About Saint John Henry Newman

Saint John Henry Newman was born in London on 21 February 1801 into a middle-class Protestant family. An evangelical Christian, Newman converted as a young man to English Calvinism before embracing a more central role for the Church in the life of faith. As an Anglican priest in the 1830s, Newman played a central role in the Oxford Movement, which sought to restore Catholic beliefs and rituals to the Church of England. 

Newman was received into the Catholic Church on 9 October 1845, and ordained a Catholic priest on 30 May 1847. Attached to the Oratory of St. Philip Neri, Newman lived in Birmingham for the rest of his life except for the years he spent here at the Catholic University of Ireland.

Look above Saint John Henry Newman’s bust at the four lunettes lining the wall: Saint Dominic, Saint Anthony of Padua, Saint Philip Neri, and Blessed John de Britto. Look behind you for four more: Saint Benedict, Saint Thomas Aquinas, Saint Fiachre, and Saint Ignatius of Loyola

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