from his very grave rose the favoured instrument by whom the thousands and ten thousands of the Gentiles were brought to the knowledge of the Truth!

Herein then, first, is St. Paul’s conversion memorable; that it was a triumph over the enemy. When Almighty God would convert the world, opening the door of faith to the Gentiles, who was the chosen preacher of His mercy? Not one of Christ’s first followers. To show His power, He put forth His hand into the very midst of the persecutors of His Son, and seized upon the most strenuous among them. The prayer of a dying man is the token and occasion of that triumph which He had reserved for Himself. His strength is made perfect in weakness. As of old, He broke the yoke of His people’s burden, the staff of their shoulder, the rod of their oppressor [Isa. 9:4]. Saul made furiously for Damascus, but the Lord Almighty “knew his abode, and his going out and coming in, and his rage against Him;” and “because his rage against Him, and his tumult, came up before Him,” therefore, as in Sennacherib’s [King of Assyria] case, though in a far different way, He “put His hook in his nose, and His bridle in his lips, and turned him back by the way by which he came.” [Isa. 37:28-9] He “spoiled principalities and powers, and made a show of them openly,” [Col. 2:15] triumphing over the serpent’s head while his heel was wounded. Saul, the persecutor, was converted, and preached Christ in the synagogues.

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(Picture: Heures d’Étienne Chevalier, Jean Fouquet, Musée Condé, Chantilly, France, c. 1450)