Newman's Littlemore legacy

"The Parting of Friends" - Newman's last sermon at Littlemore

John Henry Newman was born in London on 21st February, 1801, the eldest of six children, three boys and three girls. His father was John Newman, a banker (the name may indicate Jewish ancestry), and his mother was Jemima Fourdrinier, of Huguenot descent. He attended Ealing School from the age of seven, and as a boy enjoyed reading the Bible. At the age of fifteen he began the quest for spiritual wholeness which was to last the rest of his life. He thought perhaps that life might be just a dream, that he might be an angel, and even that his fellow angels were deceiving him with the mirage of a material world. From the outset Newman was of a philosophical disposition, and this evolved into a form of Christian mysticism with which he could not ultimately accommodate his Anglican principles, even after the reforms of the Oxford Movement. Tract Ninety of 1841 represents a final attempt to show that the Anglicanism, as defined in the Thirty-nine Articles, was consistent with Catholicism. His classic text 'Apologia pro vita sua' of 1864 is our main source of information about his earlier religious thinking.

Newman was not yet 16 when he went up to Trinity College, Oxford, to read Classics and Mathematics. Here he overworked, and despite his obvious intellect was awarded only a third class degree in 1821. But his abilities were clear for all to see, and the next year he was elected a fellow of Oriel, Oxford's most prestigious college at that time, where he came in contact with Keble and Pusey, and later with R.H. Froude. By now he had given up his ambition of studying for the Bar, and resolved to take Holy Orders. He was ordained in 1824, becoming curate of St. Clement's, Oxford, at the suggestion of Pusey. In 1828 he was appointed vicar of the University Church of St Mary, under the patronage of Oriel College. His sermons there were thought to be among the finest of his century, and were fondly recalled by Oxonians many decades later.

The neglected village of Littlemore was a distant part of his parish, and Newman determined to provide it with its own 'chapel' and school. In 1832 he resigned his tutorial post at Oriel, and the following year made a tour of the Mediterranean with his friend Froude, during which he met Cardinal Wiseman at the English College in Rome - a formative encounter. It was in Rome that he wrote many of his sacred poems Lyra Apolostolica (published 1836). It was in 1833 that he wrote the famous hymn 'Lead, Kindly Light', a heartfelt plea for guidance. A manuscript text of this hymn (right) and another listing the original donors who paid for the church are kept at Littlemore. The foundation stone of St Mary and St Nicholas' church was laid in 1835 by his mother, Jemima, who did not live to witness the consecration on 22nd September 1836; the school opened in 1838 (below, Littlemore Church and school in Newman's time. 'The College' can be seen in the distance on the left).

Newman enjoyed catechizing in the church and teaching in the school. A keen violinist, he composed string trios at Littlemore, which he played here together with Messrs. Walker and Bowles. Dissatisfied with the lack of radicalism in Oxford theological circles, in 1842 he withdrew to Littlemore and started a small religious community (below), converting a stable block into a group of cells with kitchen and library to be a place of retreat. This gave rise to newspaper reports that he was building an Anglo-Catholic monastery. He had had doubts about the claims of the Anglican Church from 1839 onwards, expressing his new views in Tract Ninety of 1841, which was censured by the church authorities. He subsequently gave up his responsibilities in Oxford and resigned his position at St. Mary's.

On the morning of September 25th 1843 he preached in this church his famous valedictory sermon 'The Parting of Friends'. At this symbolic and emotional event 'Dr. Pusey, [John Brande] Morris of Exeter and some others sobbed aloud, and the sound of their weeping resounded throughout the church'. Quoting from Isaiah xxxiii, Newman voiced his despair at what he had come to see as the weakness of Anglicanism: 'O my mother, whence is this unto thee, that thou hast good things poured upon thee and canst not keep them, and bearest children, yet darest not own them? why hast thou not the skill to use their services, nor the heart to rejoice in their love? how is it that whatever is generous in purpose, and tender or deep in devotion, thy flower and thy promise, falls from thy bosom and finds no home within thine arms?'

Newman was received into the Catholic Church at Littlemore in 1845 by the Italian Passionist friar Dominic Barberi, and was ordained into the Roman Catholic priesthood the following year. He left Littlemore, 'kissing my bed, my mantelpiece, and other parts of the house'. Leaving Littlemore evoked in him more regrets than leaving Oxford.

The tale of a sad Newman returning to visit Littlemore many years later is told in the poem At Littlemore -

He leant upon a stile, noble, unkempt,
old and so weary, in a coat shabby and black-green,
he leant and wept, and I think he dreamt
of what had been
at Littlemore.

Then from the valley afar, yonder, a bell
sounded. He looked. There Oxford lay and slept:
Saint Mary's spire and Trinity and Oriel:
his own, so dear,
so much his own, so intimately dear;
so far, so near.
And he leant there and wept,
at Littlemore.

He had sought a perfect peace on earth,
and for its sake abandoned the old home;
Church, friends and pulpit, all he had held of worth,
exchanging Oxford's mirage for the gleam of Rome.
The gleam was spent,
and now he weeping leant
upon a stile,
remembering the past a little while
at Littlemore -
his Littlemore;

so here the old man wept and prayed,
beside the church which he himself had made
long years before.
He wept with white head bared.
Here he had stood vested before the altar then,
here had christened children now grown men;
here had at last despaired,
and seeking elsewhere peace, found war.
And now he wept and prayed alone,
ungreeted and unknown,
leaning upon a stile,
weeping for faces, loved, but lost awhile,
at Littlemore.

[from They Shine Like Stars, Desmond Morse-Boycott, chapter VII: The Parting of Friends. Skeffington & Son, London 1947]

The legacy of John Henry Newman remains with both the Roman Catholic and Anglican Churches. As a priest in the Church of England, he had a huge impact on the development of Anglicanism over the next 150 years. Together with Pusey and Keble he initiated what later became known as 'The Oxford Movement'. Through the writing of tracts and scholarly books he reminded Anglicans that they were part of an apostolic catholic and universal church, which had its roots in the early Church Fathers. The nature of purity, continuity and the development of the Christian faith occupied Newman's writings. He defended the centrality of Christ and the doctrines associated with his person against the powerful onslaught of 19th century liberalism.

You can still visit The College (right) today: it is situated in College Lane and much of the 'Newman in Littlemore' heritage is looked after there by the sisters of The Spiritual Family 'The Work'.

John Henry Newman is now commemorated on 11th August in the Anglican calendar, and this is acknowledged at Littlemore by a new icon (below). To mark the bicentenary in 2001 of his birth the Estonian composer Arvo Pärt has composed a 'Littlemore Tractus', setting his words: May He support us all the day long, till the shades lengthen, and the evening comes, and the busy world is hushed, and the fever of life is over, and our work is done! Then in his mercy may He give us a safe lodging, and a holy rest, and peace at the last.

Newman links: "The Parting of Friends" - Newman's last sermon at Littlemore Newman Reader - Newman's writings online The International Centre of Newman Friends Newman's Littlemore Newman Millennium Exhibition at Deddington (2000)