Venerable John Henry Newman
Jul 26th, 2006 by Br. Joshua
Conversion meant ostracism by friends and relatives. Undaunted, Newman set out for Rome to study for the priesthood. While there he became attracted by the idea of The Oratory – a Congregation of priests founded by Saint Philip Neri in the sixteenth century. He founded the first English Oratory at Maryvale, near Birmingham, in 1848, moving soon afterwards to Alcester Street, near the town centre, where he converted a disused gin distillery into a chapel. They moved to a new and more permanent base three years later, but throughout continued to be engulfed by work among the poor Catholics of what was soon to become a city.
