Please join us for a Mass and reception in honor of the canonization of our patron saint, John Newman! Mass will begin at 7:00 pm, and the reception will follow after Mass.

John Henry Cardinal Newman was born in London in 1801 to Anglican parents. He had a conversion to Christ at the age of fifteen, and studied at Trinity College in Oxford. At the age of 24, he was ordained a priest in the Church of England, and became known as an Evangelical academic. He eventually became drawn to more liturgically traditional practices, and emerged as a leader in the Oxford Movement of the Anglican Church.

When he was 44, he converted and was received into the Catholic Church, which was a highly controversial thing to do at the time. He lost friends, and earned the scorn of the public. Two years later, he was ordained a Catholic priest, and joined the Oratory of Saint Philip Neri. He spent seven years as rector of the Catholic University of Ireland, and in 1878, Pope Leo XIII honored him with the appointment of Cardinal. He passed away in 1848. His legacy lives on; he left behind nearly 21,000 letters and 40 books, and three years after he died, the Newman Club for Catholic students began at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, sparking a movement of Newman Clubs and Newman Centers at universities across the world.

Saint John Henry Newman, pray for us!