The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1906-06-09
Was Still a Member Of the Church of England
and Tempest Tossed in a Sea of
Doubt and Discomfort.
His Subsequent Conversion to the Catholic
Faith an Answer to the Prayer of
His Immortal Poem.

teenth century, and it's wavelike imne-
| tus, set in motion by John Keble. who
| was. Newman said the true author of
'he 1ractarian movement: Hurrel Frou-
de, the bright the beautiful" John
Henry Newman, Pusey and Others was
teit on every Christian coast of the
| globe. M"Zley called ii that potentious
pirth OF time, the Tracts for the
Times. 1t meant much for New
| man and therefore means much to-
day for his corcigionists However.
let us glance at Ncwmans ancestry.
Father Barry, whose study may be
| considered within its scope. as dcfini
| tive, tells us that John Henry Newman
(born in London, February 81, 1SOD
was the son of John Newman and Je-
NINA I'ourdrinier. Dutch and Huge
not stock
The father like the father of Robert
Browning. was engaged in the banking
business, was an enthusiastic lover of
music. of Shakespeare and an admirer
of benjamin Franklin The original
| name was spclt "Newmann," and as
Barry writes. was understood to bc
OF Dutch origin. ana its real descent
was Hebrew" John Henry Newman's
cast or features was markedly Jewish
his best portrait is the etching by Ra
1on-and like Bnruch Spinoza. his was
"a god intoxicated" soul. He possessed
that genius for faith to be found only
In the loftiest intellccts or among the
lowly of spirit. Yet, beyond his un-
compromising devotion to his diety and
II certain sublimity of style and utter
ancc-Matthcw Arnold has spoken of
the sublime style as truly Hebraic-
coupled with a live and profound ac-
Huaintnncc of the Scriptures, there was
nothing else dstinctivcly Jewish in
Newman. That he probably had never
read the Ethics" is Barry's belief and
we know that he did not manifest the
slightest concern in the higher crlti-
cism.' IN Fcuerbach. Strauss, Renan,
or In the divigntions of the Tubingen
school. Indeed, for metaphysics Cardi-
nal Newman never betrayed by any al
lusion that he had troubled to study
| Kant. Schlegal, 'ichte and Schopen-
| hauer. With the robust Goethe he
would have agreed in his detestation of
all thinking about thinking" as the
German poet termed philosophic
schools OF cobweb and moonshine.
But he new Aristotle and red deeply
| in Thomas Of Aquinas, though he did
| not fail to reveal his love for his favor
/ lite st. Athanasius when he asked the
late Leo XIII not to forget that name
| in the revival of the Thomist cult.
He knew the Bible almost by heart
as boy. and his career at oxford was
brilliant. There he became the centre
of distinguished group. He fell un-
der the influence of Richard Whately,
afterward Archbishop Of Dublin and
Il famous logician. Whately, Newman
| acknowledges. was one Of the great
| formative influences of his life. That
| they parted company did not prevent
the younger man from paying most
eloquent tribute to his early preceptor.
| Hurrcll Froude was the brother of the
| historian, young man of singular
gifts and a captivating personality.
| Froude introduced Newman to John
Keble, the sweet-voiced poet of the
| christian Year. Froude once said:-
do you know the story of the mur-
derer who had one good deed in his
life? Well, If were asked what good
deed l had ever done l would say that
l had brought Keble and Newman to
understand each other"
Searching for the Faith.
These were the three young spiritual
guardsmen who took up the desperate
fight against Evangelical Christianity
All three were loyal to the Church of
England, per Sc; but they were deter
mined to pierce the shell of rusty tradi-
tions, and search for the very kernel
Of their faith. This resolve led them
afar Keble's christian Year" made
its appearance in 1927. Newman later
wrote of It's author:-"Keble did that
for the Church of England which none
but a poet could do; he made it po-
etical." Dr. Pusey Joined the tractari-