Sep 15, 2010 / 18:02 pm
The Cardinal Newman Society (CNS) has launched a project to help preserve the handwritten manuscripts of the nineteenth-century convert and theologian John Henry Cardinal Newman, whom Pope Benedict XVI will beatify later this month. One organizer praised Newman’s “courageous faith” and his “thorough” critique of secularism.
During his visit to the United Kingdom, Pope Benedict will visit the Birmingham Oratory where Cardinal Newman lived and died. He will also view the archive of his works which contains letters, sermons, essays poetry and other works. Some of the works have never been published, the Virginia-based CNS reports.
In his general audience in Rome last week, Pope Benedict called Newman a “truly great Englishman” who lived “an exemplary priestly life.” He said Newman’s writings made “a lasting contribution to Church and society, both in his native land and in many other parts of the world.”
CNS has launched the Newman Legacy Project to make the cardinal’s writings more accessible to scholars and to help introduce his ideas to the American public. The group hopes to raise more than $1 million for the project, which will primarily help build a climate-controlled, fireproof facility for the Newman archive at the Birmingham Oratory.