BLESSED Cardinal John Henry Newman (1801 - 1890) was canonised on Sunday (October 13) at a service in St Peter’s Square, in Rome.

In July this year Pope Francis formally approved Newman’s canonisation, making him the first English person who has lived since the 17th century officially recognised as a saint by the Roman Catholic Church.

Two authenticated miracles are required before sainthood. Newman, whose family had a home in Alton, was already credited with curing a man’s spinal disease when, in February of this year, the Pope recognised a second miracle, described as “the inexplicable healing of a woman with a life-threatening pregnancy”.

Newman’s connection with Alton is recognised by a blue heritage plaque on the wall of 59 High Street, confirming he spent time there between 1816 and 1819, when studying in Oxford. And by a letter to Canon Durst of Alton in 1877 in which Newman writes of the town: “I have a pleasant recollection of beautiful walks and rides about it, and of the fine hop gardens.”

A theologian, in early life Newman was a major figure in the Oxford Movement, working to bring the Church of England back to its roots.

He served as Chaplain of Oriel and later Vicar of the University of the Church, but he resigned his fellowship of Oriel in 1845, when his studies in history persuaded him to convert to Catholicism, and he travelled to Rome to study for the priesthood.

On his return in 1848 he founded and became the superior of the Birmingham Oratory, and in the late 1840/50s was controversially involved in disputes within the Irish Catholic Church, between the Birmingham and London oratories, and between Catholic bishops and laity. In 1861 he wrote a series of pamphlets defending his conversion and theological development.

In 1877 he was elected the first honorary fellow of Trinity College and in 1879 was made a cardinal.

Newman continued to be involved in theological and ecclesiastical disputes until his death at the age of 89, when more than 15,000 people lined the streets of Birmingham for his funeral.

The cause for Newman’s sainthood was opened in 1958 and he was declared ‘Venerable’ by Pope Saint John Paul II in 1991, to reflect a life of “heroic virtue”.

And yet, 120 years after his death Newman is still hounded by controversy. His dying wish was to be buried in a shared grave with his closest friend, but now he is to be reinterred at Birmingham Oratory in preparation for his beatification, leaving the remains of his friend behind.