Cardinal John Henry Newman moved a step closer to sainthood yesterday with the Vatican's disclosure of details concerning a miracle cure attributed to the man who founded UCD almost 151 years ago.
He has been a candidate for canonisation since 1958 when his beatification cause was opened. In 1991 he was declared venerable by Pope John Paul II.
To become a saint the candidate must be shown to be responsible for at least one miracle, usually medically inexplicable.
The as-yet alleged miracle cure is said to have taken place in the US. Fr Paul Chavasse, provost of the Birmingham Oratory, also founded by Cardinal Newman, was quoted yesterday as saying that "a couple of years ago, we received reports at the ... oratory of a cure which had taken place in Boston, in the US, of a man, a deacon. I am not at liberty to give the name of this man, who had been suffering from severe spinal problems, and who has now recovered, as a result of the intercession of the Ven John Henry Cardinal Newman."
Details were given at the launch in Rome of Pope Benedict XVI and Cardinal Newman, a collection of writings edited by Peter Jennings. Among those at the launch were the Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, and the Archbishop of Birmingham, Most Rev Vincent Nichols.
The miracle is being investigated by a tribunal in the Archdiocese of Boston, which is expected to finish its work next February. The findings will then go to the Vatican for further examination.
If it is accepted as a miracle Cardinal Newman will be cleared for canonisation, giving England its first post-Reformation saint.
The cardinal, raised an Anglican, shocked Victorian England when he converted to Catholicism in the mid-19th century.
A movement led by him and Cardinal Paul Cullen, then Archbishop of Dublin, prepared the way for the opening of the Catholic University on November 3rd, 1854, at premises on St Stephen's Green. - (Additional reporting by PA)