John Henry Newman

John Henry Newman (1801–1890) was an Anglican priest who converted to Roman Catholicism and was made Cardinal. He wrote a number of theological books, and a defence of his life, Apologia pro Vita Sua.

In the 1830s, as Vicar of St Mary's, Oxford, and Fellow of Oriel College, Newman was one of the leaders of the Oxford Movement, which sought to emphasise the Catholic aspects of the Church of England. However he began to feel uncomfortable within the Anglican Church, and in 1845 he was received into the Roman Catholic Church, which caused a break with many of his family and friends and exile from his beloved Oxford. The next year he was ordained as a Catholic priest.

From 1854 to 1858 he was Rector of the new Catholic University of Ireland, now University College, Dublin.

In 1878 he was made a Cardinal by the pope - an unusual appointment for someone who has not even a bishop.

Newman was celibate throughout his life, but had a very deep friendship with Ambrose St John, who had joined the Catholic church at about the same time as Newman. At Newman's death, he was buried next to St John.

In more recent years there has been a movement to canonise Newman as a saint. As the first step in this process, he was beatified in 2010. In connection with the proposed canonisation, there was a move to remove Newman's remains to a tomb in Birmingham Oratory, which would have been more convenient for those wishing to visit his relics when he became a saint. This was criticised, for instance by Peter Tatchell, but when the grave was opened, no traces remained of his body.