657 . Ibid., 235 .
657. Ibid., 235.
658. JHN to Miss Holmes, 22 April 1853, in LD 15:359–60.
659. Newman, “Perfection,” December 11, 1850, in Newman the Oratorian, 233. His conclusion is to aim for great things. “And hence it is that those who aim at nothing great, often seem much better, sometimes are better, than those who aim at what is high—they are better, if those who aim at more are bold and fervent without caution—they seem better, because they attempt so much less. When St. Peter said ‘Lord I will follow thee to Prison and to death,’ and then denied Christ, he aimed at more and in the event sinned more than those who professed nothing—He was right in attempting, but he was wrong in not watching and praying lest he should enter into temptation.” Ibid., 234.
660. Ibid. These two ideas that appear here in this Chapter Address are extremely valuable because this is one of the only places where Newman explicitly spoke about the importance of spiritual direction; second, in talking about growth in the Christian life as being a gradual thing, he developed for the first time the corollary idea that “if we would aim at perfection, we must perform well the duties of the day,” Ibid., 235. In 1856, he developed these ideas more fully in his “Remarks on the Oratorian Vocation” and “Short Rule to Perfection,” in Newman the Oratorian, 300 and 359–60, respectively.
661. Newman, Newman the Oratorian, 235.
662. JHN to J. D. Dalgairns, 8 December 1850, in LD 14:162.
663. Newman, “Remarks on the Oratorian Vocation: Alternative Version of Letter V,” February 28, 1856, in Newman the Oratorian, appendix 5, 444–45.
664. These were his words written on August 18, 1856, in his finalized version of “Remarks on the Oratorian Vocation,” in Newman the Oratorian, 315–16. In his “rough draft” of the same paper, written before this on March 5–9, he wrote: “I define perfection to be a perfect obedience. If this be so, it consists mainly in the performance of our duties, and in the precepts of the New Law, in a life of faith, hope and charity according to the calls of every day and every occupation. He is perfect, in substance, who does the duties of the day perfectly.” See “Remarks on the Oratorian Vocation: Rough Draft,” March 5–9, 1856, in Newman the Oratorian, 300.
665. Newman, “Short Rule to Perfection,” September 27, 1856, in Newman the Oratorian, 359–60. Desiring to make this more concrete and applicable to their daily life, he continued: “I insist on this, because I think it will simplify our views, and fix our exertions on a definite aim. If you ask me what you are to do in order to be perfect, I say—first—Do not lie in bed beyond the due time of rising—give your first thoughts to God—make a good meditation—say or hear Mass and communicate with devotion—make a good thanksgiving—say carefully all the prayers which you are bound to say—say Office attentively, do the work of the day, whatever it is, diligently and for God—make a good visit to the Blessed Sacrament. Say the Angelus devoutly—eat and drink to God’s glory—say the Rosary well, be recollected—keep out bad thoughts. Make your evening meditation well—examine yourself daily. Go to bed in good time, and you are already perfect.” Ibid.
666. JHN to Miss Munro, 20 October 1865, in LD 22:80.
667. JHN to Mrs. J. W. Bowden, 24 August 1853, in LD 15:411.
668. JHN to Robert Froude, 24 July 1864, in LD 21:161–62. Robert Froude left the Oratory school in June at age 18, but returned for Fr. Suffield’s retreat in the middle of July. From his correspondence it is clear that Newman was his spiritual director. After making this retreat Robert became very enthusiastic about following a call to the religious life. This decision prompted a series of seven letters between Newman and Robert and his parents between July 19 and August 8, 1864. These letters comprise some of Newman’s most developed thoughts on this vocational issue:
JHN to William Froude, 19 July 1864, in LD 21:159;
JHN to Robert Froude, 24 July 1864, in LD 21:161–62;
JHN to Mrs. William Froude, 24 July 1864, in LD 21:162–63;
JHN to Robert Froude, 28 July 1864, in LD 21:170–73;
JHN to William Froude, 28 July 1864, in LD 21:173–75;
JHN to Robert Froude, 3 August 1864, in LD 21:179–81;
JHN to William Froude, 8 August 1864, in LD 21:188–89.
669. JHN to Marianne Bowden, 6 March 1851, in LD 22:247–48.
670. JHN to Richard Stanton, 5 June 1866, in LD 14:231. Twenty-seven years later, on August 28, 1878, Newman wrote in a similar way to Robert Ornsby, in LD 28:399. At times, Newman would also ask an inquirer to seek advice from someone else. For example, see JHN to Miss Munro, 12 December 1851, in LD 14:467, where Newman asked her to consult Dr. Whitty about her vocation.
671. JHN to Robert Froude, 3 August 1864, in LD 21:181. See also JHN to Edward Bellasis, 6 April 1872, in LD 26:56. In this letter, Newman asked Bellasis to pray for Robert’s brother Richard, who was also trying to discern which community to join. “Your brother, Richard, will be a great loss to you—You must now pray hard that God would guide him in determining his particular vocation, for it is quite as anxious a thing to decide where one is to go as whether.”
672. JHN to Robert Froude, 3 August 1864, in LD 21:180.
673. JHN to William Froude, 8 August 1864, in LD 21:188.
674. JHN to Edward Bellasis, 5 August 1861, in LD 20:21–22.
675. Ibid.
676. JHN to Robert Froude, 24 July 1864, in LD 21:161–62. See also Newman’s comments to Robert Froude, August 3, 1864, in LD 21:179–81, about the importance of when one enters religious life and where a person goes. “I think it would be distinctly wrong in you to try your vocation for religion at once. You must try it in a particular place and order—and places and orders are toto caelo (completely; as different as heaven and earth) different. Nothing is more common among women (who more often try their vocation than men) than to try in a wrong Community, and to get disheartened altogether, and to leave a religious vocation which they might have had, had they tried in the right place. And among men it occurs not infrequently too. Great deliberation then is necessary as regards the place of attempting, lest vocations be quenched.
“Another danger is this, lest a postulant and novice, being young, with warm affections and religious earnestness, should have all the signs of vocation and take the vows, and then after a while fall into a state of tepidity, which may indeed only be a fault of natural weakness and a re-action of mind which is to be resisted as a temptation, but on the other hand may quite as easily be the result of that spiritual constitution which God has given him, and such, that, if it had shown itself in him while he was a novice, might have made clear that, without any fault of his, he had no vocation for a religious state at all. Certainly, I think I see men who have made serious mistakes in becoming religious suddenly. Of course there are always two ways of explaining the failure—it may be said ‘he fell from his vocation’—or—‘he never had a vocation’. As this applies to an ecclesiastical vocation as well as to a religious, I will instance it in the case of Mr. Connelly, an American convert. He separated from his wife; she became a religious, he a Priest. Then he found he had mistaken his vocation—wished to get his wife back—left the Church and is now an Irvingite.”
677. JHN to Miss Holmes, 16 January 1852, in LD 15:15. See also JHN to Miss Holmes, 8 February 1852, in LD 15:33.
678. JHN to Marianne Bowden, 19 July 1852, in LD 15:127–28. See also:
JHN to Catherine Bathurst, 16 April 1853, in LD 15:352–53;
JHN to F. W. Faber, 8 October 1853, in LD 15:462–63;
JHN to George Ryder, 17 August 1854, in LD 15:221–22;
JHN to George Ryder, 21 December 1854, in LD 16:329;
JHN to Henry Ryder, 24 August 1855, in LD 16:531–32;
JHN to Henry Ryder, 25 September 1855, in LD 16:548–49;
JHN to Henry Ryder, 13 December 1855, in LD 17:89–90;
JHN to James Patterson, 26 June 1858, in LD 18:393–95.
679. JHN to Catherine Bathurst, 5 July 1853, in LD 15:393. See also:
JHN to Miss Munro, 5 September 1852, in LD 15:159;
JHN to Catherine Bathurst, 21 October 1854, in LD 16:281.
680. JHN to Mrs. J. W. Bowden, 18 January 1854, in LD 16:15–16. Her daughter Emily had attended the religious profession of her sister and then wanted to follow her sister Marianne’s example and become a Visitation nun. In this letter to Mrs. Bowden, Newman tries to make her aware of this, and advises her in giving direction to her daughter. Newman wrote a similar letter to Sister Frances Vaughan on January 19, 1854, in LD 16:17–18. Also see Newman’s letter on July 22, 1871 to Geraldine Fitzgerald who wanted to run away from her mother and secretly enter a convent, in LD 26:141.
681. JHN to Mrs. J. W. Bowden, 15 September 1851, in LD 14:356.
682. JHN to Emily Bowden, 16 July 1854, in LD 16:197.
683. JHN to George Ryder, 15 December 1848, in LD 12:373. After her conversion, in May 1846, Sophie Ryder wished to become a nun and corresponded at length with Newman on the subject, deciding eventually to enter the Good Shepherd convent at Hammersmith. After Newman’s death, she wrote on April 8, 1891, to his successor as Superior of the Oratory, and her own nephew, Henry Ryder, to explain the fate of Newman’s letters, and the part he had played in her choice of vocation: “I am very sorry that I have no more letters that I can send you. . . . I had so many before I became a nun and then I was so afraid that I liked them too much that I burnt them. There was a sentence in one I think you would like; it was at the time I was thinking which Order I should enter. I thought when I became a Catholic that I would prefer the Carmelites as I had a very great admiration for Saint Therese. I used to write and ask Father Newman what he thought of the different contemplative Orders, but to my dismay he put doubts and obstacles in my way, so at last I thought I would ask what he thought of the Good Shepherd, devoutly hoping that he would not think of it, when to my dismay he wrote me a long letter with nothing but praise and admiration.”
684. JHN to Catherine Bathurst, 8 November 1853, in LD 15:477.
685. JHN to Catherine Bathurst, 12 February 1854, in LD 16:43.
686. JHN to Catherine Bathurst, 10 March 1854, in LD 16:77–78. See also the following letters that portray the encouragement that Newman offered to others:
JHN to Marianne Bowden, 9 July 1851, in LD 14:307–8;
JHN to Emily Bowden, 15 July 1854, in LD 16:197;
JHN to Mrs. J. W. Bowden, 16 July 1854, in LD 16:197–98;
JHN to Miss Giberne, 28 August 1861, in LD 20:37–38.
A series of letters to Lavinia Wilson, a convert, who was thinking of entering religious life:
JHN to Lavinia Wilson, 1 December 1864, in LD 21:331;
JHN to Lavinia Wilson, 5 January 1865, in LD 21:374;
JHN to Lavinia Wilson, 14 January 1865, in LD 21:387;
JHN to Lavinia Wilson, 30 January 1865, in LD 21:399.
687. JHN to Duchess of Norfolk, 22 February 1863, in LD 20:411.
688. JHN to Lady Henry Kerr, 18 September 1863, in LD 20:524. She wrote back on Christmas Eve to say how much good this letter did her and her husband, when they returned to Scotland, after leaving their daughter in the Sacred Heart Convent at Conflans.
Between January 14, 1852 and July 16, 1854, Newman wrote Mrs. J. W. Bowden seven letters as three of her children, Marianne, Emily, and Charles began thinking of a religious vocation. For these letters see:
JHN to Mrs. J. W. Bowden, 14 January 1852, in LD 15:11–12;
JHN to Mrs. J. W. Bowden, 10 July 1852, in LD 15:124–25;
JHN to Mrs. J. W. Bowden, 24 August 1853, in LD 15:411;
JHN to Mrs. J. W. Bowden, 30 March 1854, in LD 16:96;
JHN to Mrs. J. W. Bowden, 15 April 1854, in LD 16:112;
JHN to Mrs. J. W. Bowden, 9 July 1854, in LD 16:190;
JHN to Mrs. J. W. Bowden, 16 July 1854, in LD 16:197–98;
For similar letters supporting and encouraging parents see:
JHN to Lady Henry Kerr, 27 December 1863, in LD 20:567;
JHN to Mrs. Edward Bellasis, 21 February 1877, in LD 28:168;
JHN to Mrs. Edward Bellasis, 29 March 1875, in LD 27:256;
JHN to Lady Henry Kerr, 25 May 1882, in LD 30:90.
689. JHN to Mrs. J. W. Bowden, 18 January 1854, in LD 26:15–16.
690. JHN to Robert Whitty, 10 August 1849, in LD 13:250–51. Whitty was disinclined to leave the Oratory. He felt his vocation was the London house, but Faber and the London community disliked him.
691. JHN to Baron von Schroeter, 28 November 1850, in LD 14:146–47.
692. For a development of this matter see:
JHN to George Ryder, 21 September 1853, in LD 15:427;
JHN to George Ryder, 25 September 1853, in LD 15:430–31.
JHN to George Ryder, 8 January 1854, in LD 16:11–12.
693. JHN to Arthur Hutton, 15 November 1883, in LD 30:274–75.
694. JHN to Nicholas Darnell, 11 January 1862, in LD 20:119–20. Darnell subsequently resigned the headmastership of the Oratory School and left the Oratory. Three years later, Darnell wrote a letter of apology to Fr. Edward Caswell, who showed it to Newman. Darnell wrote: “I am quite aware that as a member and subject of such a Congregation as that of St. Philip, with such a superior, that my conduct was insufferably violent headstrong and conceited generally to the Congregation, and still more insufferably insolent, ungrateful and ungracious to the Father (Newman), and that anything I have since said by way of acknowledgement of my fault was quite inadequate to the occasion, and could never have been accepted as an apology either by the Father, the Congregation or those externs, alas too many, to whom I must have given scandal.” See JHN to Nicholas Darnell, 16 October 1865, in LD 22:75n1.
695. Newman, “Remarks on the Oratorian Vocation,” February 29, 1856, in Newman the Oratorian, 447–48. Later that same year, he resumed reflection on the implications of “community”: “Consider what is implied in the word ‘community.’ To live in community is not to be simply in one house; else the guests in a hotel form a community. Nor is it to live and board together; else a boarding-house is a community. Priests living in a chapel-house or presbytery, with each his own room, and a common table, and common duties in one church and parish, do not therefore live in community. To live in community is to form one body, in such sense as to admit of acting and being acted upon as one. . . . An Oratory is an individuality. It has one will and one action, and in that sense it is one community. But it is obvious that such a union of wills and minds and opinions and conduct cannot be attained without considerable concessions of private judgement on the part of every individual so united. It is a conformity, then, not of accident or of nature, but of supernatural purpose and self-mastery. It is the exhibition and the exercise of a great counsel, carrying with it a great sanctification, according to the maxim, which has almost become a proverb in the Oratory: ‘Vita communis, mortificatio maxima,’ (community life is the greatest penance). Now I say, this conformity of will and action, based indeed on human affection, limited to place and person, yet rising within its limits to the full dignity of that self-denying religious obedience which is the matter of one of three vows of regulars, while it constitutes the bond of the members of the Oratory with each other, and converts a lodging-house into a community, is also the special index of its vocation and special instrument of its perfection.” Newman, “Remarks on the Oratorian Vocation,” August 18, 1856, in Newman the Oratorian, 333–34.
696. Newman, “Object,” January-February 1848, in Newman the Oratorian, 192.
697. JHN to Edward Plumptre, 6 July 1877, in LD 28:219.
698. Newman, “On Faith,” in Newman the Oratorian, September 27, 1848, 228.
699. Ibid., 229–30.
700. Newman, “Remarks on the Oratorian Vocation,” August 18, 1856, in Newman the Oratorian, 334–36.
701 Whenever he was considering how to recruit members for the Oratory, he stressed this idea of whether prospective candidates liked one another; he favored a slow, extended novitiate in order to observe this. In all of this, he was greatly influenced by his own novitiate, where one of the key questions that was asked of him and his friends was, “Can you all live together?” Newman, “Remarks on the Oratorian Vocation: Alternative Version of Letter V,” March 1, 1856, in Newman the Oratorian, 448–51.
702. Ibid., 448.
703. JHN to F. W. Faber, 17 February 1849, in LD 18:55–56.
704. Newman, “Remarks on the Oratorian Vocation: Alternative Version of Letter V,” February 28, 1856, in Newman the Oratorian, 445.
705. Newman, “Remarks on the Oratorian Vocation,” August 18, 1856, in Newman the Oratorian, 328–29.
706. Newman, “Santa Croce,” August-September 1847, in Newman the Oratorian, 403.
707. Newman, “Object,” January-February 1848, in Newman the Oratorian, 192. Newman continued: “This is the principle idea conveyed in the word ‘nest’; but other things are to be added. An Oratorian has his own rooms, and his own furniture; and according to the traditions of the Chiesa Nuova, without being luxurious, they should be such as to attach him to them. They do not form a cell, but a nest. He is to have these things about him, his books and little possessions. In a word, he is to have what an Englishman expresses by the distinctive word comfort . . . poverty, austerity, forlornness, sternness, are words unknown in an Oratorian house.” Ibid. Newman derived this understanding from St. Philip Neri, who, for over thirty years lived in one small room at San Girolamo.
708. Newman, “Refectory,” February 1854, in Newman the Oratorian, 289–90.
709. JHN to Anthony Hutchison, 18 February 1850, in LD 13:425.
710. JHN to J. D. Dalgairns, 29 December 1851, in LD 14:486–88. This long letter was part of a reply to a letter written by Dalgairns in which he expressed his difficulty in living community life. He had written: “You say I take a gloomy view and you talk of a basis of carita. I acknowledge my gloom, and disbelieve in the carita. . . . I am broken in spirit. . . . All this has filled me with temptations to leave the Congregation.” See Ibid., 487n1.
711. JHN, 30 January 1851, in LD 14:500, appendix 2.
712. JHN to F. W. Faber, 22 July 1850, in LD 14:18.
713. Ibid.
714. Ibid.
715. For a series of letters treating these difficulties, see:
JHN to F. W. Faber, 4 February 1849, in LD 13:24–25;
F. W. Faber to JHN, 5 February 1849, in LD 13:29–31;
JHN to F. W. Faber, 9 February 1849, in LD 13:36;
JHN to F. W. Faber, 10 February 1849, in LD 13:38;
JHN to R. A. Coffin, 15 February 1849, in LD 13:48–49;
JHN to W. G. Penny, 16 February 1849, in LD 13:53;
JHN to F. W. Faber, 17 February 1849, in LD 13:55–56;
JHN to F. W. Faber, 20 February 1849, in LD 13:61–62;
JHN to R. A. Coffin, 21 February 1849, in LD 13:64–65;
JHN to F. W. Faber, 23 February 1849, in LD 13:65;
JHN to F. W. Faber, 31 March 1849, in LD 13:97–98;
JHN to F. W. Faber, 5 April 1849, in LD 13:104;
JHN to F. W. Faber, 21 July 1849, in LD 13:234–35.
716. These letters concerning particular aspects of community life are important for an understanding of his notion of “santa communita.” See:
Concerning lay brothers and their relationship to the community:
JHN to Edward Caswall, 4 October 1854, in LD 16:266–67;
JHN to Ambrose St. John, 16 June 1858, in LD: 18:381–82.
On wearing the religious habit:
JHN to F. W. Faber, 16 June 1852, in LD 15:101–2;
JHN to Spencer Walpole, 18 June 1852, in LD 15:102–3;
JHN to F. W. Faber, 25 June 1852, in LD 15:107;
JHN, 17 June 1852, in LD 15:523–24, appendix 1. This reference is about leaving off the habit in consequence of the Queen’s Proclamation.
On “numbers” in the community and the effect that those who leave have on the community:
JHN to Sister Mary Imelda Poole, 21 April 1858, in LD 18:325;
JHN to Sister Mary Imelda Poole, 29 April 1858, in LD 18:338–39;
On the “spiritual friendship” of Br. Bernard Hennin:
JHN to Ambrose St. John, 30 December 1852, in LD 15:232–34;
JHN to Nicholas Darnell, 2 January 1853, in LD 15:238–39;
JHN to Nicholas Darnell, 4 January 1853, in LD 15:240–41;
JHN to Ambrose St. John, 6 January 1853, in LD 15:245;
JHN to Ambrose St. John, 7 January 1853, in LD 15:248–49;
JHN to Nicholas Darnell, 11 January 1853, in LD 15:256–60;
JHN to Ambrose St. John, 11 January 1853, in LD 15:261–62;
JHN to F. W. Faber, 12 February 1853, in LD 15:287–98.
717. JHN to J. D. Dalgairns, 26 April 1849, in LD 13:130–32. He replied to this correction two days later. “I thank you again most sincerely for your letter. It has of course given me great pain for many reasons. One element of pain, I suppose, is the same sort of feeling as would come over a person who had thought herself a beauty on being shown her face in a looking-glass after small-pox. I can only now wonder at your forbearance and indulgence in tolerating me at all . . . on the whole I must acknowledge with pain that your picture is too correct.” See also the following letters dealing with fraternal correction:
JHN to Ambrose St. John, 8 July 1850, in LD 14:7–8;
JHN to Ambrose St. John, 4 April 1856, in LD 17:203–4;
JHN to Thomas Godwin, 11 June 1854, in LD 16:153–55. To Godwin, Newman said: “Now, my dear Frederic, I judge of you by what I see—and that is, for the most part, by what concerns myself—and I certainly do think there is a great deal whether of indolence or self indulgence, or something or other in you, which, did I know you better, I could give a truer name to, which needs correcting.” Ibid., 154.
718. JHN to John Flanagan, 18 February 1857, in LD 17:522.
719. JHN to F. W. Faber, 17 October 1848, in LD 12:299.
720. JHN to John Lans, 25 December 1850, in LD 14:176. To George Ryder, a layman, he wrote on December 12, 1850: “When men live out of community, there is a great danger of their thinking that community is nothing to them.” LD 14:168.
721. JHN to J. D. Dalgairns, 17 December 1851, in LD 14:472–73.
722. JHN to F. W. Faber, 17 October 1848, in LD 12:299.
723. See Newman’s well-known “Definition of a Gentleman,” in Idea of a University, 208–11: “Hence it is that it is almost a definition of a gentleman to say he is one who never inflicts pain. This description is both refined and, as far as it goes, accurate. He is mainly occupied in merely removing the obstacles which hinder the free and unembarrassed action of those about him. . . . The true gentleman in like manner carefully avoids whatever may cause a jar or a jolt in the minds of those with whom he is cast;—all clashing of opinion, or collision of feeling, all restraint, or suspicion, or gloom, or resentment; his great concern being to make every one at their ease and at home. He has his eyes on all his company; he is tender towards the bashful, gentle toward the distant, and merciful towards the absurd; he can recollect to whom he is speaking; he guards against unreasonable allusions, or topics which may irritate; he is seldom prominent in conversation, and never wearisome. He makes light of favours while he does them, and seems to be receiving when he is conferring. He never speaks of himself except when compelled, never defends himself by a mere retort . . . and interprets every thing for the best. He is never mean or little in his disputes. . . . He is patient, forbearing, and resigned, on philosophical principles; he submits to pain, because it is inevitable, to bereavement, because it is irreparable, and to death, because it is his destiny.”
724. Newman, “Object,” in Newman the Oratorian, January-February, 189–90.
725. Newman, “Stae Apolloniae,” in Newman the Oratorian, February 9, 1848, 214.
726. Ibid.
727. Newman, “Behaviour towards Each Other,” June 30, 1848, 222.
728. Ibid., 223.
729. Ibid.
730. Ibid., 223–24.
731. Ibid., 224.
732. Ibid.
733. Ibid.
734. Ibid., 224–25.
735. Newman, “Behavior towards Those Who Are Without,” in Newman the Oratorian, June 17, 1848, 219–20. Newman enumerated certain attitudes that Oratorians should have in relating to people. “It is very difficult to draw the line, and far be it from me to weigh any one’s words sentence by sentence—but I urge on you to repress, as far as may be a critical spirit—be on your guard against it—do not be fond of finding fault—take everything in the best point of view—and, as far as you can, speak well of people. Not only be humble, but let your humility take such a form that, without your intending it, people may be moved by it. Do not put yourselves forward—do not talk much before others—do not argue much except in private, and when you are sure of people and never dispute and debate, avoid argument, when offered and be on your guard against saying strong things, or even sharp things. Meditate on the odiousness of smartness, flippancy, and overbearingness—till you are disgusted with them, and feel the bad taste, not to say the moral impropriety, of such exhibitions. Modesty, gravity, gentleness, cheerfulness, tranquility, these are the tempers suitable for an Oratorian.” Ibid. In 1852, many of these qualities became a part of his definition of a gentleman, which he wrote in his Idea of a University.
736. Newman, Autobiographical Writings, June 13, 1824, 201: “I have the responsibility of souls on me to the day of my death.”
737. Newman, Newman the Oratorian, 18, 121. Newman saw education as a profoundly religious duty and a mission for which he was destined.
738. Newman, Addresses, 184. When he was appointed one of the public tutors of Oriel in 1826, his journal entry on his twenty-fifth birthday expressed his feelings about his tutorship: “And now, O Lord, I am entering with the new year into a fresh course of studies [i.e., the tutorship]. May I engage in them in the strength of Christ, remembering I am a minister of God, and have a commission to preach the Gospel, remembering the worth of souls, and that I shall have to answer for the opportunities given me of benefitting those under my care.” Newman, Autobiographical Writings, February 21, 1826, 209. After a month’s experience of tutoring, he noted: “I think the Tutors see too little of the men, and that there is not enough of direct religious instruction. It is my wish to consider myself as the minister of Christ. May I most seriously reflect, that, unless I find that opportunities occur of doing spiritual good to those over whom I am placed, it will become a grave question, whether I ought to continue in the Tuition.” Ibid. Newman always considered his office of Tutor as part of his pastoral duties. Ultimately this cost Newman his job, because the Provost, Hawkins, who regarded the Tutor’s office as a secular one, objected and refused to assign pupils to him. Dessain, John Henry Newman, 12.
739. JHN to T. F. Knox, 10 September 1847, in LD 12:112–13. Realizing that the work of the Oratory in England had to be adapted to suit the changing times, he said: “The next subject I shall come to consider is the work of the Oratory. I observe then that every institution gradually forms its objects and duties as it grows, and it would appear that not even St. Philip knew at first what the Oratory was to be. On looking back at its history through several centuries, as far as we have the opportunity of contemplating it, we can see what it has become; and in those traditions of the past we might at first sight have been disposed to rest. But there have been indications at various times of the desire of the Holy See to expand and to accommodate the uses of the Oratory according to circumstances and the change of times, and I think I shall be employing my thoughts usefully, if I lay down some canons or principles upon the subject.” Newman, “Remarks on the Oratorian Vocation: Rough Draft,” March 5–9, 1856, in Newman the Oratorian, 305–6.
740. Newman, “Remarks on the Oratorian Vocation,” August 18, 1856, in Newman the Oratorian, 329–30. “First of all their vocation is to a fixed place, and, I may say, to a particular body. Regulars may consider themselves wanderers upon the face of the earth; such is not a Father of the Oratory . . .
“Residence has in consequence ever been enforced as a cardinal point in the Oratory. . . . And this residence, I say, is treated, not simply as a duty, but as a necessary bond of the community in the absence of vows, promoting, as it does, a triple attachment, to the place and neighbourhood, to the Fathers, and to one’s own room.”
741. Newman, “Remarks on the Oratorian Vocation: Rough Draft,” March 5–9, 1856, in Newman the Oratorian, 306. This point was very real for Newman as he was frequently away in Ireland from 1851 to 1858 as rector of the Catholic University. Initially he was not going to accept the position, but finally consented to it after the encouragement of the community and papal approval.
742. JHN to John Flanagan, 31 October 1857, in LD 18:158–59.
743. This important phrase is found in the official Brief of Pius IX authorizing Newman to establish the Oratory in England. “We highly approve of the intention of Newman and his companions, who, while performing all the functions of the sacred ministry in England, have at the same time this especially in mind, to aim at doing whatever they think will best promote the cause of religion in the higher cities, and among the more educated.” Pius IX, “Papal Brief,” in Newman the Oratorian, November 26, 1847, 426.
744. For a discussion of the disagreement between Newman and Faber in relation to ordo honestior, see Newman, Newman the Oratorian, 95–104.
745. Newman, “Remarks on the Oratorian Vocation,” August 18, 1856, in Newman the Oratorian, 323. “It is indeed its very characteristic, on the contrary, to admit distinctly and freely of the cultivation of art, learning, and science, in those members whose gifts lead that way, provided of course that that cultivation be directed solely to the glory of God and the salvation of souls, which are the ends of the Christian ministry. . . . I say, that learned studies and literary pursuits and fine arts, far from being proscribed in the Oratory, have had a distinct place there from the first.”
746. Dessain, John Henry Newman, 110.
747. When Newman returned from Ireland in November 1858, he had to consider whether he should devote his time and energy to routine confessions; Newman, “Return,” 1857–1858, in Newman the Oratorian, 377–79. Deciding to resume his duties as regular confessor, Newman often spent long hours in the confessional; JHN to John Flanagan, 31 May 1858, in LD 28:261–62. In fact, one of his reproaches against Fr. Dalgairns, who eventually left the Birmingham Oratory for the London Oratory, had been his complaints of “the uninterestingness of routine confessions in the Church.” Newman, “Chapter Address: Father Bernard Dalgairns,” August 31, 1856, in Newman the Oratorian, 356.
748. Newman, “Remarks on the Oratorian Vocation: Rough Draft,” March 5–9, 1856, in Newman the Oratorian, 312.
749. Newman, “Remarks on the Oratorian Vocation,” August 18, 1856 in Newman the Oratorian.
750. There are only three letters in Newman’s correspondence that deal precisely and explicitly with poverty; first, in writing to F. W. Faber on May 31, 1849, Newman deals with the proposed division of the Oratory and what individuals would have to give up when they joined either house, in LD 13:165–66. In a second letter to F. W. Faber on June 12, 1849, he considered the situation of one person ministering to the rich and another ministering to the poor, in LD 13:170. A third letter to Sir Frederic Rogers on January 23, 1868, discussed the evils of accumulating wealth, in LD 24:14–15.
751. Newman preferred the terms “single life,” “celibacy,” and “virginity” which he seemed to use without distinction; the word “chastity” occurred once in a letter to Ambrose St. John on October 15, 1854, in LD 26:280. For example, in praising his friend Hurrell Froude Newman noted in Apologia, 32: “He had a high severe idea of the intrinsic excellency of Virginity.” In February 1829, Newman wrote that he had “the continuous will and resolution, with divine aid, to live and die single;” eleven years later he stated: “All my habits for years, my tendencies, are towards celibacy.” Newman, Autobiographical Writings, 137. His “Address on Virginity,” January 12, 1854, in Newman the Oratorian, 176–77, which is his most thorough treatment on this subject, spoke about celibacy and virginity in consecutive paragraphs.
752. Newman, Apologia, 19. In the original draft of the Apologia, there is a passage written by Newman, but never sent to the printer; after the initial sentence of the passage just quoted, the manuscript continues: “This anticipation has held its ground almost continuously ever since, and it has been closely connected with that feeling of dissociation from scenes about me, of which I have already spoken. I had a strong persuasion that offences against the rule of purity were each of them visited sharply and surely from above: I have still extant prayers and memoranda of the years 1816 and 1821, showing my distress at the thought of going to dances or to the theater.
“This imagination arose from my feeling of separation from the visible world, and it was connected with a notion that my mission in life would require such a sacrifice as it involved. When I was first on the Oriel foundation it was associated in my mind with Missionary employment, or with duties at Oxford.” See Manuscript of Apologia, Oratory Archives A., 36, as cited by Bouyer, Newman, 28.
753. Newman, Autobiographical Writings, March 25, 1840, 138.
754. Newman, “Address on Virginity,” January 12, 1844, in Newman the Oratorian, 271–78.
755. Newman, Apologia, 33.
756. Newman, Development, 409.
757. Newman, “Address on Virginity,” January 12, 1854, in Newman the Oratorian, 277.
758. Ibid.
759. JHN to Thomas Godwin, 11 June 1854, in LD 16:153–54.
760. For Newman’s concerns, see: JHN to F. W. Faber, 23 June 1849, in LD 13:189; JHN to Ambrose St. John, 12 October 1854, in LD 16:278–79. In this letter, Newman wrote: “I am exceedingly displeased to find that Frederic has actually made a proposal to a young woman, being in our house and having our habit on.” (Brother Frederic, Thomas Godwin, left the Oratory in 1854.) For other letters concerning celibacy, see JHN to F. W. Faber, 17 October 1849, in LD 13:271–72, where Newman wrote about how the Bishop had made a comment to one of the Oratorians about their conduct towards female penitents: “The Bishop . . . turned round and said (of course in love) he had heard a report that we were so familiar with our female penitents that they said they could marry us next morning—and that I was so reserved and had such notions about the line of delicacy, that he did not know how to come here and judge for himself of the reports circulated against us.” See also a series of letters to T. F. Knox who had written to Newman about a nun who seemed to be mentally ill and had made a number of accusations against some priests:
JHN to T. F. Knox, 5 January 1851, in LD 14:189–92;
JHN to T. F. Knox, 7 January 1851, in LD 14:193;
JHN to T. F. Knox, 9 January 1851, in LD 14:193;
JHN to T. F. Knox, 20 February 1851, in LD 14:216.
761. JHN to Ambrose St. John, 30 December 1852, in LD 15:232–34;
JHN to Nicholas Darnell, 2 January 1853, in LD 15:238–39;
JHN to Nicholas Darnell, 4 January 1853, in LD 15:240–41;
JHN to Ambrose St. John, 6 January 1853, in LD 15:245;
JHN to Ambrose St. John, 7 January 1853, in LD 15:248–49;
JHN to Nicholas Darnell, 11 January 1853, in LD 15:256–60;
JHN to Ambrose St. John, 11 January 1853, in LD 15:261–62;
JHN to F. W. Faber, 12 February 1853, in LD 15:297–98.
762. Newman, Newman the Oratorian, 113.
763. Newman, “Remarks on Oratorian Vocation”, August 18, 1856, in Newman the Oratorian, 337.
764. Newman, “Remarks on the Oratorian Vocation: Alternative Version of Letter V,” February 28, 1856, in Newman the Oratorian, appendix 5, 445.
765. Newman, “Santa Croce”, August-September 1847, in Newman the Oratorian, 338.
766. JHN to F. W. Faber, 8 January 1850, in LD 13:374.
767. JHN to F. W. Faber, 11 February 1849, in LD 13:40.
768. JHN to Richard Stanton, 30 September 1850, in LD 14:83.
769. JHN to Mrs. J. W. Bowden, 9 July 1851, in LD 14:307.
770. Newman, “Remarks on the Oratorian Vocation,” August 18, 1856, in Newman the Oratorian, 338.
771. Ibid., 339.
772. Newman, “Remarks on the Oratorian Vocation,” August 18, 1856, in Newman the Oratorian, 342.
773. Ibid.
774. JHN to F. W. Faber, 10 January 1850, in LD 13:379.
775. JHN to F. W. Faber, 4 January 1849, in LD 13:25.
776. JHN to F. W. Faber, 9 December 1849, in LD 13:336.
777. JHN to Mary Porter, 19 March 1865, in LD 21:430–31. See the comments of J. M. Capes about Newman’s obedience in “Queen’s Government and the University,” Rambler, September 4, 1854, 189–209, as quoted in LD 16:201n1 (20 July 1854): “We believe it would be impossible to name any person, of whatever station, who has in practice, and in the most difficult of circumstances, more consistently acted upon his professions, and personally made every submission which authority could possibly require of him, without grudging, without ostentation, and without reserve. Obedience to authority, spiritual or secular, elevated or humble, has been a doctrine which he has uniformly taught, and which he has uniformly practised.”
778. JHN to J. D. Dalgairns, 28 February 1854, in LD 16:63.
779. JHN to F. W. Faber, 20 June 1849, in LD 13:181. On one occasion when Faber seemed not to believe that his opinion mattered very much after Newman had consulted him, Newman wrote: “What in the world should I ask your opinion for, but to let it influence me? Else I might have acted without asking.”
780 In a postscript to a letter Newman made an interesting distinction between seeking testimony and opinion in the consultation process. “I cannot help being amused at you, the more I think. I asked of you all two things—a testimony and opinion—an opinion whether it was desirable for the Oratory to serve St. W’s [St. Wilfrid’s Church, Colton, Staffordshire: the original location of the community founded by Faber], a testimony whether you in London could. I have taken your testimony, and rejected your opinion. I have not given up my views to yours, but I have carried it out in that way which, according to your testimony, was alone possible.” Ibid., 182.
781. JHN to E. J. Phipps, 3 July 1848, in LD 12:235.
782. Newman, Sermon 19, in Parochial and Plain Sermons, 1:250; December 20, 1829.
783. JHN to Henry Wilberforce, 27 July 1868, in LD 24:107.
784. JHN to Mrs. William Froude, 16 June 1848, in LD 22:224. Linking prayer and the Communion of Saints together in 1837, Newman had said: “When we pray in private, we are not solitary; others ‘are gathered together’ with us ‘in Christ’s Name’, though we see them not, with Christ in the midst of them.” Sermon 11, in Parochial and Plain Sermons, 4:177; May 14, 1837.
785. JHN to Miss Giberne, 21 December 1845, in LD 11:74. Newman added: “You have all the saints of heaven to add [aid] you now, and especially that first and most glorious of Saints whose name you bear.”
786. JHN to Ambrose St. John, 15 February 1846, in LD 11:115.
787. JHN to Robert Froude, 3 August 1864, in LD 21:181.
788. JHN to T. W. Allies, 12 March 1858, in LD 18:292.
789. JHN to J. D. Dalgairns, 3 December 1861, in LD 20:74.
790. JHN to Duke of Norfolk, 27 October 1872, in LD 26:190.
791. JHN to Mrs. Henry Wilberforce, 9 May 1875, in LD 17:294.
792. JHN to Mother Mary Imelda Poole, 5 June 1875, in LD 27:314.
793. Newman’s ministry of prayer is evident in his notebooks which contained various intentions for which he prayed, usually before his morning Mass. These prayers were composed in Latin, Italian, and English, and he seemed to be particularly conscious of the indulgences attached to some particular prayers. Each day of the week had its particular intentions and people listed under a general heading: Sunday—the Oratory; Monday—the Household of the Faith; Tuesday and Wednesday—Catholic friends; Thursday—Protestant friends; Friday—General objects; Saturday—Occasional objects and persons. Under “General Objects” in the listing dated February 28, 1853, were: “Increase of Priests. Sanctification of Priests and People. Spread of Religion. Conversion of the Nations. All who befriend or help us. All who ask my prayers. All who attend our chapel. All who are in our schools. All I have forgotten. All who helped me in the Achilli matter. All in our mission. All in Birmingham. All in my land—the Queen. Catholic Education.” Newman also prayed for the Faithful Departed, benefactors, and his opponents and enemies; listed under the last category were Brownson, J. Mozley, and Golightly. Ivory, “Doctrine,” 197–98.
794. JHN to J. D. Dalgairns, 10 January 1847, in LD 12:9. Mother Makrena had a certain reputation for obtaining favors by her prayers.
795. JHN to Mrs. Wilson, 21 February 1875, in LD 27:229.
796. F. W. Faber to JHN, 13 February 1850, in LD 13:425n1.
797. JHN to F. W. Faber, 18 February 1850, in LD 13:425.
798. JHN to Archdeacon Allen, 10 October 1876, in LD 28:121. “It is very kind of you to think of me, and I pray God that He may return your prayers into your own bosom. Not that I do not need prayer, but I cannot think that the particular prayer you make for me is pleasing to God. . . . My dear Sir, I have stood where you stand, and understand you—you have never stood where I stand and cannot understand me—but God bless you for your good intentions.”
799. JHN to Eleanor Bretherton, 21 February 1866, in LD 22:161.
800. JHN to Marianne Bowden, 29 May 1867, in LD 23:242–43.
801. JHN to Mrs. Lockhart, 7 July 1850, in LD 14:5.
802. JHN to Robert Whitty, 26 January 1884, in LD 30:301. “It is difficult for others to know one’s trials and their kindness often mistakes where the sharpness of them really lies. We certainly have some great anxieties, but they are not easy to guess; and as to the one to which you seem to refer, what to the many friends would seem the trial is to me the greatest relief and compensation of it. But God who knows all secrets answers their kind prayers for us, by a true interpretation of them.”
803. JHN to Miss M. R. Giberne, end of May 1865, in LD 21:480.
804. For a treatment of St. Philip’s influence on Newman’s thinking about penance, see “Santa Croce,” August-September 1847, 403–4. In reflecting “On Mortification of Self,” Newman distinguished between external and internal mortification: “External mortification, as has been already said, is not the mark of an Oratorian, but internal; or in other words, mortification of his private judgement, and his own will.” By razionale is meant “every superfluous or undue exercise of the intellect, and not to aim to be wise and rational in every matter, since perfection consists in bringing one’s own will into captivity.” On August 30, 1855, Newman, writing to Catherine Bathurst concerning what he termed “mortifications of intellect,” listed eight points:
“Not to ask for reasons why
Not to say, ‘I hope it will turn out well’ (with the Vicar of Wakefield)
Not to say ‘I told you so.’
Not to desire to hear the news
To be willing to be ignorant of many branches of knowledge, etc.
Not to be eager about history
Not to be eager for the explanation of Scripture difficulties, or difficulties and mysteries of faith
In a conflict of opinions and judgements, instinctively to feel you are less likely to be right than another.” LD 16:533–34.
805. Newman, “Short Rule to Perfection,” September 27, 1856, in Newman the Oratorian, 359–60.
806. JHN to George Ryder, 2 December 1850, in LD 14:153.
807. JHN to Robert Ornsby, 27 December 1863, in LD 20:569.
808. JHN to Henry Wilberforce, 31 March 1859, in LD 19:96.
809. JHN to Mrs. Peter Bretherton, 17 February 1860, in LD 19:305.
810. JHN to W. J. Copeland, 23 January 1863, in LD 20:399. In a similar letter to Miss Giberne on December 25,1854, Newman wrote: “I have been very anxious to hear about where you were. I should like to put you under obedience to make yourself comfortable. . . . You must feed well. . . . It does not answer letting the spirits sink—and living by yourself must try you—so, please, do indulge a bit in the pleasures of the table.” LD 16:336.
811. When Newman established the Oratory in England and wished to introduce the taking of the discipline three times a week in accordance with the Rule, Faber objected and sent to Newman at Maryvale a paper saying that it would deter people from joining the Oratory, and that it represented “the ascetic genius” which he thought contrary to St. Philip’s spirit. For these letters, see: JHN to F. W. Faber, 12 December 1850, in LD 14:165–66; JHN to F. W. Faber, 18 December 1850, in LD 14:171.