Church officials would not reveal the identity of the man who benefited from the reported miracle, but said that the Boston archdiocese has established a commission to investigate the report. If a miracle if verified, it would fulfill the final requirement for beatification of the English scholar.

Word of the alleged miracle became public at an October 18 press conference in Rome for the publication of a new book, Pope Benedict XVI (bio - news) and Cardinal Newman, edited by veteran Catholic journalist Peter Jennings. The book highlights the admiration that the Pope had professed for Cardinal Newman's writings.

Cardinal John Henry Newman (1801- 1890) was an Oxford scholar and prominent Anglican preacher when he joined the Oxford Movement in the 1830s. By 1840 he had begun expressing doubts about the Church of England, and withdrew from Anglican ministry; in 1845 he was received into the Catholic Church. His Apologia Pro Vita Sua, explaining his spiritual journey, is among the classics of Catholic autobiography.

# posted by Squach : 12:07 AM   |