John Henry Newman
Clergyman / Orator
John Henry Newman was a leading priest in the Church of England whose conversion to Catholicism was a major event of the 1840s. Newman was a popular speaker and a scholar at Oxford, making his conversion all the more welcome to Catholics and shocking to Anglicans. Newman had been ordained as an Anglican priest in 1825; he was ordained as a Catholic priest in 1847, and in 1879 he was created a cardinal by Pope Leo XIII. His Apologia Pro Vita Sua (1864) is considered a classic among religious autobiographies.Extra credit: Newman is sometimes compared with C.S. Lewis, also an Oxford scholar and a famous 20th-century convert to Christianity.
Four Good Links
The National Institute for Newman Studies
A scholarly approach to studying Newman's impact
Newman Reader
The spot to find Newman's own writings online
The Conversion of John Henry Newman
Detailed 1999 essay sums up the conversion and the controversy
The Venerable John Henry Newman Association
Includes a biography and resources for Newman scholars
Vital Stats
Birth
Birthplace
Death
11 August 1890
(pneumonia, age 89)
Best Known As
The Anglican priest who converted to Catholicism
