St John Henry Newman is to be newest Doctor of the Church

Pope Leo has paved the way for St John Henry Newman to be formally declared a Doctor of the Church. A Doctor of the Universal Church is a title bestowed on Saints who have made a significant and lasting contribution to theology or doctrine through their research, study, or writings. At present there are 37 recognized Doctors of the Church and motable examples include St Augustine of Hippo, St Thomas Aquinas, St Catherine of Siena and St Teresa of Ávila. St John Henry Newman will become the 38th Doctor of the Universal Church.

St John Henry Newman is one of the great modern thinkers of the Church and a key figure in a spiritual and human journey that has left a profound mark on the Church and 19th-century ecumenism, and the author of writings that show how living the faith is a daily heart-to-heart dialogue with Christ.

His life was spent with energy and passion for the Gospel, culminating in his Canonisation by Pope Francis in 2019. This rare honour recognises his profound impact on Catholic teaching, especially on doctrine, conscience, and the role of the laity.

Newman was one of the founders of the Oxford Movement of the 1830s, which sought to revive certain Roman Catholic doctrines in the Church of England by looking back to the traditions of the earliest Christian church. As a Catholic, he became one of the most influential theologians of the era, bringing elements of the Anglican church into his new faith tradition. He died in 1890. Newman’s path to being declared a doctor has been exceptionally quick, after Pope Benedict XVI beatified him during a visit to Britain in 2010. Pope Francis made him a Saint in 2019.

When the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham was established on 15th January 2011 it was placed under the patronage of (then) Blessed John Henry Newman by Pope Benedict XVI. Newman’s beatification was proclaimed by Pope Benedict on 19th September 2010 during his visit to the United Kingdom when, during his visit to Lambeth Palace and Archbishop Rowan Williams, he said: 'In the figure of John Henry Newman we celebrate a churchman whose ecclesial vision was nurtured by his Anglican background and matured during his many years of ordained ministry in the Church of England. He can teach us the virtues that ecumenism demands: on the one hand, he was moved to follow his conscience, even at great personal cost; and on the other hand, the warmth of his continued friendship with his former colleagues led him to explore with them, in a truly eirenical spirit, the questions on which they differed, driven by a deep longing for unity in faith.'

John Henry Newman’s most well known hymn, 'Lead, kindly light', was written in 1833 during his return to England on an orange boat bound for Marseilles. He wrote, 'We were becalmed a whole week in the Straits of Bonifacio and I was writing the verses during the whole time.'