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THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY of AMERICA Ecclesial Themes in The THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA Ecclesial Themes in the Mediterranean Writings of John Henry Newman (December 1832-July 1833) A DISSERTATION Submitted to the Faculty of the School of Theology and Religious Studies Of The Catholic University of America In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree Doctorate in Sacred Theology © Copyright All Rights Reserved By Michael T. Wimsatt Washington, D.C. 2016 Ecclesial Themes in the Mediterranean Writings of John Henry Newman (December 1832-July 1833) Michael T. Wimsatt, S.T.D. Director: John T. Ford, C.S.C., S.T.D. A decade after becoming a fellow of Oriel College, Oxford, in 1822, John Henry Newman decided in the fall of 1832 to accompany his close friend Richard Hurrell Froude (1803-1836), and Froude’s father, Archdeacon Robert Hurrell Froude (1771- 1859) on a Mediterranean voyage that began in early December. Originally envisioned as an opportunity for Richard Hurrell, whose health was fragile, to avoid the harsh English winter, and for Newman to enjoy a brief respite from academic life, the seven- month voyage held much more in store for Newman on his first excursion outside his native England than he expected. While abroad Newman wrote 85 poems and 47 letters documenting both the sites he visited as well as his oft-restless interior state. These letters and verses document a decisive evolution on the personal level as well as the theological. Developments in his thought during his voyage are particularly evident in his reflections on the Church. On the personal level, he was displeased with the educational situation at Oriel College; on the theological level, he was distressed by the doctrinal relativism that was then emerging in the Church of England. These issues found voice in his letters and verses through his reflections on the early Church as well as the universal aspect of the Church that Newman was seeing close at hand for the first time. Although scholars have long recognized that Newman’s Mediterranean voyage was a pivotal time in his life, comparatively little study has been devoted to its importance for his theological development. This dissertation examines Newman’s theological reflections during this pivotal time with particular attention to the major ecclesial themes that surfaced while abroad and were later significant for the Oxford Movement. Accordingly, this dissertation makes a two-fold contribution: first, historical—by a detailed treatment of a neglected period in Newman’s life; second, theological—by investigating his theological thought during this period. In sum, by investigating oft-neglected writings, this dissertation highlights not only essential aspects of the Oxford Movement, but also sheds light on the ecclesial concerns that eventually prompted Newman’s conversion to Roman Catholicism in 1845. This dissertation by Michael T. Wimsatt fulfills the dissertation requirement for the doctoral degree in Systematic Theology approved by John T. Ford, C.S.C., S.T.D., as Director, and by John P. Galvin, Dr. Theol., and Christopher Ruddy, Ph.D., as Readers. ____________________________________ John T. Ford, C.S.C., S.T.D., Director ____________________________________ John P. Galvin, Dr. Theol., Reader ____________________________________ Christopher Ruddy, Ph.D., Reader ii Acknowledgements I am deeply indebted to Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz and the people of the Archdiocese of Louisville who have made the possibility of doctoral studies a reality through characteristic generosity. During my time of study I was also fortunate to benefit from the hospitality of Monsignor Peter J. Vaghi and the good people of Little Flower Catholic Church in Bethesda, Maryland, whose kindness merits mention here. Likewise I am compelled to offer deep admiration and thanks to Fr. John Ford, C.S.C. for his persistent charity in nurturing this work through his extraordinary knowledge of John Henry Newman, which was always combined with the deeply humane and pastoral spirit that best nourishes the theological enterprise. Without the noble legacy of the Sulpician Fathers, from whom I received priestly formation, I must also confess that this effort would have been impossible. In particular I thank Fr. Robert Leavitt, P.S.S, Fr. Gladstone Stevens, P.S.S., and Fr. Hy Nguyen, P.S.S. for their personal witness to the enduring virtues of communauté éducatrice. With deep love and awe I bow humbly in the direction of the domestic church from which I took my first steps in the Christian life. My mother and father and two sisters have been, and continue to be, a most sure foundation before whom I can never been sufficiently grateful. Finally, I thank God always for his goodness. His wonders I have known, not least of all, in the person of John Henry Newman, whose abiding presence has marked these labors from beginning to end. Were it not for the kinship I have enjoyed with this future saint, I have no doubt that my efforts would have met ultimately with frustration and futility. Instead, his company has been both light and warmth from the first word to the last. I write now in the sure and certain hope that his company may outlive this earthly life and accompany me into the next. iii Table of Contents I. Introduction 1 A. Dissertation 4 B. Contribution 6 II. John Henry Newman: A Short Biography 8 A. Early Years 8 B. Anglican Years 19 C. Catholic Years 25 III. Newman’s Mediterranean Voyage: Background 31 A. Richard Hurrell Froude 32 B. John Keble 39 C. Mary Newman 47 D. Edward Hawkins 55 E. The Arians of the Fourth Century 60 F. “Poetry, with Reference to Aristotle’s Poetics” 69 IV. Voyage Beginnings 76 A. November 80 B. December 88 V. Far from Home-Malta, Naples, and Rome 127 A. January 127 B. February 139 C. March 146 D. April 156 VI. Sicilian Crisis 168 A. May 168 B. June 177 C. “The Pillar of the Cloud” 186 D. Return 193 VII. “The Religious Movement of 1833” 212 A. Assize Sermon 213 B. The Movement Begins 215 C. Froude 232 iv D. Via Media 237 E. Tract XC 244 VIII. Influence of the Mediterranean Writings 248 A. Sermons 248 B. Conversion 262 C. Fiction 270 D. “On the Characteristics of Poetry” 274 E. Biglietto Speech 279 IX. Conclusion 284 A. Understanding Newman 284 B. Newman and Poetry 287 C. Toward a Theology of Mystery 290 X. Appendix I: Map of Voyage 298 XI. Appendix II: Table of Writings 299 XII. Bibliography 303 v Introduction It was said there is a silence which can be heard, which can be felt. Anyone who had been at sea, and who had for days and nights heard the billows beating at the sides of the vessel, and then came into port, knew what a strange stillness it was when the continued noise of the billows had ceased. When a bell stopped there was a kind of fulness of silence which was most grateful from the contrast. So it was in comparing the tumult and irritation of mind, which they felt in their long seeking for peace, with the joy experienced when they had found it. It was the rich reward of their long anxieties.1 These words were part of a sermon—somewhat indelicately titled “On Receiving a Batch of Converts from Anglicanism”—that John Henry Newman (1801-1890) preached at St. Ann’s, Leeds, on 5 July 1851, on the reception of twenty-one men and women into the Roman Catholic Church—among them seven former clerics of the Church of England.2 As with many of Newman’s presentations, his words that day contained multiple layers of meaning. On the surface, his words alluded to the men and women who were to be received into the Roman Catholic Church that day; these listeners were presumably attentive to the sounds and silences that accompany the spiritual life, sensitive to the billows suffered along the way and hopeful for the surreal peace of coming into port.3 Presumably these listeners were mindful of Newman’s own reception into the Roman Catholic Church six years prior. His reception manifested similar metaphorical elements, inasmuch as he had a personal upheaval, which included rejection by strangers as well as former friends. After venturing on a voyage into the 1 John Henry Newman, Sayings of Cardinal Newman (London: Burns & Oates, 1890), 5; hereafter cited: Sayings. 2 Rev. Richard Ward, late Vicar of St. Saviour’s, Leeds; the Rev. Thomas Minster, late Vicar of St. Saviours; the Reverends J. C. L. Crawley, S. Rooke, and Coombes, all Curates of St. Saviour’s; the Rev. W. H. Lewthwaite, Incumbent of Clifford, near Tadcaster; the Rev. W. Neville, Manager of St. Saviour’s Orphanage. See Sayings, 5. 3 Newman spoke of his entrance into the Roman Catholic Church in similar terms in his Apologia pro Vita Sua (New York, NY: W.W. Norton, 1976), 238; hereafter cited: Apologia. 1 2 unknown, he arrived in port, finding there a peace he might have hoped for, but could not have anticipated. Though his audience at St. Ann’s might have understood the resonance of Newman’s words with his own experience, perhaps few if any appreciated the reality of the imagery he used to begin his homily. This imagery reflected his Mediterranean voyage some twenty years earlier (1832-1833), when he left his native England for the first time at thirty-one years of age for seven months abroad. Though a small window of time chronologically—in comparison to a life that spanned almost ninety years—his time at sea exercised a long-lasting effect on the remaining years of his long life. Not only did Newman’s life span nearly the entirety of the nineteenth century, his writings seem to encompass, or at least make contact with, the thought and spirit of every preceding Christian century.
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