CARDINAL NEWMAN.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXXII, Issue 8256, 22 December 1911, Page 7

CARDINAL NEWMAN.

ADDRESS BY THE^BEY. FATHER

The Rev. Father Bartley, S.M.M.A., delivered an address at the Catholic Club last evening on Cardinal Newman. There was a good attendance, and tiio Rev. Father O'Hare presided. Father Bartley said that no^ matter m what way he was judged Cardinal Newman was the greatest-Englishman of the 19th century, and he had done more than any other man to lift English men and women.to a realisation of the highest things m human life. He was borne on February 21, 1801, and died on May 1, 1890, so that his life extended over practically the whole century, and he would be a vital and perennial force when Gladstone had been forgotten. Father Sheehan had said that Gladstone left deeds; but Newman'left "■tjioughts, and thoughts lived longer than deeds. Gladstone was going off with Pitt and other great statesmen'• to the" limbo of forgotten things, but Newman would never die, and "his works would live until th<6 Fmglish language was to the world what the Sanscrit of Central Asia is now. He must be counted as the greatest of modern great men, and his influence lived m its fullest vigour m England and France to-da.y. So.greatly was his name revered that people from far Germany made pilgrimages to his old home m England. 't% veneration m which, he was held m his day could be gathered 1 from Church history, and when the Holy See had to mark certain men and said that their writings did not represent the teaching of the Catholic Church, the works of Newman, (who had been, pointed-to.by these; men.as m the same position as .themselves) i had never came under the ban. That i his works should haye 1 been sheltered from any reproach spoke well for him. He was the leader of the Oxford movement. He did not wish this, but his talents pushed him to the front, and made him the commanding figure of the day. Asa writer he was responsible for much of the sterling work done by the laymen of the Church. From 1854 to 1858 Newman was rector of the Irish Universtiy. It was said that he kept himself aloof from politics, but as head of the university he had done good work for the Irish people. In speaking of Newmans fitness for the work ho undertook m England, Father Bartley said that he spoke to the - cultured ' English mind through complaicent obstinate John Bullism. His. message sank deeply, and m later I years he became an unrivalled power. The speaker pictured Oxford asit was m the days of Newman, and said that those who had read " Vanity Fair" would get a good idea from the character of the Rev. James Pitt of-.'the type of man Oxford was then producing, and he then dwelt upon the change wrought by Newmans sermons, which, he said, held Oxford spellbound for five years. He then went on to speak of the origin and significance of the TVactarian Movement, of which Newman was proclaimed the leader by Pusey and Keville. Passing on, he touched upon Newmans love for the Church of England, and the struggle it cost him to go over to the Church of Rome. Dealing with the intellectual powers of Newman, the speaker quoted first Carlyle, who had said that Newman had the brains of a rabbit. So great a prose writer as Carlyle was entitled to respect, but a library could •b©: nliod-with the-volumes^vritten -with. the' object of dissectingfvthe Imind he had belittled! Newman was read by many of the' great thinkers of his day, including Gladstone. At the conclusion of the address a vote- of - thanks'- was accorded Father Bartley, -on the- motion of Father O'Hara. Th© motion was seconded by Mr M. J. Moriarty, supported by Mr F. K. Cooper, and carried unanimously.