The Feast of St Philip Neri, 1515-95, founder of the Congregation of the Oratory, which Father John Henry Newman joined and established in England during 1848, and which is celebrated on Bank Holiday Monday, May 26, is an appropriate time to review the steady progress of the Newman cause at the Congregation for the Causes of Saints in Rome. At present the Roman postulator of the Newman cause, Dr Andrea Ambrosi, is preparing the informatio report for the theological commission of the Congregation. This will indicate the grounds for judging the humanly inexplicable healing of Jack Sullivan from the Archdiocese of Boston, Massachusetts, to be a miracle.
Sullivan, a 69-year-old married permanent deacon, was suffering from a serious spinal disorder when he first prayed through the intercession of Cardinal Newman. He was healed of the illness on August 15, 2001, the Feast of the Assumption of Our Lady.
The report will be ready next month, but the meeting of the theological commission may not take place until some time after members of the Vatican Curia return to work from their summer break in August.
If the vote is favourable then the matter is referred to the Ordinary Session of the Congregation as it is known, when the distinguished cardinals and bishops, who form the highest level of any department in the Vatican, meet to vote on the cure. If favourable, the Cardinal Prefect of the Congregation advises Pope Benedict XVI to sign the decree. This is the document that would declare that the Servant of God, John Henry Newman, is to be beatified. From that moment, Cardinal Newman would be known throughout the world as Blessed John Henry Newman.
Pope Benedict was introduced to the writings of Cardinal Newman in January 1946 when he began his study of theology in the seminary in Freising in Bavaria. The young Joseph Ratzinger was greatly impressed by Newman and went on to study his theology. It is possible that the German Pope, who is taking a close interest in the Newman cause, might request that the theological commission and members of the Congregation of Saints complete their work before the end of July. This would pave the way for Newman to be beatified in Rome at the end of the twelfth ordinary general assembly of the international synod of bishops, on October 26. The theme of the synod, “The Word of God in the Life and the Mission of the Church”, was something dear to Newman’s heart.
The most likely scenario is that Pope Benedict will sign the decree declaring the Servant of God, John Henry Newman, blessed some time during December. In that case the beatification would probably take place after Easter in 2009.
Pope John Paul II took part in a large number of beatifications in Rome and during his pastoral visits throughout the world. Since he was elected Pope on April 19, 2005, Benedict XVI has reverted to the rules that state that a beatification should take place in the local diocese where the Servant of God lived or died. There have so far been seven exceptions to this while Benedict XVI has been Pope. The beatifications have taken place either in St Peter’s Square in the Vatican or in the Basilica St John Lateran, the cathedral church of Rome.
The postulator of a particular cause may petition the Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, and for good reasons request that the beatification take place in Rome. This will happen in the case of Cardinal Newman because of the tremendous worldwide interest in and devotion to the greatest English churchman of the 19th century, who was first an Anglican before he was received into the Catholic Church on October 9, 1845. Also Newman was created a Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church by Pope Leo XIII in May 1879.
The most difficult part of any cause for beatification or canonisation is to have a physical healing accepted as “humanly unexplainable” by the Consulta Medica, the medical board convened by the Congregation of Saints.
A statement was released on April 24, 2008, saying: “A meeting of the Consulta Medica took place at the Congregation of Saints in Rome today. The case of Deacon Jack Sullivan, from Marshfield, near Boston, was discussed and voted on by the Consulta Medica. The opinion of the doctors is positive.”
It is now possible to reveal that Sullivan’s healing was approved unanimously by the Consulta Medica during a meeting lasting little more than an hour. It is important to note that it is the Catholic Church, and not the doctors, that proclaims a miracle.
At the time, Father Paul Chavasse, Provost of the Birmingham Oratory and postulator of the Newman cause, said: “We now hope and pray for a positive outcome for the remaining steps of the process to beatify our cardinal.” Father Chavasse added: “The fathers, at Newman’s Oratory here in Edgbaston, would encourage people throughout the world to redouble their prayers for the beatification of Cardinal Newman.”
The Archbishop of Birmingham, the Most Rev Vincent Nichols, said: “The Church goes to great lengths before arriving at a public declaration of a person’s holiness of life. The process is going forward steadily in the case of Cardinal Newman. We await its next step in prayerful anticipation.”
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