Addresses to Cardinal Newman with His
Replies, etc.
From the Jesuit Community, St. Beuno's
College, North Wales
Feb. 21, 1879.
DEAR FATHER NEWMAN,
The good news that reached us yesterday, that the Holy Father has laid
at your Reverence's feet the highest {2} honours of the Church, has
caused us so much pleasure that we cannot refrain from sending you a
few lines to express our heartfelt joy at the welcome announcement. It
is by a happy coincidence that we are able at the same time to convey
to you our sincere congratulations on the occasion of your 78th
birthday. We rejoice to hear that, at the evening of a long life
devoted to the service of God and His Church, the exalted dignity of
the Church's princedom has been offered for your acceptance; we
rejoice still more when we look back on the seventy years and more
which are today completed, and think of all that you have done and
suffered for the cause of Truth.
Your Reverence is not unaware of the deep affection and high esteem
in which you are held among us. We are all of us in some way or other
indebted to you. Some of us are bound to you by the strong ties of
personal gratitude. The best return we can make to you is the prayers
we shall tomorrow send up in your behalf to the throne of God. Those
of us who have the opportunity of doing so hope to offer for you the
Holy Sacrifice of the Altar, and we shall all pray God that He may
crown the years which still remain to you with the joy of one who has
fought the good fight and earned the reward of peace and victory, and
that in the Church Triumphant you {3} may wear the crown which is laid
up for the Princes of the Kingdom of Heaven.
We recommend ourselves to your Reverence's Prayers and Holy
Sacrifices, and we remain,
Dear Father Newman,
Yours affectionately in Jesus Christ,
Thomas Rigby, S.J.; Victor Frinz, S.J.; Bernard Tepe,
S.J.; Paul Rochford, S.J.; Wm. Syrett, S.J.; John Morris, S.J.;
Francis Clough, S.J.; Jerome Janin, S.J.; Michael Gavin, S.J.; Bernard
Vaughan, S.J.; Thomas P. Brown, S.J.; Peter J. Chandlery, S.J.;
Richard Clarke, S.J.; John Rickaby, S.J.; Wm. A. Sutton, S.J.; Wilfrid
Mordaunt, S.J.; William Shapter S.J.; Thomas A. Finlay, S.J.; William
J. Burns, S.J.; William Hilton, S.J.; Joseph Kenny, S.J.; Parker
Joseph Lander, S.J.; Philip J. Brady, S,J.; Joseph Winkebried, S.J.;
Patrick Anderson, S.J.; Frederick O'Hare, S.J.; Daniel Quigan, S.J.;
Edward Williams, S.J.; Henry S. Hepburne, S.J.; Joseph H. Jerrard, S.J.;
Peter M'Laughlin, S.J.; Wm. Philip Edgcome, S.J.; John P. A. Collins,
S.J.; John S. Conmer, S.J.; John Charnock, S.J.; Edward Sidgreaves,
S.J.; Henri Laventure, S.J.; Henry Parker, S.J.; George Postlewhite,
S.J.; Thos. A. Barker, S.J.; Patk. Keating, S.J.; Charles Wilcock, S.J.;
John Sardi, S.J.
To the Jesuit Community at St. Beuno's
THE ORATORY, BIRMINGHAM,
Feb. 22, 1879.
MY DEAR VERY
REV. AND REV.
FATHERS AND BROTHERS,
I am too deeply moved, or rather too much overcome, by your letter to
me of yesterday, my birthday, to be able to answer it properly. For
such an answer I ought to be more collected than I can be just now.
If I were not writing to Religious Men it would be affectation in
me and want of taste, to say, what is {4} the real truth, that at the
moment I cannot address to you the thanks due to you for your most
loving words, for I am full of the thought of the goodness of God who
has led you to send them: Misericordias Domini in æternum cantabo.
Do you in your charity, my dear friends, pray for me that I, an old
man, may not fail Him who has never failed me; that I may not by my
wilfulness and ingratitude lose His Divine presence, His Sovereign
protection, His love, and that, having been carried on by His
undeserved mercy almost to the brink of eternity, I may be carried on
safely into it.
Your humble and affectionate servant in Christ,
J. H. NEWMAN.
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From Prior Gasquet
for the Benedictines of Downside
ST. GREGORY'S,
Downside, Feb. 23, 1879.
VERY REV. AND
DEAR FR. NEWMAN,
In my own name and that of the community of St. Gregory's Monastery, I
desire to offer you our heartfelt congratulations on the honour our
Holy Father has done you.
We can with truth say that there is no one whom we would more
gladly see raised to the high dignity of Prince of {5} the Church than
yourself, since there is no one we more venerate and admire.
We one and all can recall many signal benefits which you have
conferred upon us by your writings; and many of us, in this way, owe
you a debt of gratitude which can never be told.
Begging you then, Very Rev. Father, to accept our humble
congratulations,
I am,
Yours sincerely and with deep respect,
FRANCIS A. GASQUET,
Prior, O.S.B.
To Prior Gasquet, O.S.B., of St. Gregory's,
Downside
THE ORATORY, BIRMINGHAM,
Feb. 24, 1879.
MY DEAR FR.
PRIOR,
The reports about me, which I am neither at liberty to affirm nor
deny, have been so far of immense gain to me, in showing me the
affectionate feelings which so many of my Catholic brethren, so many
members of holy communities entertain towards me.
The drawback is my sense of the impossibility of my answering them
worthily, of paying the debt which I owe them for such kindness, and
of showing that I feel how great it is.
To receive so kind a letter as yours from a Benedictine body is of
special {6} gratification to me, in proportion as my love and
admiration of the Benedictine order has been special.
Pray express all this to your good Fathers, and believe me, begging
your and their prayers for me,
Most truly yours in Christ,
JOHN H. NEWMAN.
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From Fr. Walford, S.J.
BEAUMONT LODGE, Feb.
27, 1879.
VERY REV. AND
DEAR FATHER,
From Saturday afternoon till yesterday morning I have had to aid in
entertaining a party of some forty old Beaumont boys, who came down to
spend their Shrovetide at their old school. But for this, I should
have sent you this line some days ago.
I now write at the request of Fr. Cassidy, Rector, to convey to you
in his name, and in that of the other Fathers and Brothers of our
Community, our respectful and at the same time our heartiest
congratulations on the high honour lately conferred upon you by the
most august authority upon earth. It is a matter of sincere and great
rejoicing to us that the services you have rendered to the Catholic
cause in England, and to ourselves individually, by your writings and
example, as well as by your union with the Society to which we belong
in {7} loyal and unswerving devotion to the Holy See, have met with so
signal a recognition and appreciation at the hands of the Vicar of
Jesus Christ Himself. And you will forgive us if I add that, while we
should have been glad on our own account, and on account of our fellow
Catholics in England, to see you actually invested with the Sacred
Purple, yet, as Religious of the Society of Jesus, we cannot but
admire and sympathise all the more with the illustrious son of St.
Philip, whose love of humility and retirement leads him, in the Spirit
of his own Holy Father as in that of ours, to shrink from so exalted a
position as that of a Prince of the Church.
You will, I am sure, allow me to add the assurance of my own
special and peculiar joy on this occasion.
Commending Fr. Rector, our Community and College, and myself to
your prayers, with kindest regards to the Fathers of the Oratory,
I remain, Very Rev, and dear Fr.,
Yours in all affection and respect,
J. T. WALFORD, S.J.
To Fr. Walford, S.J., of Beaumont Lodge
THE ORATORY, BIRMINGHAM,
Mar. 1, 1879.
MY DEAR FR.
WALFORD,
You must not measure my gratification and my gratitude to your {8}
Very Rev. Fr. Rector and the other Fathers and Brothers of your
Community at Beaumont by the poor words I am putting upon paper; for I
am confused and troubled by the greatness of the honour which, from
what is so widely reported, I suppose there is a prospect of being
offered to me, though in truth I cannot say it has. But nothing can
undo the fact that the report has been so kindly received and welcomed
by my own people, the Catholics of England, and next by such large
bodies of our Protestant fellow-countrymen.
It will be a great relief to me if the great offer is not made to
me—but, if made, my way is not clear. I have a reasonable
apprehension that my refusal would be taken by Protestants, nay by
some Catholics, as a proof that at heart I am not an out and out Son
of the Church, and that it may unsettle some Catholics, and throw back
enquirers. I know that Unitarians, Theists, and Anticatholics
generally are earnest that I should decline, whereas I hear of a
widespread feeling among Catholics that, if I decline, I am
"snubbing the Pope".
I have suffered so much from the {9} obstinacy of all sorts of
people to believe that I am a good Catholic that this wonderful
opportunity, if opened on me, of righting myself in public opinion
must not be lost except for very grave reasons.
Yours affectionately,
JOHN H. NEWMAN.
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From the Chapter of
Birmingham
BIRMINGHAM, March 3, 1879.
DEAR DR. NEWMAN,
The Provost and Chapter of Birmingham, having heard that the news of
your elevation to the Cardinalate is confirmed, desire to offer you
their heartiest congratulations on so joyful an event. On former
occasions we have had to thank you tar eminent services rendered to
our holy religion in this country under special critical
circumstances, and we rejoice that those services should now receive
the solemn seal of approbation from the Holy See, which invests you
with the Sacred Purple.
The clergy and the faithful of the Diocese will, we know, desire to
give similar expression to their own feelings as soon as they can
communicate with one another for this purpose. But the Chapter being
assembled today to celebrate the festival of St. Chad, Patron of {10}
the Diocese, cannot separate without sending you these few words on so
auspicious a day.
We remain, dear Dr. Newman,
Yours very sincerely in Christ,
R. Provost Bagnall; J. Canon Northcote; W. Canon Tandy;
M. Canon O'Sullivan, V.G.; E. Canon Knight; Thomas Canon Longman;
Edward Canon Ilsley.
To the Provost and Canons of the Chapter of
Birmingham
THE ORATORY, BIRMINGHAM,
Mar. 4, 1879.
MY DEAR PROVOST
AND CANONS,
The genuine kindness which has led to your addressing me in Chapter on
the Feast of St. Chad, now that I am expecting the greatest event of
my life, is but a fresh instance of the warm and welcome sympathy
which you and your predecessors and the clergy of Birmingham and the
diocese have shown me heretofore, on such various occasions and so
opportunely. Never was a man supported and sustained more generously
and affectionately than I have been in time of need. And now, when my
course is nearly run, you end as you began some thirty years ago,
bringing up before me the memories of the past, and renewing my
gratitude for old and recent acts of friendliness {11} from you and
from others who have gone to their reward. Praying that you may be
repaid in full measure, as you will be, for all your goodness towards
me,
I am, my dear Friends,
Most sincerely yours in Christ,
JOHN H. NEWMAN.
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From Fr. Jones,
Provincial of the Jesuits
LONDON, W., March 4, 1879.
MY DEAR DR.
NEWMAN,
As it is no longer doubtful that the Holy Father has offered to you a
place in the College of Cardinals, and he has done this so as to
secure acceptance on your part, you will allow me, I am sure, to offer
you for myself and for the English Province of the Society of Jesus
our affectionate and respectful congratulations. The news has been to
us a source of singular and unmixed pleasure, and we have many reasons
to thank God and the Holy Father for the wise and graceful act by
which you are chosen for the highest dignity in the Church.
I don't think anything less than this would satisfy the great body
of Catholics in England and Ireland that the character and greatness
of the services you {12} have rendered to the Church and to the Holy
See were understood in Rome. We have at length reason to know that
they are understood, and their recognition and approval will win the
hearts of many to the Vicar of Christ and bind more closely to him
those that are already his.
I hope that God will spare you long to guide the hearts of many
that are turning towards you, and to use the great influence that he
has given you for the honour and service of our Mother, the Church.
Believe me,
Yours most respectfully,
J. JONES.
To Fr. Jones, S.J., Provincial
THE ORATORY, BIRMINGHAM,
March 5, 1879.
MY DEAR FR.
PROVINCIAL,
Your letter was as great a surprise to me as a pleasure.
I know we must look elsewhere for the true approbation of our
doings; but in sincerity I say that there could not here below be a
notice of me, favourable to my attempts in past times to serve
religious objects, which is more grateful to me, or has given me more
deep satisfaction, than the congratulations sent at this time by a
body of men so highly endowed as your Fathers. {13}
I am very conscious of the great imperfection of those attempts;
but it is a great thing to know how kindly your Fathers think of the
upshot of them, and how warm an interest they take in me personally.
That their generosity may be returned in blessings on themselves is
the sincere prayer of
Yours most truly in Christ,
JOHN H. NEWMAN.
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From the Fathers of The
Oratory at Naples
March 5, 1879.
CHARISSIME ET REVERENDISSIME
PATER,
Quod Te, Reverendissime in Christo Pater, Pontifex Maximus inter
Romanæ Ecclesiæ Cardinales nuper adsciverit, et fama nobis undique
innotuit et animos nostros quam maxima lætitia affecit. Tanti enim Te
facimus, tantum amamus, tamque arcto inter se Angliæ et Neapolis
Congregationes amoris vinculo junguntur, ut honorem tuum, Pater
Charissime, veluti nostrum computemus.
Quapropter Tibi Neapolitanæ Congregationis Oratorii nomine de
dignitate jure meritoque delata valde gratulor; idque eo libentius
elatioribusque rationibus facio, quo Te dignum plane Divi Philippi
Nerii filium hujusmodi honores parvi pendere {14} scio. Verum hoc mihi
animo inest, ideo Providissimum Deum his diebus Te ad tantam
dignitatem evexisse, ut bono Ecclesiæ suæ, in Anglia præsertim,
mirifice consulat: maximasque Deo ago gratias quod ad uberiores
fructus in Ecclesia colligendos Beati Patris Philippi filium optimum
adhibere dignatus est.
Talia animo agentes tum ego tum omnes meæ Congregationis Patres
Deum obtestamur, ut Te magis ac magis sua gratia cumulet. Ego autem
tuas omniumque tuæ Congregationis Patrum preces specialiter enixeque
efflagitans, Tibi, Reverendissime Pater, magno obsequio æque ac
mentis affectu scias me devinctum esse volo.
Reverentiæ Tuæ
Addictissimus et Amantissimus,
P. ALPHONSUS CAPECELATRO,
Præpositus.
Dat. Neapoti ex æd. Congris Orat. vulgo
Girolamini V. Id. Martii MDCCCLXXIX.
Admodum Reverendo Patri,
JOANNI HENRICO NEWMAN,
Congr. Orat. Birmingham in Anglia
Præposito.
To Fr. Capecelatro, Superior of the Oratory
at Naples
PATER CHARISSIME ET REVERENDISSIME,
Vetera tua erga me beneficia et fraternitatis in S. Philippo pignora,
{15} Colendissime Pater, tum tua ipsius, tum illa quibus Congregatfo
Neapolitana et singuli ejus Patres annis præteritis nos cumulaverunt,
jam novo charitatis documento coronasti, in illa acceptissimâ
Epistolâ quæ scripta in Tuo et Tuorum nomine hodie ad me venit.
Gratissimo et effusissimo animo Paternitates omnes vestras
amplector et foveo, qui me vetulum tam sincerâ benevolentiâ et
sympathiâ hoc tempore in mernoriâ vestrâ habuistis, cum
Sanctissimus Pontifex me in tam sublimem dignitatem inopinata et
admirabili benignitate evehere sibi proposuit.
Precamini pro me, dulcissime Pater, et omnes Patres tui, ut
curriculum vitæ meæ, jam prope emensum, faustè et feliciter
conficiam, in fide et spe bonâ et charitate quæ operit multitudinem
peccatorum.
Reverentiæ Tuæ
Observantissimus et Amantissimus,
JOANNES HENRICUS NEWMAN.
Præp. Orat., Birm.
Apud Birmingham, die Mart. 16,
A.D. 1879. Admodum Rev. Pat.
ALFONSO CAPECELATRO.,
etc., etc.,
Neapolis. {16}
From Fr. Capecelatro for the Fathers of The
Oratory at Naples
VERY DEAR AND
VERY REV. FATHER,
We hear on all sides, to our very great joy, that the Holy Father has
announced his intention to number you among the Cardinals of the Roman
Church. We esteem you so highly, and love you so warmly, and a bond so
close connects the English Oratory with that of Naples, that we look
on all honour done to you, as our own.
Wherefore, in the name and on behalf of the Naples Congregation of
the Oratory, I very cordially congratulate you on the dignity so duly
and so deservedly conferred on you; and I do this the more readily,
and from still higher motives, because I know that you, as becomes a
worthy son of St. Philip, set small store by honours of this kind, for
their own sake. But I feel very deeply that God, in His ever wise and
watchful Providence, has raised you to this great dignity for the good
of the Church, and especially in England; and I rejoice greatly and
bless Him that He has vouchsafed to call so good a son of St. Philip
to gather into His Church a still more abundant harvest.
With these thoughts and feelings both I and all the Fathers of our
Congregation implore God to multiply more and more His grace upon you;
and I very especially and earnestly ask your prayers, and those {17}
of the Fathers of your Congregation, and hold myself bound to you,
very Rev. Father, by every tie of reverence and loving regard.
Your Reverence's
Most Devoted and Affectionate
ALFONSO CAPECELATRO,
Superior.
Given at Naples, from the House of the
Congregation of the Oratory, commonly called
Girolamini, March 11, 1879.
To Fr. Capecelatro, Superior of The Oratory
at Naples
THE ORATORY, BIRMINGHAM,
Mar. 16, 1879.
VERY REV. AND
DEAR FATHER,
You have now, by the very welcome letter which I have today received,
written in your own name and in that of your Community, put the crown
to the long series of kindnesses and tokens of brotherhood in St.
Philip, which your Congregation and its several Fathers have shown us
all along in the years that are past.
I embrace you all and cherish you with grateful heart for
remembering me, an old man and infirm, with such cordial kindness and
sympathy, now that the Holy Father has proposed, with unlooked for and
wonderful goodness, to raise me to a dignity so high. {18}
Pray for me, my dear Father, you and all your Fathers, that I may
well and happily end my course, now so nearly run out, in faith and
hope and in the charity which covers the multitude of sins.
Your Reverence's
Most Devoted and Affectionate
JOHN H. NEWMAN.
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From Abbot Smith,
O.S.B.
THE PRIORY, LITTLE
MALVERN, Mar. 8, 1879.
DEAR DR. NEWMAN,
Now that your elevation is happily assured, I, as Provincial of
Canterbury, O.S.B., hasten to offer in the name of our Missionary
Fathers our united hearty congratulations on the dignity and honour
which have been bestowed upon you. To one and all of the English
Benedictine Congregation it is a source of deep satisfaction. Please
then accept this expression of our united congratulations, and our
hope and prayer that you may live long to help forward, as hitherto,
the honour and glory of Holy Church.
Your faithful servant in Christ,
THOMAS CUTHBERT SMITH,
Prov. Cantuar., O.S.B. {19}
To Abbot Smith, O.S.B.
THE ORATORY, BIRMINGHAM,
Mar. 9, 1879.
MY DEAR ABBOT
SMITH,
It is a great consolation to me to receive such letters as yours, and
I beg to return to you and your Fathers my best thanks for your
congratulations.
I hope you will not forget me in your holy prayers.
Your faithful servant in Christ,
JOHN H. NEWMAN.
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From Fr. Amherst,
S.J., Glasgow
ST. ALOYSIUS' COLLEGE,
March 9, 1879.
VERY REV. AND
DEAR DR. NEWMAN,
I have just seen in the Tablet of this week a confirmation of
the report which we had heard, that our Holy Father was about to
confer upon your Reverence the great dignity of Cardinal. I hasten to
offer to you my humble congratulations, and to say how delighted I
feel at the joyful news, not only because it will confer the highest
honour upon yourself, who have rendered such extraordinary services to
the Church, but also because the happy event is a great glory to our
portion of the Church in England. You will receive many
congratulations {20} more pleasing than mine, because they will come
from old and intimate friends, but you will receive none more sincere.
All the members of the Society in Glasgow share with me the sentiments
I have expressed. Again, and in their name also, I beg to offer your
Reverence our heartfelt congratulations.
I remain, Rev, dear Dr. Newman,
Most respectfully and sincerely
yours in Christ,
WM. J. AMHERST, S.J. {21}
To Fr. Amherst, S.J.
THE ORATORY, BIRMINGHAM,
Mar. 9, 1879.
MY DEAR FR.
AMHERST,
It is an extreme pleasure to me to receive such letters as yours, and
a special pleasure to be so kindly addressed on this solemn occasion,
for so I feel it to be, by your Fathers both in England and now in
Scotland.
God's ways are wonderful. I can say no more. I can but beg you and
your Fathers about you to accept my best thanks, which are a poor
return, but all I have to give.
Most truly yours in Christ,
JOHN H. NEWMAN.
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From Fr. Gerard, S.J.,
St. Francis Xavier's College, Liverpool
March 11, 1879.
DEAR DR. NEWMAN,
The members both of our Community and College have commissioned me, on
occasion of their anniversary of honour done by the Church to St.
Philip and St. Ignatius,* to convey to you our most hearty sympathy
for the honour which from the same source has come to you.
We are not so public a body as to entitle us to address you in what
I may call official form, but while we feel it to be a benefit that we
should spare you the necessity of a reply which such official
demonstrations seem to demand, we cannot individually omit the
opportunity of testifying our gratitude to one from whom so many of us
have directly or indirectly received, under God, so much benefit.
You may be sure, dear Rev. Father—while we may still so
familiarly address you—that there are many among us who do not cease
and will not cease to make you the only return that is possible in
their prayers and sacrifices, and who hope that they are not
altogether without a share in yours.
I remain, in the name of them all,
Ever yours very faithfully in Christ,
JOHN GERARD, S.J.
* [St. Philip Neri, St. Ignatius Loyola, St. Francis
Xavier, St. Isidore Agricola, and St. Teresa were canonised by Pope
Gregory XV. on the same day, March 12, 1622. Vid. Life of St.
Philip, by Card. Capecelatro; translated by Fr. Thomas Pope.]
{22}
To Fr. Gerard, S.J., St. Francis Xavier's
College, Liverpool
THE ORATORY, BIRMINGHAM,
Mar. 12, 1879.
MY DEAR FR.
GERARD,
How very kind your letter is! I thank you and the other members of
your Community and College with all my heart for so welcome a message.
Of course my first gratification, on receiving the great honour which
is the occasion of your writing to me, is the approbation of me which
it implies on the part of the Holy Father. But the next and my keen
source of enjoyment is to receive the congratulations of friends. And
I have been quite startled at receiving so many, and so warm—and not
the least of these in affectionateness from the Houses of your
Society.
Of course I can't expect to live long—but it is a wonderful
termination, in God's good Providence, of my life. I have lived long
enough to see a great marvel. I shall not forget that I have your
prayers—many thanks for them.
Most sincerely yours in Christ,
JOHN H. NEWMAN. {23}
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From Fr. Purbrick,
S.J., Stonyhurst
STONYHURST COLLEGE, March
14, 1879.
VERY REV. AND
DEAR DR. NEWMAN,
By passenger train today I am sending you an address from all the
inmates of Stonyhurst.
A formal address always reads to me cold and stiff, but I am sure
you will believe that there was not any want of warmth in the feelings
that prompted it.
Indeed our joy has been and is enthusiastic, especially amongst our
own Communities. No words could exaggerate the veneration, love, and
gratitude we all feel towards you. Some of us know that under God we
owe our very souls to you and all the blessings of admission into the
Church.
What can we do but unite our humble prayers on your behalf most
fervently for every choicest grace and blessing now and for ever.
Believe me,
Very Rev, and dear Dr. Newman,
Your devoted, humble servant in Christ,
E. J. PURBRICK, S.J.
From Stonyhurst College
March 14, 1879.
VERY REV. AND
DEAR FR. NEWMAN,
We, the Rector, Fathers, Brothers, Philosophers and Scholars of
Stonyhurst College, seize the earliest occasion, after certain
assurance of the fact, to offer your Reverence our united {24}
heartfelt congratulations on your coming enrolment among the College
of Cardinals. We not only rejoice in common with so many English
Catholics at the personal mark of high esteem which His Holiness has
thus shown you, but it is to us a great cause of thankful joy, that
your theological labours and unremitting efforts for the cause of
Christ and His Church, more particularly in this country, have
implicitly received a sanction that must for ever in future stop the
mouths of gainsayers.
We only hope that an event so joyous may not deprive us of the
continuance of your dear presence among us, for so long as God in His
mercy may spare you to aid us by your wisdom and sustain us by your
bright example.
EDWARD J. PURBRICK, S.J.
STONYHURST COMMUNITY.
Thomas Murphy, S.J.; John New, S.J.; Clement W.
Barraud, S.J.; Thomas Kay, S.J.; James Pinnington, S.J.; Sebastian
Sircom, S.J,; Frederick Myers, S.J.; Reginald Colley, S.J.; Charles
Widdowson, S.J.; Herbert W. Lucas, S.J.; Alfred Yates, S.J.; Ralph
Swift, S.J.; Frederick Jerrard, S.J.; Herman Walmesley, S.J.; G. R.
Kingdon, S.J.; W. H. Eyre, S.J.; Thomas Harper, S.J.; John O'Reilly,
S.J.; H. Mahon, S.J.; C. Kaelin, S.J.; John Farmer, S.J.; Joseph
Hawett, S.J.; Richard Sykes, S.J.; James Robinson, S.J.; Ignatius
Gartlan, S.J.; Thomas McMullin, S.J.; Jno. D. Whitney, S.J.; Vincent
Hornyold, S.J.; William Taylor, S.J.
PHILOSOPHERS.
Geo. Barron, Louis Benoist, Edward Nelson, B. L. O'Donnell,
T. J. Lynch. T. V. Filose, Art. Heber, Eug. Gizard, Ignatius Rhodes,
Fernand Guyot, M. de Mendizabal, Edward Macdonald, R. Andrew, Chas.
Barry, D. Murphy, T. E. O'Gorman, M. Pycke, F. Francis, Theo. Benoist,
W. Moylan, Jos. Scully. {25}
STONYHURST SCHOLARS.
Francis Vincent Keating, Thomas Francis Griffin,
Ignatius Ward, Charles Redman, Francis Walsh, George Pye, Joachim
Palomo, George John, Henry John, Arthur Bliss, Christopher O'Conor,
Aloysius Guibara, Ronald J. Macdonell, Destours P. Larue, George
Eastwood, Adolphe de Rudder, H. Scrope, J. Stanton, E. Field, H.
Bliss, P. Forde, A. Codrington, W. O'Conor, Charles Newdigate, P.
McNulty, Philip Langdale, George Pfaehler, Donald Prestage, Ignatius O'Gorman,
Henry Marsden, Walter Clifford, Edward Cullen, Charles Roche, Henry
Roche, Alban Ellison, Paul Keens, Alexander Morrogh, M. Kenna, W.
Johnson, J. Sybrandt, E. Kernan, L. de Romana, G. Resting, J. Payne,
E. de Alberti, John Brinkmann, Albert Swan, Francis Seymour, Antony
Povell, James Morrogh, John Waters, Thomas Carroll, Thomas Unsworth,
Eugene de Romana, Evodio de la Pena, Jose Taraves Bastos, Lancelot
Scott, Francis Green, Henry Corrigan, Thomas Waters, Alfred Wyse,
Carlos Escovar, George Grene, Benjain L. de Romana, Joseph Keating, J.
Harris, Joaquin Escovar, Edward Roche, Ignatius Sandoval, Joseph
Robinson, John Ellison, Charles Lambert, James Grene, Richard Miranda,
Charles Rushbrooke, Walter McCann, Valentine Blake, Joseph A. Oliver,
J. Lalor, E. O. Bryen, K. Robinson, G. Taaffe, A. Loper, Brendan
MacCarthy, Francis Butler, Charles Miller, S. J. Considine, Camilo
Palomo, Daniel Powell, James Corrigan, Joaquin Amor, Walter Whitty,
John M'Neil, P. Considine, Henry Weld, Richard Ratcliffe, George
Murray, Bertram Garnett, John J. White, Charles E. Scanlan, R. Hickie,
Charles Lonergan, Raleigh Chichester, Charles Norton, Thomas Jones,
Hugh Cullen, J. Higginson, F. Goold, Charles Waterton, Thomas Hughes,
Bernard O'Flaherty, Henry Sparrow, Albert Morrogh, Charles McCann,
John Whyte, Frederick Garnett, Edwin Pearce, Herbert Mason, Mirza Ali
Ackbar, Reginald Gibb, Albert M. Smith, W. Grimshaw, W. Barron, L.
Calman, F. Belton, J. Urruela, W. Wilkinson, Alfred E. Lonergan, John
F. O'Connor, John White, Robert Hawkins, John Weld, Felix Larue,
Gerald McClement, Charles Ryan, J. Perry, Robert de Romana, Edward
Reynolds, Paul Chastanet, T. Fitzpatrick, John Ratcliffe, William
McEvoy, P. Hallinan, G. Kernan, J. Hallinan, J. Dewhurst, S. Murphy,
A. Kelly, T. Clery, F. Reynolds, George Gruggen, Ed. Kelly, Ed.
Blanchfield, Jas. Gaynor, Jas. Feely, Jn. Feely, Jose Renshaw, Juan
Tuason, M. Sandoval, C. Banon, M. Pena, M. Renshaw, T. Cochran, John
Shiel, Eugene Fogarty, Frederick Marsden. {26}
SEMINARY COMMUNITY.
Fathers Stephen Joseph Perry, S.J.; Henry Thieman,
S.J.; J. E. Moore, S.J.; Sidney F. Smith, S.J.; Bernard Bödder, S.J.;
Frederick Gower, S.J.; Ewan Macpherson, S.J.; John George Gretton, S.J.;
William J. Thomson, S.J.; Louis Payne, S.J.; Philip Bernard, S.J.;
Francis Chew, S.J.; Raymond Delebecque, S,J.; E. J. Romana, S.J.;
Herbert H. E. Thurstan, S.J.; Chas. J. Nicholson, S.J.; Thomas Slater,
S.J.; Denis Manning, S.J.; Lawrence Lynch, S.J.; Bart. Cooney, S.J.;
Michael O'Reilly, S.J.; Wm. Carlisle, S.J.; Geo. Eastham, S.J.;
Michael Maloney, S.J.; Henry Starkey, S.J.; Wm. McKeon, S.J.; Donald
C. V. Campbell, S.J.; J. Redman, S.J.; Francis O'Donnell, S.J.; Wm. L.
D. Young, S.J.; Joseph Browne, S.J.; John E. Darby, S.J.; M. A. Power,
S.J.; Edw. Etherington, S.J.; Isaac Lee, S.J.; C. H. Chandler, S.J.;
Compton T. Galton, S.J.; J. F. Dobson, S.J.; H. J. Garcia, S.J.; Chas.
Drakes, S.J.; John Robertson, S.J.; Wm. Knowles, S.J.; Richard
Aloysius Luse, S.J.; James Colgan, S.J.; Robert Ross, S.J.; Thos.
Meynell, S.J.; Alfred F. Allen, S.J.; Richard Bolton, S.J.; Thos.
Horton, S.J.; Edw. F. Barrand, S.J.; Austin Barrow, S.J.
HODDER COMMUNITY AND SCHOLARS.
William H. Kerr, S.J.; John Proctor, S.J.; John
Reynolds, John Lalor, W. Bodkin, Paul Amor, Henry Brighan, Frederic
Whyte, Edmund Belton, Bernard Newdigate, Vincent Johnson, Alfred H.
Harrison, Edmund Perry, Thomas Mundy, Bertie Kelly, Bernard E.
Goodrick, Hugh Mason, Patrick McEvoy, Patrick Considine, Charles
Blake, Gerald Jackson, Carteret Maule, John Noble, Hubert L. Harrison,
Frank Irwin, Edward Duff, Paul Monselle; John McCormack, S.J.; George
Dover, S.J.; Arthur Cooper, Charles Whyte, Thomas Gallaher, Richard
Keogh, Robert Parry, Alexander Amor, Charles Chichester, Frederic
McClement, Raymond Oliveros, Alfred Duff, Arthur Irwin, Francis
Kennedy, Herbert Harrison, Charles Spencer, Bernard Mason, Charles
Eastwood, Frederick Chadwick, Percy Lalor, Henry Calman, G. Maxwell
Stuart, George Whyte, Harry Irwin, J. Latham, Thomas Stevens, Reginald
Harrison.
March 14, 1879. {27}
Reply to the Address from Stonyhurst College
THE ORATORY, BIRMINGHAM,
Mar. 17, 1879.
MY DEAR FR.
RECTOR,
MY DEAR FATHERS,
BROTHERS, AND OTHERS
OF THE COLLEGE
AT STONYHURST,
The special honour which at this time has been conferred on me by the
Sovereign Pontiff has been made still more grateful to me by the
pleasure which it has given to my fellow Catholics, and still more and
singularly so by the gracious message which has accompanied it from
the Holy Father, that it was his express purpose, in raising me to the
Sacred College, to do an act acceptable to the Catholic body and to my
countrymen.
To this intention of the Holy Father you have, without knowing of
it, responded in an address to me, as artistically beautiful in its
appearance as in its wording it is affectionate, and which comes to me
with an additional charm as uniting such various signatures, of young
and old, of masters and scholars, of friends and strangers, of
ecclesiastics and laymen, in one act of kindness and sympathy. {28}
I thank you for it with all my heart, and shall take care to place
it on our walls as a document for posterity. Some fifty or a hundred
years hence it will, beyond dispute, have a fresh and distinct
interest for Catholics, as being then found to contain names, which by
that time will belong to history, as belonging to men, who in their
day, in various lines of work, have done good services either to Holy
Church or to their own country and people.
Believe me to be, with much gratitude, my dear Fr. Rector, Fathers
and others,
Most truly yours,
JOHN H. NEWMAN.
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From Abbot Burchall,
President-General of the English Benedictines
WOOLTON, LIVERPOOL,
March 14, 1879.
VERY REV. AND
DEAR FATHER,
On my return home yesterday evening I read in the Tablet a
confirmation of the report that His Holiness has intimated his desire
of raising your Paternity to the dignity of one of the Princes of the
Church.
Permit me, Very Rev., and dear Father, {29} in my own name and in
the name of the English Benedictine Congregation to tender to you our
united and heartfelt congratulations on your having been selected by
the Head of the Church for this dignity. It is a pleasure to us to
unite our congratulations with those of unnumbered friends and
admirers of Dr. Newman.
That it may please God to bless you with health to wear the Purple
for many long years to come and to continue your labours in the good
cause is and shall be the prayer of
Very Rev, and dear Father,
Your faithful servant in Christ,
R. BURCHALL,
President-General of the English
Benedictine Congregation.
To Abbot Burchall, President-General, O.S.B.
THE ORATORY, BIRMINGHAM,
March 17, 1879.
MY DEAR FR.
BURCHALL,
I feel the extreme kindness of your letter written in your own name
and in that of the English Benedictine Congregation.
It is wonderful to me that I should have lived long enough to have
these great marks of kindness, and such great honours, both from the
Sovereign Pontiff and my brethren, and I {30} thank you and yours for
the part you have taken in them with all my heart.
Say this to the good Fathers whom you represent, and tell them that
I take their present charity to me as a pledge that, when my time is
up and I am called away, they will not forget me in their good
prayers.
Most truly yours in Jesus Christ,
JOHN H. NEWMAN.
[See p. 208.]
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From St. Edmund's
College, Douai
March 12, 1879.
EMINENCE,
Be good enough to accept the warm and sincere congratulations of the
Prior and Community of St. Edmund's on the occasion of your being
raised to the Cardinalate.
To one so thoroughly acquainted with whatever is peculiar to the
Benedictine spirit, it is unnecessary to say much. You will guess our
sentiments much better than we could express them. One thing, however,
we must say. Since the memorable year 1845 our minds and hearts have
ever followed you in your wonderful career, and no tongue could well
describe the respect, affection, (and at times the sympathy), we have
all felt for you. {31}
We have nothing amongst us which could engage you to visit us; but
we think that the very ground we tread on, this holy place whence so
many went forth to keep up Catholicity in England even at the cost of
life, might possibly induce your Eminence to take Douai as a
resting-place on your journey to Rome. A visit from you would make us
all so happy, and we should endeavour to procure an extra supply of
Benedictine simplicity for the occasion.
I remain, Eminence,
Your dutiful servant in Christ,
E. A. O'GORMAN (PRIOR).
To Prior Gorman, O.S.B., of St. Edmund's,
Douai
THE ORATORY, BIRMINGHAM,
March 17, 1879.
MY DEAR PRIOR
GORMAN,
The kindness of your letter embodying the congratulations of yourself
and your Community on the Holy Father's goodness to me cannot be duly
answered in a formal letter. Considering the place the College at
Douai holds in English Catholic History, it is wonderful that I should
have received such a letter as yours, and should have lived long
enough to receive such honour.
I wish I could promise myself the {32} pleasure of availing myself
of the invitation you give me, but I am not very strong and know
nothing of the future.
Meanwhile I feel sure you will not forget me in your good prayers,
My dear Fr. Prior,
Yours very sincerely,
JOHN H. NEWMAN.
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From Fr. Keogh,
Superior of The Oratory, London
THE ORATORY, LONDON,
Feb. 24, 1879.
MY DEAR FATHER,
I hope you will let me say, for myself and in the name of all our
Fathers, how much we feel for you and all your Fathers in the trying
circumstances of the moment, and how constantly we shall pray for you;
and at the same time with what affectionate rejoicing we have heard of
so great a mark of honour and love on the part of the Sovereign
Pontiff towards you.
Whatever happens this at least will remain.
Believe me, My dear Father,
Always yours with great affection in St. Philip.
EDWARD S. KEOGH,
Cong. Orat. {33}
From Fr. Keogh, Superior of The Oratory,
London
THE ORATORY, LONDON,
March. 20, 1879.
MY DEAR FATHER,
I write on behalf of our Fathers to beg your acceptance of a little
present (which I have just forwarded to Edgbaston) in the hope that
you will sometimes use it in the functions of your dignity as
Cardinal.
With it they beg me also to send you in their name the vote of our
Congregation of which a copy is enclosed.
With all our kindest wishes, I am,
My dear Father,
Affectionately Yours,
EDWARD S. KEOGH,
Cong. Orat.
From the Fathers of The Oratory, London
(Sent) March 20, 1879.
Extract from the Minutes of a General Congregation
held March 6, 1879.
The Fathers of the London Oratory, assembled in General
Congregation, desire to offer to Fr. Newman the expression of their
affectionate congratulations on the announcement of the honour to be
conferred on him by the Vicar of Christ in creating him a Cardinal of
the Holy Roman Church.
Whilst sharing with so many others the general rejoicing at so high
a recognition {34} of his great services to the Church and to souls,
the Fathers of this Congregation feel a singular and special joy,
inasmuch as they venerate in Father Newman him to whom, under God,
they owe the happiness of wearing St. Philip's habit and of being St.
Philip's Sons.
EDWARD S. KEOGH,
Præpos.
The Cardinal answered the above informally, and, as in the case of
Oscott, the Diocesan Seminary, and elsewhere, a visit and a discourse
took the place of a formal reply. While staying in London with the
Duke of Norfolk, in May of the following year, he assisted in Cappa
Magna at Vespers in the Oratory, and afterwards gave a discourse
in the Little Oratory to the Brothers [See pp. 256-60.]. Before
leaving London he held a reception of clergy in the Oratory house [See
p. 321.].
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From the Chapter
of Westminster
WESTMINSTER, March 18, 1879.
VERY REV. AND
DEAR FATHER,
The Provost and Canons of the Metropolitan Chapter of Westminster
desire to express to you the heartfelt gratification with which they
have learnt that His Holiness Pope Leo XIII. has intimated his
intention of raising you to the rank of a Cardinal of the Holy Roman
Church. They rejoice in this recognition of the eminent services you
have rendered to the cause of religion and morality, both before and
since your submission to the Catholic Church, and in so conspicuous a
testimony to the virtues of a life characterised {35} throughout by
the most sensitive obedience to the dictates of conscience and the
voice of authority.
The almost unexampled unanimity with which the announcement of your
approaching elevation has been welcomed by the principal organs of
public opinion, and in every class of society throughout the kingdom,
is a manifest proof of the correctness with which the Holy Father has
interpreted the feelings and anticipated the wishes of the people of
these islands, by conferring this signal mark of favour and confidence
on one so universally revered and beloved.
The Provost and Canons feel the sincerest pleasure in uniting their
congratulations with those which you are receiving on every side, and
they earnestly pray that you may still live many years to adorn a
dignity so richly merited and so gracefully bestowed.
Signed in behalf of the Chapter,
WILLIAM PROVOST HUNT,
GEORGE CANON LAST,
Sec.
To the Provost and Canons of Westminster
THE ORATORY, BIRMINGHAM,
March 22, 1879.
VERY REV. AND
DEAR PROVOST OF
WESTMINSTER,
I have delayed my reply to the most welcome congratulations addressed
to me by yourself and the {36} Canons of Westminster, on occasion of
the singular honour which the Holy Father graciously intends for me,
simply because I have been confused at receiving words so very kind
and so very earnest. How can I refuse a praise which is so pleasant?
How can I accept what, according to my knowledge of myself, is so
beyond what I can justly claim?
However, such words at least are signs of your affectionate
good-will towards me, and no misgiving about myself can deprive me of
a right to them. As such I thank you for them with all my heart, and
shall treasure them.
It is indeed a happiness as great as it is rare that those special
feelings which are commonly elicited in a man's friends after his
death should in my own case find expression in my behalf while I am
yet alive.
With deep gratitude to those who have been so good to me,
I am, my dear Very Rev. Provost,
Sincerely yours in Christ,
JOHN H. NEWMAN. {37}
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From the Provost and
Canons of Hexham and Newcastle
OLD ELVET, DURHAM,
St. Cuthbert's Day, March 20, 1879.
VERY REV. AND
DEAR FR. NEWMAN,
Our Chapter meeting was on Tuesday the 18th, and the Canons
commissioned me to offer you our united, unanimous, and warmest
congratulations on the high dignity to which you are about to be
raised by the Holy Father. You have not more loyal or devoted friends
than the clergy of this diocese, and I am sure it will please you to
know that many of us are indebted to your writings for a deeper
appreciation of the beauty and truth of our holy Faith.
We rejoice, therefore, exceedingly that your most valuable services
to the Clergy and the Church have met with their fitting recognition
and recompense. It is a special subject of congratulation to us that
you, whom we have always looked upon as our champion and defender,
should be the first amongst the second order of the English Clergy to
be made a Prince of the Church.
We pray that your life may yet be prolonged to add lustre to the
Purple, and to edify the Church by your writings and virtues.
I have the honour to be,
Very Rev, and dear Dr. Newman,
With much respect,
Your obedient servant in Christ,
EDWARD CONSITT,
Provost of Hexham and Newcastle. {38}
To the Provost and Canons of Hexham and
Newcastle
THE ORATORY, BIRMINGHAM,
March 22, 1880 [sic].
MY DEAR RT.
REV. PROVOST OF
HEXHAM,
I do not know how adequately to express the great pleasure with which
I have received the congratulations of yourself and your Chapter on
occasion of the singular honour which the Holy Father proposes to
confer on me.
That honour is the highest that I could receive at his hands. I
should be utterly heartless if it did not touch and gratify me deeply.
But it is no want of due appreciation of it or ingratitude to the
giver if I say how greatly it adds to my happiness to find his
condescension on my behalf so warmly welcomed, nay hailed with so
generous an impulse, by my brethren in the priesthood and by
ecclesiastics so highly placed as yourselves.
I have no fear lest, so speaking, I should be mistaken by him who
has been so good to me; for I have reason to know that, with an
affectionate thought not only of me, but of his children in these
parts generally, {39} and as realising my antecedents and my present
circumstances in my own country, it has been his express intention, in
bestowing on me this high dignity, to do an act which will be grateful
to the Catholic body, and even to England itself.
You will understand how proud I am that what in you has been a
spontaneous kindness towards me should have been in the Holy Father a
sure anticipation of it.
I take for granted that those who have been so considerate towards
me in other ways do not forget how old I am and the needs of old men.
I am, my dear Provost of Hexham,
Sincerely yours in Christ,
JOHN H. NEWMAN,
Of the Oratory.
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Letter from Fr.
Robinson, Superior of the Oblates of St. Charles
BAYSWATER, LONDON, March
23, 1879.
VERY REV. AND
DEAR FATHER,
I have the great pleasure of forwarding to you a little address of
congratulation from our Fathers on the honour you are about to receive
from our Holy Father.
As two of our Fathers are unfortunately away at present, their
names do {40} not appear, and they will regret very much not to have
been able to join the others in this token of sincere esteem and
affection.
Although I am myself a perfect stranger to you, you are not so to
me. For many years I have learnt to know you and to love you in your
works in a way that I can only describe as being akin to the love
which you yourself have somewhere expressed towards the "Ancient
Saints," known only to you in their words and works.
I hope you will kindly forgive me for thus expressing my feelings,
and believe
Very Rev, and dear Father,
Yours very respectfully and sincerely in Christ,
CUTHBERT ROBINSON,
Sup. Ob. St. C.
From the Oblates of St. Charles at Bayswater, London
ST. MARY OF
THE ANGELS,
BAYSWATER, LONDON, March
22. 1879.
VERY REV. AND
DEAR FATHER,
We, the Priests of the Congregation of the Oblates of St. Charles, in
the diocese of Westminster, desire to offer you our sincere and
heartfelt congratulations on the honour which is about to be conferred
upon you by his Holiness Leo XIII. {41}
We are conscious that we are only uttering the common sentiments of
all Catholics, whether clergy or laity—and indeed of all classes of
our countrymen, of whatever religious profession—and of many others
throughout the world—when we assure you of the very great
satisfaction and pleasure with which we received the announcement of
your proposed elevation to the Cardinalate and of your subsequent
acceptance of the dignity by desire of the Holy Father. It would be
superfluous for us to enlarge upon those merits to which so unanimous
and just a tribute is being offered on all sides. But we are anxious
to convey to you this special expression of our feelings, both
personally and as Oblates of St. Charles—having received a mark of
your regard, which we much prize, in the dedication of a volume of
your Sermons on the occasion of the opening of our Church. Nor do we
forget that the memory of our illustrious Founder and Patron is
closely associated with that of your own St. Philip Neri.
We will only add our most earnest prayer that God may be pleased to
prolong your years in the possession of this new dignity, in order
that you may continue your labours for the advancement of His truth
and the benefit of His Church in this land; towards which you have
been enabled by His blessing to contribute so largely in your past
life. {42}
Begging you to accept this testimony of our respect and esteem, we
remain,
Very Rev, and dear Father,
Yours very sincerely,
Cuthbert Robinson, Superior; H. A. Rawes, Thomas
Dillon, Robert Butler, Walter J. B. Richards, Henry M. Bayley, Edward
Lescher, Cyril W. Forster, Cyril Ryder, Francis J. Kirk, R. F.
Collins, Septimus Andrews, W. H. Kirwan, W. W. Cook, A. V. Miller,
Francis M. Wyndham, Joseph S. Tasker, John Keating, James Butler,
Archibald J. J. McDonell.
To the Oblates of St. Charles, Bayswater
THE ORATORY, BIRMINGHAM,
March 27, 1879.
MY DEAR FATHERS,
It is indeed most pleasant to me to receive letters such as that
which, with your several signatures attached, you have been so good as
to address to me.
Whose praise, whose sympathy, next to the approbation of the Holy
Father, can I covet more, than that of a body of priests so highly
esteemed for their own sake, so important from their position, as the
Oblates of St. Charles?
And you increase the value of your act by giving prominence to its
personal character. It becomes the token of a faithful memory on your
part of the interest which I took in you on your first establishment,
{43} twenty-two years ago, and a graceful response to the lines which
at that time I ventured to address to my old acquaintance your
illustrious Founder.
Impressed with this instance of good-will, I shall not be content
unless you continue your religious thoughts of me in time to come, as
generously as you have bestowed them on me in the extended period gone
by.
I am, my dear Fathers,
Your faithful servant in Christ,
JOHN H. NEWMAN.
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From the President of
Trinity College, Oxford
TRINITY COLLEGE, OXFORD,
Mar. 28, 1879.
DEAR SIR,
I have been requested to make known to you that it has been
unanimously resolved that "The President and Fellows of Trinity
desire to offer their most sincere congratulations to the Very Rev. J.
H. Newman on his nomination to the rank of Cardinal; and to assure him
of the deep sympathy of the College, which is at once his earliest and
latest in Oxford, on an occasion of such great and general interest
and such personal moment to himself; and to record their hope that he
may long be spared to {44} fill the high position to which he has been
called".
Whilst conveying this imperfect expression of our feeling I trust
that, although I am at present personally a stranger to you, I may be
permitted to look forward to the pleasure of offering you hospitality
at my lodgings on some early occasion.
I have the honour to remain,
Dear Sir,
Yours very faithfully,
J. PERCIVAL, President.
To the President of Trinity College, Oxford
THE ORATORY, BIRMINGHAM,
Mar. 30, 1879.
DEAR MR. PRESIDENT,
I had been looking out, ever since I heard of your election, for the
time when you would come into residence, and when I might be allowed
to pay my respects to you—and now you anticipate me with so kind an
invitation, and such warm congratulations on my recent promotion, from
yourself and your Fellows.
I hope you and they will understand how very pleasant it is to me
to find the events which happen to me a subject of such friendly
interest to my friends at Trinity, and with what pride I reflect that,
if a historical {45} title and high ecclesiastical distinction goes
for anything in college estimation, I shall be thought, when the name
of a Cardinal appears on of your list of members, not to have done
discredit to your generous act of last year, when you singled me out
for your honorary Fellowship.
I am, dear Mr. President,
With much respect,
Sincerely yours,
JOHN H. NEWMAN.
P.S.—As to my movements, at present I am quite uncertain where I
shall be in the weeks before us; but I certainly shall not forget your
kind proposal.
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From Prior
Buckler, O.P., of the Dominican Priory, Woodchester, Gloucestershire
March 29, 1879.
VERY REV. DEAR
FATHER,
Although we are not the first to address you on the event of
your elevation to the Cardinalate, still we hold no second
place in the regard we have, and ever have had, for you.
We have, from the first rumour of the happy event, watched the
action of the Holy See and of yourself with great fears {46} and
equally great hopes; and now at last we thank God, and congratulate
ourselves as we rejoice over you.
The hidden nature of your private life has always edified us, and
the bold and fearless way with which you have uttered or written your
words of power, when called upon, make us feel that we owe a debt of
deep gratitude to you.
We offer for you our most fervent prayers and beg your blessing,
and remain,
Very Rev. dear Father,
Yours most respectfully,
Fr. EDMUND BUCKLER, O.P.,
Prior,
and the Community.
To the Prior and Community of the Dominican
Priory at Woodchester
THE ORATORY, BIRMINGHAM,
April 2, 1879.
DEAR FR. PRIOR,
Your letter in the name of yourself and brethren is most kind. This is
a trying time for me, and it needs the prayers for me of all who take
an interest in my past and future. Especially, I rely on those of holy
Religious, such as you; for I know they will be both given to me and
will be efficacious.
Most sincerely yours in Christ,
JOHN H. NEWMAN. {47}
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Address
from the Irish Catholic Members of the House of Commons
(Presented on Friday, April 4, 1879.)
The Irish Catholic Members of Parliament met the Very Rev. Dr.
Newman on Friday in Mr. Allies's library for the purpose of presenting
an address of congratulation on his elevation to the Cardinalate.
The Members present were The O'Conor. Don, Sir Joseph McKenna, Sir
G. Bowyer, Bart., Right Hon. W. H. Cogan, The O'Clery, Colonel
Colthurst, Major Nolan, Major O'Beirne, Serjeant Sherlock, Sir P. O'Brien,
Bart., The O'Donoghue, Messrs. Biggar, Callan, Collins, Dease,
Delahunty, Ennis, Errington, A. Moore, O'Byrne, O'Connor Power, Tynan,
Shell, etc.
Dr. Newman, who came from Birmingham that morning expressly for the
occasion, entered the reception room shortly after noon.
Sir J. McKenna, addressing Dr. Newman, explained that the address
about to be presented was purposely couched in the simplest terms.
To Dr. Newman
HOUSE OF COMMONS,
March 25, 1879.
VERY REV. AND
DEAR SIR,
We, the undersigned Irish Catholic Members of Parliament, beg leave to
offer you our heartfelt congratulations and to express to you with
great respect the sincere satisfaction with which we hail your
elevation to the Sacred College.
In conferring on you this signal mark of his favour, the Holy
Father has met the wishes and rejoiced the hearts of all classes of
your fellow-Catholics; for they see in it a recognition of the lofty
genius {48} you have devoted to the service of Religion, and the
crowning of a life of self-sacrifice.
As Irishmen we specially welcome this high tribute to the merits of
one whose sympathies have always been with our country, and who
devoted many years of brilliant and devoted effort to her service in
the still unfinished battle for educational liberty.
With profound respect,
We are,
Very Rev, and dear Sir,
Your faithful servants,
George E. Brown, Louis Colthurst, W. A. Redmond, Edward
Sheil, Richard Power, Charles U. Meldon, Nicholas Ennis, F. O'Beirne,
M. Ward, J. Tynan, Myles O'Reilly, Arthur Moore, R. T. Digby, O'Clery,
A. M. Sullivan, Joseph Neale McKenna, O'Donoghue, John Brady, Joseph
Biggar, J. G. McCarthy, John Philip Nolan, Edmund Dease, W. R. O'Byrne,
James Delahunty, George Bowyer, Denis M. O'Conor, C. J. Fay, Patrick O'Brien,
Edward D. Gray, W. O'Connor Power, R. O'Shaughnessy, O'Conor Don,
Charles French, George Morris, J. H. Rich, H. A. Lewis, Philip Callan,
F. H. O'Donnell, David Sherlock, W. H. O'Sullivan, N. D. Murphy,
Eugene Collins, G. Errington, W. H. Cogan.
To the Catholic Members of Parliament for
Ireland
April 4, 1879.
GENTLEMEN,
This is a great day for me, and it is a day which gives me great
pleasure too. It is a pleasure to meet old friends, and it is a
pleasure to meet new ones. But it is not {49} merely as friends that I
meet you, for you are representatives of an ancient and faithful
Catholic people for whom I have a deep affection, and, therefore, in
receiving your congratulations of course I feel very much touched by
your address; but I hope you will not think it strange if I say that I
have been surprised too, because while it is a great thing to please
one's own people, it is still more wonderful to create an interest in
a people which is not one's own. I do not think there is any other
country which would have treated me so graciously as yours did. It is
now nearly thirty years since, with a friend of mine, I first went
over to Ireland with a view to the engagement which I afterwards
formed there, and during the seven years through which that engagement
lasted, I had continuous experience of kindness, and nothing but
kindness, from all classes of people—from the hierarchy, from the
seculars and regulars, and from the laity, whether in Dublin or in the
country. Those who worked with me gave the most loyal support and
loving help. As their first act they helped me in a great trouble in
which I was involved. {50} I had put my foot into an unusual legal
embarrassment, and it required many thousand pounds to draw me out of
it. They took a great share in that work. Nor did they show less
kindness at the end of my time. I was obliged to leave from the
necessities of my own congregation at Birmingham. Everybody can
understand what a difficulty it is for a body to be without its head,
and I only engaged for seven years, because I could not otherwise
fulfil the charge which the Holy Father had put upon me in the
Oratory. When I left with reluctance and regret that sphere in which I
found so many friends, not a word of disappointment or unkindness was
uttered, when there might have been a feeling that I was relinquishing
a work which I had begun, and now I repeat that, to my surprise, at
the end of twenty years I find a silent memory cherished of a person
who can only be said to have meant well though he did little;—and
now what return can I make to you to show my gratitude? None that is
sufficient. But this I can say, that your address shall not die with
me. I belong to a body which, {51} with God's blessing, will live
after me—the Oratory of St. Philip. The paper which is the record of
your generosity shall be committed to our archives, and shall testify
to generations to come the enduring kindness of Irish Catholics
towards the founder and first head of the English Oratory.
JOHN HENRY CARD.
NEWMAN.
[This Reply to the Catholic Members of Parliament for Ireland, the
first of Dr. Newman's public Replies, was of necessity unprepared, for
he did not receive the draft of the Address until after the reception
was over; but it was written down by him and Mr. Allies together at
once after the gentlemen had left; and it contained, they believed,
the very words he had used. He had not had any experience of
proceedings such as this, and he was nervous and diffident about the
result. However, on entering the room, he at once felt at ease, and
his Reply, for its matter and delivery, and, indeed, in every respect,
was considered a great success. He gained from this occasion a
confidence in himself that he would be equal to similar and other
calls upon him which his new position might bring.]
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From the Archbishop
of St. Andrews, for the Bishops of Scotland
THE PRO-CATHEDRAL,
EDINBURGH, April 8, 1879.
DEAR DR. NEWMAN,
At a meeting of the Bishops of Scotland last week—the first that has
been held since information was received that you were to be raised to
the dignity of Cardinal—I was requested by the assembled {52}
Bishops to send in their name and my own our united congratulations to
you. We rejoice that it has pleased the Holy Father, by nominating you
to a seat in the Sacred College, to show his sense of the services
which by your writings and the influence of example you have rendered
to the Church, and we sincerely hope, and earnestly pray, that the
opportunity of continuing these services may be long granted to you
along with the enjoyment of your new and well-earned dignity.
I remain,
Yours truly in Christ,
JOHN, Archbishop of St. Andrews
and Edinburgh.
To the Archbishop of St. Andrews and the
Bishops of Scotland
April 8, 1879.
MY DEAR LORD
ARCHBISHOP,
Next to the approbation of the Holy Father as involved in the high
dignity to which he has raised me is the rare token of good opinion
and of good-will which your Grace conveys to me from yourself and your
brother Bishops of Scotland.
It is this echo of the Sovereign Pontiff's voice which brings out
to the world the force of his Holiness' condescension, {53} and gives
such intenseness to my gratification.
I expect soon to go to Rome; it is a great support to feel that
your special blessing, as conveyed to me in the letter which I am
acknowledging, will accompany me into the Holy Father's presence.
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From the Bishop's
Seminary, Olton, near Birmingham
April 12, 1879.
TO THE VERY
REV. J. H. NEWMAN, D.D.,
We, the students of the Diocesan Seminary which at our Bishop's
request you kindly inaugurated, venture to tell you with what pleasure
we learn that you have been called by the Sovereign Pontiff to a
throne among the Princes of the Church.
We rejoice that to your name has been thus added a new title of
honour and to your person a fresh claim on our veneration.
Our hearts are full of gratitude when we call to mind the noble
services you have throughout your life rendered to the cause of truth
and religion. You have fought the good fight, you have guided many to
their true home.
Whilst we gratefully acknowledge how {54} much we owe you, we raise
our voice in common with our fellow country-men to thank the Holy
Father who has been pleased to confer on you so distinguished a mark
of his personal esteem and a crowning recognition of your services to
the Church.
God grant you many years to wear the Sacred Purple amongst us, and
in His own good time may He fill up the measure of your reward and
clothe you in the white robes of those who reign for ever in the
kingdom of their Father.
E. Hymers, W. Waugh, J. Piris, J. Price, J, Giblin, F. Crewe, D.
Nunan, T. Kenny, E. Delaney, J. Hopwood, F. Keating, W. Byron, J.
Atkins, A. Villers, H. Whitgreave, T. Fitzpatrick.
An account of the presentation of the Seminary
Address on Holy Saturday, April 12, 1879.
DEAR . . .,
This is the account of what took place when we presented our address—just
as I wrote it down in my diary at the time.
Holy Saturday,
April 12, 1879.
We took the Seminarists' Address to Dr. Newman, at the Oratory,
Edgbaston, in company with Mr. Crewe. Beyond all our hopes we had an
interview of near half an hour with the saintly old man. He took us by
surprise, entering the room while we were expecting Fr. Pope. He sat
down with us, and I asked him somewhat abruptly if he would not like
to see the address at once. With some little {55}
trouble in getting the string undone (Dr. Newman himself went and got
us a knife to cut it), we brought forth the address, and put it on the
mantel-piece, as it happened, in a position very favourable to its
effect. Leaning on the mantel-piece he looked at it for a moment or
two and then commenced to read it. He read it carefully through while
we looked on in silence. As he came to the end he said: "It is
too much, of course, but I know that it is meant". And then
seeing the list of names he expressed his satisfaction, saying that to
possess the names is something for the future. He again said that he
felt that it was more than he deserved. Upon this I could not keep
quiet any longer, and I protested that every word was meant. He then
sat down and said, "I am sure of that. Those things are not
measured by words, but by the heart." And he expressed his sense
of gratitude. He spoke, not preparedly, but in a sort of meditative
way, in somewhat broken phrases, but from this very fact with an
evident feeling that made one warm up with devotion to him. He then
went on to talk about different subjects, about the Seminary and how
far it was changed since the day of the opening, October 4,
1873."
The Cardinal (Dr. Newman as he was then) talked with us about
twenty minutes or half an hour, but I do not remember anything
definite of the conversation. At the end of that time he took leave of
us at the door, and we went back to the Seminary.
Yours sincerely in Christ,
. . .
[For the Cardinal's visit to the Seminary, June 21, 1880, see
page 290.] {56}
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From Madame H.
Kerr, Convent of the Sacred Heart, Roehampton
CONVENT OF THE
SACRED HEART, ROEHAMPTON,
April 12, Holy Saturday, 1879.
DEAR FR. NEWMAN,
So many great people are writing to tell you of their happiness at
your being named Cardinal that we feared to join ourselves to them,
thinking we were too insignificant. Still, it is difficult to remain
quite silent when one is full of joy and satisfaction, and numbers may
perhaps compensate for other qualities, so you will allow the two
hundred inmates of this house to tell you that nowhere are there more
cordial rejoicings than here. We do not send you a grand address, but
we ask you to see in this very unpretending little book-marker a token
of our heartfelt congratulation, and a promise that many prayers and
communions will be offered up for your intentions.
Were you able to come here you would find many who, like myself,
have inherited a filial love for your name. We hope some day you will
come. Meantime, Rev. Mother Digby begs you to bless her and all her
daughters.
I am, dear Father Newman,
Yours very respectfully in Christ,
HENRIETTA KERR. {57}
To Madame Henrietta Kerr of the Convent of
the Sacred Heart, Roehampton
Easter Day, 1879.
To MADAME HENRIETTA KERR.
Wishing you, Rev. Mother, and all of you the best Easter blessings—
Thanking you and all of you for your good prayers and earnestly
asking of you a continuance of them.
J. H. N.
[Madame Kerr, in a letter of September 10, 1879, says: "It was
written on the back of a card, but coming by return of post made it
very valuable."]
———————
ARRIVAL IN ROME.
Dr. Newman arrived in Rome on Thursday in Low Week, April 24.
After his audience with the Pope on Sunday, April 27, Dr. Newman
scarcely left his apartments, being troubled with a severe cold and
cough. Dr. Aitken was called in to see him, and at one time some
anxiety was felt as to the condition of the illustrious Oratorian.
However, no apprehension is now entertained, and it is believed that
he will be able to attend the Consistory on May 25 to receive the Hat.
{58}
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From the
Catholic Union of Birmingham
BIRMINGHAM, 17th April, 1879.
REV. AND DEAR
SIR,
We, the members of the Birmingham Catholic Union, desire to address
you to offer you our congratulations on the occasion of your elevation
to the dignity of Cardinal of the Catholic Church, about to be
conferred upon you by our Holy Father Pope Leo XIII.
We feel that we have a claim upon you to allow us this privilege,
being inhabitants of the town you chose for your residence thirty
years ago, and where, with rare intervals, you have dwelt since, which
is therefore connected with so many events of your life, both of joy
and of sorrow, and we have rejoiced and taken pride in the fact that
in a certain measure we may claim you as belonging to us, we having
constantly heard of you, seen you, and in the church of your Oratory
been instructed by you. Neither have we forgotten that it was in this
town, in the year 1850, you delivered the series of lectures, in one
of which you denounced and exposed one of those shameless renegades
who at that period attacked Catholicity, and thereby drew upon
yourself a prosecution, hard to bear personally, but which effectually
checked the success which had hitherto attended these men.
Of your services to religion in the foundation {59} of the Oratory
of St. Philip and church here, and of the labours of yourself and of
the Fathers of your Community, we are also witnesses; nor can we pass
over or forget your literary labours: the lectures on Anglican
Difficulties, on Catholicism in England, on Education; your volumes of
sermons, Grammar of Assent and other works, particularly those so
familiar to us as Loss and Gain, the lectures on the Turks, Callista,
the Dream of Gerontius, and, lastly, your Apologia, in which you make
us acquainted with yourself, your feelings and innermost life from
your earliest years, through the period of your conversion to our Holy
Faith in 1845, up to the year 1864. You, as the author of these works,
claim and receive from us earnest thanks for the instruction and
pleasure we have derived from perusing and studying them.
And now, Very Rev. and dear Sir, permit us to offer you, most
sincerely, our congratulations that our Holy Father has thought fit to
recognise your many services by conferring on you the dignity of the
Cardinalate, and most earnestly do we pray that Almighty God may grant
you yet many years of life to enjoy and adorn the dignity.
JOHN B. HARDMAN,
President.
GEORGE J. REEVE, Hon. Sec.
{60}
To J. B. Hardman, Esq., President of the
Catholic Union of Birmingham
ROME, May 5, 1879.
MY DEAR MR.
HARDMAN,
I had left Birmingham before your letter of April 17, in the name of
the Catholic Union of Birmingham, came, and, since I received it, I
have been prevented from answering it, both by indisposition and by
the duties arising out of the great occasion which has brought me to
Rome.
And now when I take up my pen to do so, I am troubled with the
difficulty of finding words which may fitly respond to so very kind
and friendly an Address. I feel how poorly I have merited it, and I am
ashamed to think that you have spoken of me in such terms. You have
made much of very little; and I am grateful to you for overlooking all
my shortcomings, and keeping in mind only those passages in the years
which I have passed in Birmingham, in which, in some way or other, I
have done service to the Catholic cause. This, however, I can say,
that I have always wished to be doing service for the Catholic body,
and it is generous in you to have taken the will for the deed.
Nothing indeed has pleased me {61} more on this great occasion than
to know of your kind sympathy and interest in me; and I am sure I may
rely on your making this clear to the gentlemen whom you represent.
I am, my dear Mr. Hardman,
Very sincerely yours in Christ,
JOHN H. NEWMAN.
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