UPDATED 9/14/09
Cardinal John Henry Newman is set to be beatified in the near future now that the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, officially has recognized a miracle attributed to Cardinal Newman’s intercession. The approved miracle was the inexplicable cure of a spinal condition suffered by permanent Deacon Jack Sullivan of the Archdiocese of Boston.
Deacon Sulllivan prayed daily for the intercession of Cardinal Newman for the Lord to relieve him of his debilitating ailment and intense pain, which had him hunched over and unable to read and study for his deaconate classes. When he was relieved of his disability, a team of medical doctors found no plausible human medical cure was responsible.
Beatification is the step that precedes canonization. The candidate for sainthood can be beatified in his diocese.
From RomeReports.com/YouTube.com:
Cardinal John Henry Newman was an Anglican presbyter who converted to Catholicism in 1845. He was one of the most important figures of the Oxford movement that advocated for the Church of England’s return to its Catholic roots.
One of his biggest admirers is Benedict XVI, who during his years in the seminary, studied Newman’s life and writings.
The date for Cardinal Newman’s beatification is undecided, but may be celebrated next year in Rome or London, the cardinal’s place of birth.
From Catholic News Agency Television/YouTube.com:
Cardinal Newman, an English convert to Catholicism, tried to reconcile the Church of England to the Church of Rome. As a seminarian, Pope Benedict XVI studied Cardinal Newman’s life and writings. Now he will beatify him, probably in early 2010.
From RomeReports.com/YouTube.com
An American Deacon, Jack Sullivan, sought Cardinal Newman’s intercession for the healing of a serious spinal ailment that would have kept him from finishing his deaconate classed and eventual ordination.
