Meditations and Devotions:  Cardinal John Henry Newman

To pray is to be a Christian, to be a Saint is to have prayed often. John Henry Cardinal Newman was a man of prayer and this book contains the culmination of his prayers and devotions, divided into three sections.

The first and second part of this book contain the vocal prayers he wrote for public use, the litanies, the Stations of the Cross and short meditations. The long meditations in the third part of the book are intended for private use, which draw one into deeper intimacy with Our Lord.

The prayers are also a testament to his particular devotion to Our Lady, with moving commentaries on several of her titles from the Litany of Loreto. These commentaries are tender and profound, yet without any trace of sentimentality.

Newman’s meditations are full of doctrine. Doctrine is the expression of Truth, and above all things, Newman longed to bear witness to the Truth. It is from the Scriptures, the Church Fathers and the living Church that Newman drew his doctrine, and in his meditations he made it his own.

About the Author:
Cardinal John Henry Newman, is considered by many to be the greatest religious thinker of the 19th century. He was the leader and most able polemicist for the Oxford Movement — Anglicans who wished to return to the Church of England many Catholic beliefs and liturgical rituals from before the English Reformation.

In 1845 Newman dramatically left the Church of England and his teaching post at Oxford University and was received into the Catholic Church. He was ordained as a priest and continued as an influential religious leader. In 1879, he was ordained a cardinal by Pope Leo XIII in recognition of his services to the cause of the Catholic Church in England.

Newman's beatification was officially proclaimed by Pope Benedict XVI on 19 September 2010 during his visit to the United Kingdom. His canonisation took place on October 13, 2019.