British pilgrims flock to Newman Canonisation

Scottish students from Cardinal Newman High School, Lanarkashire

Thousands of British pilgrims - school and parish groups - as well as clergy, organisations and politicians - enjoyed the warm sunshine in Rome last week and attended many events leading up to the canonisation of John Henry Newman in St Peter's Square on Sunday.

HRH the Prince of Wales represented the Queen and led the official United Kingdom government delegation, alongside HM Ambassador to the Holy See, Sally Axworthy and the Prime Minister's Special Envoy for Freedom of Religion or Belief, Rehman Chishti MP. A delegation of 13 MPs and peers from the All-Party Parliamentary Group on the Holy See, accompanied by the Roman Catholic Duty priest to Parliament, Canon Pat Browne, was led by Sir Edward Leigh MP.

"One of England's great intellects being declared a saint is beyond a once-in-a-lifetime event," Sir Edward said. "We're deeply honoured that Her Majesty the Queen is sending the Prince of Wales to represent her and the United Kingdom as a whole. It's a good sign of the esteem in which Cardinal Newman is held nearly a hundred and thirty years after his death."

During their visit, MPs and Peers had meetings with Vatican officials to discuss their work. One morning they met Archbishop Gallagher Holy See Foreign Minister, and discussed Syria, Venezuela, China and the persecution of Christians.

"The UK and the Holy See have hugely overlapping interests," Sir Edward said, "and our all-party group seeks to keep parliamentarians informed of the global activities of the Catholic Church in areas such as humanitarian relief, refugees and migrants, and protection of children and vulnerable adults."

The Archbishop of Canterbury sent the Rt Rev Christopher Foster, Bishop of Portsmouth, as his representative, while Newman's old university of Oxford was represented by Neil Mendoza, Provost of Oriel College where Newman was a Fellow, and Dame Hilary Boulding, the President of Trinity College where Newman studied as an undergraduate. Birmingham, where Newman founded the first English Oratory, was represented by the Lord Mayor, Councillor Mohammed Azim.

British Ambassador to the Holy See Sally Axworthy, hosted a dinner for Cardinal Vincent Nichols and other guests on Friday 11th October and the Cardinal and Ambassador jointly hosted an event entitled 'Cardinal Newman: A Celebration' in the Vatican the following day.

The English Oratories organised an Evening Prayer Vigil and Choral Concert on the Saturday evening in the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore and a Musical Oratory was held in the Chiesa Nuova, Rome's Oratory church, on the evening of the Canonisation day, with Newman readings, prayers and music performed by the London Oratory School Schola. Sally Axworthy tweeted: "Cardinals Vallini and Ravasi addressed us, and an actor read excerpts from the Letter to the Duke of Norfolk, the Biglietto speech and The Dream of Gerontius, finishing with music associated with Newman."

..."We rounded off our programme with a pilgrimage through four places in Rome associated with Newman: Propaganda Fide (where he studied); Venerable English College (which he visited); Palazzo Maffei (site of Biglietto speech) and San Giorgio in Velabro (titular Church)."

Throughout the week, many pilgrims visited The Venerable English College, which hosted an exhibition: 'John Henry Newman: A Saint in Rome' telling the story of Newman's four visits to Rome.

The official Newman Canonisation celebrations ended on Monday morning with thanksgiving Mass celebrated by Cardinal Nichols in San Giovanni in Laterano, with music by the London Oratory choir.

LINK

Journey to Sainthood in Pictures - www.newmancanonisation.com/blog/the-journey-to-sainthood-in-pictures