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Newman's Unquiet Grave: The Reluctant Saint
John Henry Newman was the most eminent English-speaking Christian thinker and writer of the past two hundred years. James Joyce hailed him the 'greatest' prose stylist of the Victorian age.
A problematic campaign to canonise Newman started fifty years ago. After many delays John Paul II declared him a 'Venerable'. Then Pope Benedict XVI, a keen student of Newman's works, pressed for his beatification. But was Newman a 'Saint'?
In Newman's Unquiet Grave John Cornwell (author of A Thief in the Night and Hitler's Pope) tells the story of the chequered attempts to establish Newman's sanctity against the background of major developments within Catholicism. His life was marked by personal feuds, self-absorption, accusations of professional and artistic narcissism, hypochondria, and same-sex friendships that at times bordered on the apparent homo-erotic.
John Cornwell investigates the process of Newman's elevation to sainthood to present a highly original and controversial new portrait of the great man's life and genius for a new generation of religious and non-religious readers alike.
A problematic campaign to canonise Newman started fifty years ago. After many delays John Paul II declared him a 'Venerable'. Then Pope Benedict XVI, a keen student of Newman's works, pressed for his beatification. But was Newman a 'Saint'?
In Newman's Unquiet Grave John Cornwell (author of A Thief in the Night and Hitler's Pope) tells the story of the chequered attempts to establish Newman's sanctity against the background of major developments within Catholicism. His life was marked by personal feuds, self-absorption, accusations of professional and artistic narcissism, hypochondria, and same-sex friendships that at times bordered on the apparent homo-erotic.
John Cornwell investigates the process of Newman's elevation to sainthood to present a highly original and controversial new portrait of the great man's life and genius for a new generation of religious and non-religious readers alike.
288 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2010
About the author
John Cornwell
59 books50 followersJohn Cornwell is a British journalist, author, and academic. Since 1990 he has directed the Science and Human Dimension Project at Jesus College, Cambridge, where he is also, since 2009, Founder and Director of the Rustat Conferences. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Letters (University of Leicester) in 2011. He was nominated for the PEN/Ackerley Prize for best UK memoir 2007 (Seminary Boy) and shortlisted Specialist Journalist of the Year (science, medicine in Sunday Times Magazine), British Press Awards 2006. He won the Scientific and Medical Network Book of the Year Award for Hitler's Scientists, 2005; and received the Independent Television Authority - Tablet Award for contributions to religious journalism (1994). In 1982 he won the Gold Dagger Award Non-Fiction (1982) for Earth to Earth. He is best known for his investigative journalism; memoir; and his work in public understanding of science. In addition to his books on the relationship between science, ethics and the humanities, he has written widely on the Catholic Church and the modern papacy.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
January 1, 2011
Cornwell’s book is an examination of Cardinal Newman and the current Pope's obsession with raising him to sainthood. Clearly, the political climate has much to do with the decision since the Pope is determined to increase the number of priests by raiding the ranks of the Anglicans and Newman was the poster-child for jumping ship. When Newman decided to abandon the Anglican Church for the Roman Catholic variety it sent shock waves through Victorian England. “It was to the scandalised, an act of moral and social turpitude.” While a great orator and writer he certainly had his peculiarities and several of those related to his ostensible fondness for men, a male priest friend, Ambrose St. John, in particular and this has led to all sorts speculation has to which way he batted. Certainly he must have felt guilty about something as he “beat himself weekly with a discipline until age forbade.” How beatification will affect his reputation remains unclear. He was himself opposed to it, hence his insistence on burial in a compost that would speed up bodily disintegration. Perhaps, “his modesty... stemmed from “his fear the ossifying travesty it would make of his life and contribution.” (p. 17-19)
Newman’s jump to Catholicism was also undoubtedly prompted by his antipathy toward liberalism (read pluralism) in the church, i.e., tolerance of other beliefs and the idea that perhaps one religious view might be as good as another. He blamed the rise of secularism on the rise of “ ‘religious sects, which sprang up in England three centuries ago.’ “ (p. 211) Thus the problem was dissent, a belief that must warm the cockles of Benedict’s heart. We, he suggests, are faced with a conundrum that he foresaw, if not explicitly stated, where the secular government is forced to protect the freedom of expression of sects, which in turn leads to more secularism. His solution was a return to Catholicism.
The evidence that Newman did not want to be considered for sainthood is substantial (even aside from making sure he was buried in compost- to prevent leaving anything that could be used as a relic,) John Paul II went crazy with beautification, making more individuals saints than “all the previous popes put together from the time that the formal process began in the reign of Pope Urban VIII (1623-1644,) interestingly most of them in the southern hemisphere. In order to become a saint there must be evidence of miracles, something the Church of England “was not inclined to endorse” in Newman’s day. Newman himself, finding himself, as a Catholic, in the position of having to defend miracles, took the interesting position that they really didn’t matter much. “ ‘In matter of fact, then, whatever be the reason, nothing is gained by miracles, nothing comes of miracles, as regards our religious views, principles, and habits.’ “ )I think he was way off on this one as many devout Catholics hold miracles in high regard.
I was mostly interested in this book as a cultural --if not anthropological--view of the current church’s beatification process which seems to me totally ridiculous, and really skimmed quickly through the mundane aspects of Newman’s life. In the Epilogue, Cornwell examines in detail the claims by Jack Sullivan who claims he was healed of a serious back condition by praying to Newman, which caused the pain to disappear. (Placebo effect, anyone?) The “medical scrutineers,” as they are called, remarked that Sullivan’s relief was immediate and inexplicable. Cornwell demolishes that quite well, noting that his ability to continue walking after he was “relieved” of his pain and that may have contributed to more damage to his spine which necessitated surgery which was done in 2001. The rules of beatification explicitly note that the “miracle” must be long-lasting (his was temporary) and no intervention should be utilized. The major basis for the “miracle” would seem then to be the more rapid recovery after surgery than the doctors would normally have expected, hardly an obvious obliteration of natural laws.
Caveat emptor.
Newman’s jump to Catholicism was also undoubtedly prompted by his antipathy toward liberalism (read pluralism) in the church, i.e., tolerance of other beliefs and the idea that perhaps one religious view might be as good as another. He blamed the rise of secularism on the rise of “ ‘religious sects, which sprang up in England three centuries ago.’ “ (p. 211) Thus the problem was dissent, a belief that must warm the cockles of Benedict’s heart. We, he suggests, are faced with a conundrum that he foresaw, if not explicitly stated, where the secular government is forced to protect the freedom of expression of sects, which in turn leads to more secularism. His solution was a return to Catholicism.
The evidence that Newman did not want to be considered for sainthood is substantial (even aside from making sure he was buried in compost- to prevent leaving anything that could be used as a relic,) John Paul II went crazy with beautification, making more individuals saints than “all the previous popes put together from the time that the formal process began in the reign of Pope Urban VIII (1623-1644,) interestingly most of them in the southern hemisphere. In order to become a saint there must be evidence of miracles, something the Church of England “was not inclined to endorse” in Newman’s day. Newman himself, finding himself, as a Catholic, in the position of having to defend miracles, took the interesting position that they really didn’t matter much. “ ‘In matter of fact, then, whatever be the reason, nothing is gained by miracles, nothing comes of miracles, as regards our religious views, principles, and habits.’ “ )I think he was way off on this one as many devout Catholics hold miracles in high regard.
I was mostly interested in this book as a cultural --if not anthropological--view of the current church’s beatification process which seems to me totally ridiculous, and really skimmed quickly through the mundane aspects of Newman’s life. In the Epilogue, Cornwell examines in detail the claims by Jack Sullivan who claims he was healed of a serious back condition by praying to Newman, which caused the pain to disappear. (Placebo effect, anyone?) The “medical scrutineers,” as they are called, remarked that Sullivan’s relief was immediate and inexplicable. Cornwell demolishes that quite well, noting that his ability to continue walking after he was “relieved” of his pain and that may have contributed to more damage to his spine which necessitated surgery which was done in 2001. The rules of beatification explicitly note that the “miracle” must be long-lasting (his was temporary) and no intervention should be utilized. The major basis for the “miracle” would seem then to be the more rapid recovery after surgery than the doctors would normally have expected, hardly an obvious obliteration of natural laws.
Caveat emptor.
September 27, 2011
Quite apart from the rather boring speculation about Newman's "gayness" and his impending sainthood, this is a marvellous biography. I came away from it with immense respect and admiration for Newman, and the details of his journey from low-church evangelical Christianity to high Anglicanism and eventually to Catholicism, are richly detailed and absorbing. Cornwall quotes very liberally from Newman's writings, and Joyce's famous description in "Portrait of the Artist" of Newman’s "cloistral silver-veined prose" is entirely accurate. Newman led an utterly absorbing and exemplary life and this book has sent me back to his writing. Although I had little intention of ever tackling it, I'm now determined to read the Apologia.
August 27, 2020
After his recent canonisation I was keen to read this biography of John Henry Newman by John Cornwell, as I knew very little about him, other than that his celebrated conversion to Roman Catholicism shocked mid nineteenth century Anglicans. I have been rewarded with a fascinating, highly informative and strangely moving reading experience. I was struck by Newman’s honesty, sincerity and unflinching commitment to his beliefs. I even found myself feeling sorry for him, as he gave up membership of and high status in a church which revered him, for that of a church which found his freethinking and liberal views uncomfortable, despite the propaganda value of his high profile conversion.
I had no idea that there has been a controversy over whether or not Newman was gay. The fact that several of his contemporaries despised him for “effeminacy”, that this provoked the almost fanatical animosity of Charles Kingsley, and that men such as Archbishop Cullen and Cardinal Manning did their devious utmost to wreck his career in the Roman Catholic church, to me strongly argue in favour of his gayness. The biographer discounts such a view, on the basis that no evidence exists for Newman having ever had any kind of physical relationship with another man. Yet Newman’s lifelong preference for all male, celibate company, his serial devotion to special younger men whose reciprocal devotion he depended upon, to the extent that he insisted his body be buried in the same grave as his beloved (‘Charissime’) Father Ambrose St. John, suggest to me that he sublimated his sexuality in intense, but non-sexual, special male friendships.
The modern attempts to deny his potential gayness seem based on the assumption that this would be a slander on his reputation as a holy Catholic saint. Yet surely the opposite is true, that this in fact enhances his value as an inspiration to the modern world, gay or straight. As John Cornwell asks at the very beginning of the book, “Will the process of beatifying and canonizing him, trap and petrify his protean genius into a straightjacket of ‘approved’ Catholic orthodoxy? Or will the Catholic Church find itself energised and liberated by his wide-ranging literary and religious imagination?” For my part I hope the latter. Reading this book has at least made him a source of inspiration to me.
I had no idea that there has been a controversy over whether or not Newman was gay. The fact that several of his contemporaries despised him for “effeminacy”, that this provoked the almost fanatical animosity of Charles Kingsley, and that men such as Archbishop Cullen and Cardinal Manning did their devious utmost to wreck his career in the Roman Catholic church, to me strongly argue in favour of his gayness. The biographer discounts such a view, on the basis that no evidence exists for Newman having ever had any kind of physical relationship with another man. Yet Newman’s lifelong preference for all male, celibate company, his serial devotion to special younger men whose reciprocal devotion he depended upon, to the extent that he insisted his body be buried in the same grave as his beloved (‘Charissime’) Father Ambrose St. John, suggest to me that he sublimated his sexuality in intense, but non-sexual, special male friendships.
The modern attempts to deny his potential gayness seem based on the assumption that this would be a slander on his reputation as a holy Catholic saint. Yet surely the opposite is true, that this in fact enhances his value as an inspiration to the modern world, gay or straight. As John Cornwell asks at the very beginning of the book, “Will the process of beatifying and canonizing him, trap and petrify his protean genius into a straightjacket of ‘approved’ Catholic orthodoxy? Or will the Catholic Church find itself energised and liberated by his wide-ranging literary and religious imagination?” For my part I hope the latter. Reading this book has at least made him a source of inspiration to me.
November 11, 2019
This is a great read to understand the man, scholar, writer, priest, convert, writings and the important historical events of his time.
October 4, 2013
I recently read John Cornwell’s Newman’s Unquiet Grave: The Reluctant Saint, which tells the life story of Cardinal Newman of England. Newman wrote an epic book about higher education, The Idea of the University. However, I must admit that I did not know much about Newman before reading his biography, other than that he had helped start a university in Dublin.
He was an Anglican who converted to Catholicism, a conservative who also was liberal, a man of letters, a voluminous author and essayist who was considered one of the 19th century’s greatest writers. James Joyce and Edward Said both thought he was a seminal thinker who influenced their thoughts.
He also was probably gay. He asked that he be buried with his best friend, Ambrose St. John. There were also numerous instances in his language and actions where his dealings with his male friends went beyond what might be considered typical friendship. Although there is no proof that he was gay, I do not think, after having read the book, it is far-fetched to think of him as such. The sadder commentary on whether he was or was not gay has less to do with Newman than the fact that one’s sexuality is still a matter of commentary today. I am certain that suggesting that Newman was gay will raise the ire of some right-wingers who believe that saying someone is not straight implies something bad about the individual. I also don’t think there’s any particular reason for celebration for those of us who are gay to discover Newman’s sexual orientation. At some future date, I hope we are able to simply state an individual’s sexual orientation without fanfare, but we are not there yet.
One ought not to be surprised that a religious person penned a book about the purpose of the university. Newman spent his life thinking about why he believed what he believed and how he was to expect others to believe. He lived at a time when Darwin sailed the world, and ‘science’ was being seen as an opponent of religion. Newman would have none of it. He argued that science and religion were compatible and that the purpose of a university was to discuss, to debate, to argue about differing opinions. Artistic truth, Newman thought, was organic and incapable of scientific analysis. Scientific truth functioned through logic. He was entirely comfortable that we had both, and he sought supremacy for neither. Newman’s focus was a religious purpose – to do good works, to find in the daily acts of life a way to believe in, and ultimately life with, God.
The university was one of the main staging grounds for figuring out the puzzles of life. The university was important because it enabled growth and development. He had a strong sense of interiority – of wanting to know how he should live and what he should believe. He thought everyone needed such moral reflection, and the way to finding it was not only through an intense examination of one’s self and one’s beliefs, but also through discussion in communion with others. What he reacted against were doctrinaire statements about papal infallibility and beliefs handed down unexamined. Because he questioned so much, he was constantly in trouble with the Church. The pope, other cardinals, other priests, the press, disliked his questioning, but they ultimately came to respect his intellect and his intense belief that in order to find truth we had to question.
He was an Anglican who converted to Catholicism, a conservative who also was liberal, a man of letters, a voluminous author and essayist who was considered one of the 19th century’s greatest writers. James Joyce and Edward Said both thought he was a seminal thinker who influenced their thoughts.
He also was probably gay. He asked that he be buried with his best friend, Ambrose St. John. There were also numerous instances in his language and actions where his dealings with his male friends went beyond what might be considered typical friendship. Although there is no proof that he was gay, I do not think, after having read the book, it is far-fetched to think of him as such. The sadder commentary on whether he was or was not gay has less to do with Newman than the fact that one’s sexuality is still a matter of commentary today. I am certain that suggesting that Newman was gay will raise the ire of some right-wingers who believe that saying someone is not straight implies something bad about the individual. I also don’t think there’s any particular reason for celebration for those of us who are gay to discover Newman’s sexual orientation. At some future date, I hope we are able to simply state an individual’s sexual orientation without fanfare, but we are not there yet.
One ought not to be surprised that a religious person penned a book about the purpose of the university. Newman spent his life thinking about why he believed what he believed and how he was to expect others to believe. He lived at a time when Darwin sailed the world, and ‘science’ was being seen as an opponent of religion. Newman would have none of it. He argued that science and religion were compatible and that the purpose of a university was to discuss, to debate, to argue about differing opinions. Artistic truth, Newman thought, was organic and incapable of scientific analysis. Scientific truth functioned through logic. He was entirely comfortable that we had both, and he sought supremacy for neither. Newman’s focus was a religious purpose – to do good works, to find in the daily acts of life a way to believe in, and ultimately life with, God.
The university was one of the main staging grounds for figuring out the puzzles of life. The university was important because it enabled growth and development. He had a strong sense of interiority – of wanting to know how he should live and what he should believe. He thought everyone needed such moral reflection, and the way to finding it was not only through an intense examination of one’s self and one’s beliefs, but also through discussion in communion with others. What he reacted against were doctrinaire statements about papal infallibility and beliefs handed down unexamined. Because he questioned so much, he was constantly in trouble with the Church. The pope, other cardinals, other priests, the press, disliked his questioning, but they ultimately came to respect his intellect and his intense belief that in order to find truth we had to question.
October 27, 2010
A very insightful window on the life of John Henry Newman. The book traces Newman's progressive journey from Evangelicalism to High Church Protestantism to Tractarianism and eventually to Catholicism. The journey is marked with huge progress that was not free from pain. Having become a catholic priest, founder and superior of the Oratorians in England, founder of the Catholic university in Ireland and the Oratory school did not shelter him from enemies who caused him much pain and suffering. The book deals with the controversial issues of sexuality and his relationship with his friend St.John in a clear and satisfactory way. His life has obviously stands out as examplary for his time, dwarfs that of certain cardinals and monsignors, and his thinking and beliefs are still indeed relevant to many issues we face today like education, secularism, athesim, relativism and scientific research.
He was indeed a reluctant saint if there was one. He was concerned basically with the search for truth and following at all costs having conscience as his supreme guide.
He was indeed a reluctant saint if there was one. He was concerned basically with the search for truth and following at all costs having conscience as his supreme guide.
August 5, 2010
A biography of Cardinal John Henry Newman, one of the great Catholic Thinkers and writers of the 19th century. Newman will be beatified in September when Benedict XVI visits England. Prominent, albeit controversial, Catholic thinker John Cornwell magnificient 'literary-biography' of Newman examines the importance of the man's work in theology, criticism and philosophy as a means to inquiring as to the saintliness of Newman as well as his importance to the 21st Century. Newman was an amazing man who reflected on the purpose and process of religion, the role of religion in society and the notion of education. Cornwell does true justice to a great thinker and stylist in a book steeped in lore and learning.
January 15, 2017
I do not think that this is John Cornwell's best book, although it contains material which is significant for Victorian church history. John Henry Newman is widely honoured within the Anglican Communion, because of his role within the Oxford Movement which transformed Anglicanism. Perhaps that was more significant than his achievements within the Roman Catholic Church where he was always looked upon with some suspicion. However, his Apologia is a timeless spiritual classic.
April 18, 2013
A stain on the memory of one of the great Roman Catholics of the modern age. Whilst it is great that Blessed JHN is enjoying something of a revival amongst British Catholics, as well indeed among Catholics in general, this "tie-in" does little for his memory. Utterly preoccupied with the possibility of JHN's homosexuality and convoluting his character to an esoteric mystery.
March 12, 2011
Newman was a multi-faceted man. He despised "liberalism" which he saw as moral relativism but wrote THE definitive description of what a University and Liberal Education are and why they are so important now more than ever.
March 30, 2012
Excellent biography of Cardinal Newman founder of the Birmingham Oratory. Tolkien's guardian Father Francis Morgan was a member of this group. Good chapters on each of Newmans major works and his journey from High Anglicism to becoming a Roman Catholic. Highly recommend.
May 20, 2012
Reading nineteenth century dialectical thinking was very challenging. I found it difficult to follow, but was glad to have been challenged by it.....also, to learn more about a theologian considered to be a saint for his support of the laity as he paved the way for the Vatican II Council.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews