The Cause of the Canonisation of John Henry Cardinal Newman

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Newman’s Letters and Diaries: living witness to a great Christian thinker

Categorised as News and published Wednesday, November 19th, 2008
Translation of Remains of Cardinal Newman at his Birmingham Oratory
Conference of the French Association of Friends of Cardinal Newman

As the final volume of Newman’s Letters and Diaries is published, the Editor sums up: ‘the finest collection of letters in the English language’

Front Quad, Oriel College, Oxford

At Oriel College, Oxford, on Monday 17th October 2008, the Actor of the Cause for Newman’s Beatification, the President and Fellows of Oriel College, together with notable Newman scholars, met to commemorate the publication of the thirty-two volumes of The Letters and Diaries of John Henry Newman, published since 1973 by Oxford University Press. The series concluded with the publication of the final volume (No. XXXII) on 9 October this year, the anniversary of Newman’s reception into the Catholic Church in 1845.

The series was begun by Fr Stephen Dessain, the distinguished Newman scholar and a member of Cardinal Newman’s Birmingham Oratory, during the late 1950s. Volume XI, the first in the series to be published, and covering the start of Newman’s Catholic years, was published in 1961.

Father Paul Chavasse, Fr Felix Stephens OSB (Master, St Benet’s Hall)
and John Albert, President of the Oriel Society

Recalling Newman’s time as Fellow and Tutor at Oriel, Sir Derek Morris, Provost of the College, said: ‘In a deep sense, Oriel College formed and “made” John Henry Newman. He flourished there and first formulated many of his characteristic and influential ideas, not least as regards methods of education of the young and as to what constituted university education.’ Sir Derek went on to remark that ‘it is through the vast corpus of Newman’s published writings that his enormous and enduring influence and legacy primarily rests and would touch many beyond or outside the Roman Catholic Church’.

Dr Frank McGrath, present editor of the Letters and Diaries, explained the history of the project: ‘It was Fr Dessain’s decision to start with the Catholic years. … Along the way he was notably assisted by three Jesuit priests, Fr Vincent Blehl, who later became Postulator of the Newman Cause, Fr Edward Kelly and Fr Thomas Gornall.’ The work on the Anglican letters – some of which had already been published – fell to Father Ian Ker (with the assistance of Fr Gornall), Gerard Tracey, and then, since 2003, Br Frank. Br Frank concluded that ‘after seven editors, thirty-two volumes and fifty years, we have one of the finest collections of letters in the English language.’

Father Paul Chavasse, Provost of the Birmingham Oratory and Actor of the Newman Cause, concluded a memorable evening by thanking all those who had been involved in the project over the years. He reminded those present to continue to work and pray for the successful conclusion of the Cause for Cardinal Newman’s beatification now in its last stages in Rome.

Among the distinguished guests present at the reception and dinner was Fr Gregory Winterton, Provost of the Birmingham Oratory 1971-1992, and Deputy Chairman of the Friends of Cardinal Newman, who did much to advance the Cause and promote popular interest in the great English Cardinal throughout the world.

Dr Peter Nockles and Dr Sheridan Gilley
Fr Dermot Fenlon, Fr Michael Miners

Also present were Mgr John Moran, Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Birmingham; Mgr Anthony Stark, Chairman of the Friends of Cardinal Newman; Sir Ivor Roberts, President of Trinity College, Oxford; Fr Robert Byrne, Provost of the Oxford Oratory; Mr Clive Dytor, Headmaster of the Oratory School, Reading; and Sister Mary Dechant, of the Community of the Work, who look after Littlemore, where Newman spent his last years as a member of the Church of England.

Other guests came from far and wide: Dr McGrath’s Provincial, Br Alexis Turton, travelled from Sydney, Australia, and Br John Parker came from Benet’s House in Glasgow. Leading Newman scholars, Dr Sheridan Gilley and Dr Peter Nockles, together with representatives from St Benet’s Hall, Blackfriars, Campion Hall, and the University Chaplaincy also attended.

Still to be published is a full index of the Letters and Diaries, making the published volumes even more accessible.

For the Oxford University Press page on the series, click here