Saint John Henry Newman (1801-1890)

Publisher's note: at the time of this article's publishing, St. John Newman had not yet been canonized.

Feast Day: October 9
Canonization: October 13, 2019
Patron of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham

Blessed John Henry Newman — renowned convert, theologian, and poet — will be canonized on October 13.

Born in early 19th-century London, he was a devout Anglican, and studied at Oxford’s Trinity College. In June 1824, he became an Anglican deacon in Oxford’s Christ Church Cathedral; a year later, an Anglican priest.

He was prominent in the Oxford Movement, which revered the Church Fathers, and sought reinstatement of ancient Christian traditions into Anglicanism.

But Newman’s research eventually led him to Catholicism, becoming convinced it was the church begun by Christ. In 1845, he became Catholic, and two years later, a Catholic priest of the Congregation of the Oratory.

A prolific writer of some 40 books, his best-known writings include Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine, and his spiritual autobiography, Apologia Pro Vita Sua.

He became a cardinal in 1879, and died 11 years later. Pope Benedict XVI beatified him in 2010, and this past February, Pope Francis approved his canonization.