About Newman & the Church
John Henry Newman was born in London on 21 February 1801 to John and Jemima Newman. He was the eldest of six children and raised Anglican, eventually becoming an Anglican priest. Newman had been the most prominent member of the Oxford Movement, which explored the possibility of bringing the Church of England back to its Catholic roots. After his own conversion, Newman was received into the Catholic Church on 9 October 1845 and upon further study in Rome was ordained a Catholic priest on 30 May 1847. He was made cardinal by Pope Leo XIII in 1879, choosing the motto “Cor ad cor loquitur,” in English “heart speaks to heart.”
John Henry Cardinal Newman was beatified by Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday 19th September 2010 in Birmingham and canonised by Pope Francis on Sunday 13th October 2019 in Rome.
When John Henry Newman arrived in Dublin to set up the Catholic university of Ireland at the behest of the Irish bishops, he knew that the new venture would need a large space to serve as a chapel for religious exercises and public lectures. When several other efforts fell through, Newman purchased 87 Saint Stephen’s Green and with the assistance of architect John Hungerford Pollen designed a church to fill the garden beside the house.