The Vatican has asked for the exhumation of the body of the Church of England's most renowned convert to Roman Catholicism as part of his progression towards sainthood.
The Venerable John Henry Cardinal Newman was buried in a small cemetery in August 1890 and Rome now wants his remains to be moved to a marble sarcophagus in the Birmingham Oratory.
The move, which is expected to take place by the end of the year, would enable people to pay tribute to him more easily and is part of the process of creating a saint.
The procedure has to be approved by Birmingham City Council and the Ministry of Justice, which was accused of "procrastinating" over the issue, but is expected to be rubber stamped in the next few weeks.
The Venerable John Henry Cardinal Newman was buried in a small cemetery in August 1890 and Rome now wants his remains to be moved to a marble sarcophagus in the Birmingham Oratory.
The move, which is expected to take place by the end of the year, would enable people to pay tribute to him more easily and is part of the process of creating a saint.
The procedure has to be approved by Birmingham City Council and the Ministry of Justice, which was accused of "procrastinating" over the issue, but is expected to be rubber stamped in the next few weeks.
5 comments:
This is very exciting news. I attended a funeral today at which the final hymn was "Praise to the Holiest" - Newman's words. I only learned of this news this evening. It is a ray of hope for this country.
Didn't Newman instruct that he was to be buried with Ambrose St John? Will the body of Ambrose St John also be exhumed and be laid to rest with Newman's body?
Will be at Rednal...Newman's grave later today as we ae every week...it's a wonderful opportunity to pray for our Birmingham saint! If he is to be exhumed for the Oratory..well that's 10 minutes away for us..I know we are sooo lucky!
This bit from the article is interesting: "The Vatican has forbidden the announcement of the removal of Cardinal Newman's body until after the process has been completed." What??
Matt - I think it`s simply because they don`t want to attract a crowd to what is likely to be a delicate operation. (It`s a way of the article writer also saying "Look, I got a scoop".)
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