DEATH, IMMORTALITY AND RESURRECTION IN JOHN ...

UNIVERSIDAD D E NAVARRA

FACULTAD D E TEOLOGÍA

Juan Rodrigo V É L E Z G I R A L D O

DEATH, IMMORTALITY AND RESURRECTION IN JOHN HENRY NEWMAN

Extracto de la Tesis Doctoral presentada en la Facultad de Teología de la Universidad de Navarra

PAMPLONA

1 9 9 9

Ad norman Statutorum Facultatis Theologiae Universitatis Navarrensis, perlegimus et adprobavimus

Pampilonae, die 10 mensis novembris anni 1 9 9 8

Dr. Ioseph M O R A L E S Dr. Ioseph A L V I A R

Coram tribunali, die 18 mensis iunii anni 1 9 9 8 , hanc dissertationem ad Lauream Candidatus palam defendit

Secretarius Facultatis

Ioseph ENÉRIZ

Excerpta e Dissertationibus in Sacra Theologia

Voi. XXXVI, n. 2

INTRODUCTION

In this thesis we have studied the eschatology of one of the most prominent English figures during the nineteenth century. John Henry Newman (1801-1890) wrote essays and delivered sermons on many subjects regarding death and immortality. However as of yet, there are only a few doctoral theses and articles on his ideas in eschatology.

Our work has three objectives; the first and primary one is to examine Newmans thoughts regarding individual eschatology, and in particular, Christian death, immortality and resurrection. Some considerations on general eschatology, namely the Parousia, the hope in universal salvation, and eternal punishment are also studied. The second one is the presentation of the theological context in which Newman wrote and a discussion of some of the major sources for his eschatology. The third one is a study of the supernatural virtue of hope in Newmans personal life and theology.

The method followed has been a historical and theological analysis of Newman's life and works. A first reading of his sermons enabled a selection of recurrent ideas; these were then used to systematize Newmans thoughts in a second reading of the same sermons and in the study of his works. The content of the sermons and books was correlated with personal events in Newmans life, taken mostly from his letters and diaries, and from his biographies.

We have identified some of the major underlying themes of his eschatology, and have indicated the continuity and difference which exists in some aspects of his teaching from the Anglican to the Catho-

1 . M C K E A T I N G , Colm, Eschatology in the Anglican Sermons of John Henry Newman, Pontificia Universitas Gregoriana, Rome, 1 9 9 2 . This thesis studies the Anglican sermons only. HEGESBACH, Theodore, Theology of Death andJohn Henry Newman, Notre Dame University, Notre Dame Press, 1 9 7 6 . This thesis describes the influence of the death of loved ones on Newman. It does not deal with dogmatic aspects of eschatology.

74 JUAN RODRIGO VÉLEZ GIRALDO

lie period. Some attention was given to the guiding principles of Newmans theology, as well as to the relationship he established between eschatology, Christology and ecclesiology. A reading of some of the sources that may have influenced Newmans thoughts was also undertaken.

We are indebted to the constant guidance and encouragement of Prof. José Morales Marin, and his helpful corrections of many drafts. His Newman scholarship has been a source of inspiration for this research work. We also sincerely thank the Fundación Horizonte, who has granted the necessary financial support. We wish to express our appreciation and gratitude to all those who have made this study possible, namely the teachers at the School of Theology of the University of Navarre, the library staff, my friends at the Colegio Mayor Aralar, and my family, through their generous understanding and example.

TABLE OF CONTENTS OF THE THESIS

T A B L E T H E A B R E V I A T I O N S 5 I N T R O D U C T I O N 7

I V I C T O R I A N E S C H A T O L O G Y :

O V E R V I E W O F T H E X I X C E N T U R Y 1. EVANGELICAL ANGLICANS 16

2. BROAD CHURCH ANGLICANS 22

3. THE OXFORD MOVEMENT 27

II N E W M A N ' S E X P E R I E N C E O F

T H E D E A T H O F L O V E D O N E S 1. DEATH O F HIS FATHER, JOHN NEWMAN 35

2. DEATH O F HIS SISTER MARY NEWMAN 38

3. MEDITERRANEAN VOYAGE W I T H FROUDE A N D ILLNESS IN SICILY . . 42

4. THE DEATHS O F HURRELL FROUDE A N D MRS. JEMIMA (NEWMAN)

FOUDRINIER 49

5. N E W M A N ' S CLOSENESS T O DEATH 53

III N E W M A N ' S E S C H A T O L O G I C A L P E R S P E C T I V E

1. THE DOGMATIC PRINCIPLE 69

2. THE SACRAMENTAL PRINCIPLE 83

3. CHRISTOLOGY A N D ESCHATOLOGY 89

4. THE SENSE O F HISTORY IN NEWMAN'S ESCHATOLOGY 95

I V D E A T H I N T H E W O R K S O F C A R D I N A L N E W M A N

1. DYING MEN A N D WOMEN 109

2. DEATH O F SAINTS A N D MARTYRS 117

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3. ANGLICAN SERMONS 121

3.1. Characteristics of the sermons 126 3.2. Christian Morality 129 3.3. The Intermediate State 133

4. CATHOLIC SERMONS 137

4.1. The Holy Eucharist and Eternal Life 137 4.2. Particular Judgment 142

5. THE DREAM O F GERONTIUS 146

5.1. Christian Death 149 5.2. Purification after Death 152

V DOCTRINE ON DEATH AND THE SOUL'S IMMORTALITY

1. PHILOSOPHICAL ANTHROPOLOGY 163

1.1. Newman on the Soul's Immortality 166 1.2. Plato's anthropology 172 1.3. Aristotelian and Thomistic principles 179 1.4. Some Existentialist Philosophers: Death as a personal action . 188

VI THEOLOGY OF DEATH AND THE BODY'S RESURRECTION

1. BIBLICAL A N T H R O P O L O G Y 193

2. EVIL A N D T H E PUNISHMENT F O R ORIGINAL SIN 199

2.1. Death as a Trial 203 3. THE RESURRECTION O F THE B O D Y 212

3.1. Negation of the resurrection 221 4. CHRIST'S DEATH, RESURRECTION A N D ASCENSION 229

VII DEATH AND HOPE IN GOD

1. THE VIRTUE O F HOPE 251

2. POSSIBILITY O F UNIVERSAL RESTORATION 259

2.1. Late-Victorian England 261 2.2. De Lubac and Von Balthasar 267 2.3. Newman on God's Justice and Mercy 279

CONCLUSIONS 289 BIBLIOGRAPHY 299

Works of John Henry Newman 299 Anglican Authors (17th to 19th century) 300 Primary Sources 301 Secondary Sources 302 Magisterium 309 Dictionaries 309

BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE THESIS

WORKS O F JOHN HENRY NEWMAN

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London 1911. Essay in Aid of a Grammar of Assent, ed. IT. KER, Clarendon Press, Oxford

1985. Essays Critical and Historical, II, Longmans, Green and Co., London 1914. Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine, Penguin Books, Harmonds-

worth 1974 (1845 edition). Fifteen Sermons preached before the University of Oxford Rivingtons, London

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Press, Oxford 1991, II, ed., BLEHL, V., Clarendon Press, Oxford 1993. Letters and Diaries of John Henry Newman, I-XXXI, ed., D E S S A I N , Char

les S . - G O R N A L L , T, Clarendon Press, Oxford 1973. Letters on Present Position of Catholics in England Longmans, Green and Co.,

London 1913. Loss and Gain: The Story of a Convert, Oxford University Press, Oxford 1986. Meditations and Devotions, Longmans, Green and Co., London 1894. On the Inspiration of Scripture, ed. H O L M E S , J . Derek and M U R R A Y , Robert,

Geoffrey Chapman, London 1967. Parochial and Plain Sermons, I-VIII, ed., C O P E L A N D , W.J., Longmans, Gre

en, and Co., 1900-1901, re-impression by Christian Classic Inc., Westminster, Md, 1966-1967.

78 JUAN R O D R I G O VÉLEZ GIRALDO

Philosophical Notebook, I-II, ed. SlLLEM, Edward J . (General Introduction to the Study of Newman's Philosophy), Nauwelaerts Publishing House, Louvain 1969.

Sermons bearing on Subjects of the Day, ed., C O P E L A N D , W.J., Longmans, Green, and Co. 1910.

Sermons preached on Various Occasions, Longmans, Green, and Co., London 1910.

Tracts for the Times, Longmans, Green and Co., London 1910. Verses on Various Occasions, The Dream of Gerontius, Longmans, Green, and

Co., London 1910. Via Media of the Anglican Church. Illustrated in lectures, letters and tracts,

3rd edition, 1877, ed., W E I D N E R , H. D., Clarendon Press, Oxford 1990.

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TABLE OF ABBREVIATIONS

Apo. Apologia pro Vita Sua Ari. The Arians of the Fourth Century Ath. Select Treatises of St. Athanasius, I-II A.W. Autobiographical Writings D.A. Discussions and Arguments on Various Subjects Dev. Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine Call. Callista. Tale of the Third Century C.S. Catholic Sermons Ess. Essays Critical and Historical, I-II G.A. An Essay in aid of a Grammar in Assent H.S. Historical Sketches, I-II I Idea The Idea of a University Insp. On the Inspiration of Scripture Jfc. Lectures on the Doctrine of Justification L.D. The Letters and Diaries of John Henry Newman, I-XXXI L.G. Loss and Gain: the Story of a Convert Phil. N. The Philosophical Notebook, I-II O.S. Sermons preached on Various Occasions P. PS. Parochial and Plain Sermons, I-VIII S.D. Sermons Bearing on the Subjects of the Day S.N. Sermon Notes Tracts Tracts for the Times T.T. Tracts Theological and Ecclesiastical U.S. Fifteen. Sermons preached before the University of Oxford V.M. The Via Media, I-II V.V. Verses on Various Occasions

DEATH, IMMORTALITY AND RESURRECTION IN JOHN HENRY NEWMAN

I. N E W M A N ' S E X P E R I E N C E O F T H E D E A T H O F L O V E D O N E S

Newman's Letters and Diaries are a rich source for the study of his sentiments and thoughts concerning the death of his friends and on his own future death. In this chaptei we will discuss the death of some of his immediate family and close friends between 1824 and 1836, his considerations on death during his illness in Sicily and the last years of his life.

The experience of the death of friends and close family members shaped Newmans thoughts on death and some of his sermons. His interior suffering and prayer life are reflected in many of these writings. They indicate a close tie between his spiritual life, the sermons he preached and the theology he elaborated. In the following account we can perceive his growing hope in God and the exercise of related virtues such as trust, obedience and fortitude, which constituted his preparation for heaven.

1. Death of his Father, John Newman

On his 23rd birthday, shortly before receiving the Anglican ordination as deacon, Newman expressed the thought of not being well prepared. He prayed to God to keep him from squandering time and from pride. Although he was happy anticipating his ordination, he feared the seriousness of taking vows. The wotds «for ever» of the ordination sounded «terrible» to him. The thought of having the responsibility of souls until the day of his death seemed a heavy burden. Newman also felt remorse for the harshness which he had towards his brother Francis, as well as the vainglory and ambition for academic honors at Trinity College1. After the ordination he found peace in the thought of belonging wholly to God2.

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The death of his father occurred September 29, 1824, two months after his ordination. His mother had informed him of his father's illness. Even though the illness was short, Newman had some time to prepare for his father's death. Two physicians attended Mr. Newman. The then young curate of St. Clement's recounted some of his father's last words to him: «"God bless you, thank my God, thank my God" and lastly "my dear"»3. Newman read to his father a passage on trials as blessings from God taken from James 1 and another one on God's everlasting faithfulness from Isaiah 54, as well as the Nunc dimitís from St. Luke's Gospel.

Newman was impressed by the dead body of his father; he had never seen a corpse before. After the burial he wrote a short prayer in which he abandoned himself in God's hands and asked Him for faithfulness to the end. On January 2, 1825, Newman delivered a sermon entitled Preparation for Death, which is a consideration on the shortness of time and the day of death4. He said that men are startled by the death of loved ones, but soon forget; each one should consider his death and judgment. Newman himself did not forget. He remembered his father and drew spiritual lessons from his death. One of these was contrition for the coldness and lack of gratitude which on some occasions he had had towards him 5 .

Newman was ordained a priest on Sunday May 19, 1825; at this ordination he was much happier and following it he became convinced of the unconditional action of the Holy Spirit in Ordination and Baptism6. The consideration of his father's death probably contributed to a number of sermons that followed such as Temporal Advantages (1825), Secret Faults (1825) and Holiness necessary for Blessedness (1826). In the first one he spoke of the worldly goods which can blind man regarding his eternal destiny. The excessive love of the world, over-confidence and pride endanger eternal happiness. These sermons and Newmans annotations on his birthday confirm his apprehension on the shortness and vanity of life, which he described as the «nothing-ness of life»7. These thoughts and prayers represent his constant spiritual struggle against the desire for theological fame and the aspiration of rising in the Church 8. The death of his father helped Newman to affirm the decision to live a celibate life in order to devote himself entirely to the service of God. In reference to this, he wrote to his mother: «This life is no time for enjoyment, but for labor, and I have especially deferred ease and quiet for a future life in devoting myself to the immediate service of God»9.

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2. Death of his Sister Mary Newman

In 1826, Newman was appointed a Tutor of Oriel College and in 1831, he became one of the University preachers10. He wrote that his pupils had a high opinion of him and that he was concerned with livings, the Provostship and promotions11. He began to neglect his religious duties and to be delighted by the company of those of the Oriel Common Room such as the liberal Joseph Blanco White 1 2 . He was preferring intellectual excellence to moral excellence13. In this set of circumstances, personal illness and the death of his sister Mary awoke him from a growing liberalism. In 1827, while preparing for the task of Public Examiner for the degree in classics, he underwent mental exhaustion 1 4.

Mary was Newman's youngest sister; he loved her very much and had her on a sort of pedestal. He was afraid that his attachment to het was not right and once had a presentiment that she would die at an early age 1 5 . The news of her illness however came as a shock. It was sudden and unexpected unlike his father's. On January 4, 1828 she developed severe spasms after dinner. Despite much pain she recited by memory verses from Keble's Christian Year. She died the next evening at the age of nineteen. All throughout life he remembered her and mentioned her to his close friends. Mrs. Newman wrote to him that God punishes, but then mitigates the suffering and turns it into a blessing16.

On Easter Week, April 12 he visited his family for a few days in Brighton and occupied Mary's bed. He sought to find meaning in her death by writing poetry, and wrote the poem Waking Thoughts, which describes Mary's death and funeral. The poem follows the theme of Jacob's ladder, the gate to heaven being Mary's bedroom which he called that «sacred spot». The dream brought to him a new awareness of God 1 7. On the return to Oxford he wrote Consolations in Bereavement and sent it to his sister Harriet1 8. He was consoled by the thought that her death was God's will. His Mercy spared her the bitterness of death and illness. Death came suddenly; she did not suffer the slow decline and wasting of illness. She died without a premonition because she was well prepared. Mary's death at a young age left the pleasant and bright image of her youth and loveliness to all.

Newman admitted to Harriet that he was trying to accept and understand suffering as a blessing. In August he wrote a verse titled A Picture, which describes Mary's affection, modesty and joy, and God's call to her. He was comforted by the promise that God will «knit in

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love souls parted here/ where cloud is none nor change» 1 9. They will be reunited in heaven where she lives more fully. In 1830 he wrote yet another poem on Mary, Epiphany Eve: A Birthday Offering comparing her death to the celebration of Christ's Epiphany20. Newman had a vivid memory of Mary and was reminded of her at every turn in Oxford because he had shown her the University21. Gradually his sorrow turned into greater faith in God's Providence and acceptance of His will.

Despite convalescence Newman was not idle; at the start of 1828 he was involved in Oriel politics for the election of provost. In March he was instituted Vicar of St. Mary's, replacing Edward Hawkins, who succeeded Copleston as Provost of Oriel. The two blows were like a second conversion for the Oxford don. They predisposed him for a better understanding of Providence and the sacramental system, which he grasped in the reading of the Church Fathers during the long vacation of that year. In addition, he reaffirmed his commitment to God in a celibate life. Hengesbach describes Newman's celibacy as an important element of his theology of death. «It is, as it were, his theology of death in action... Newman's life of celibacy is his unique response to the still voice of God» 2 2. Shortly afterwards he began to break away from Whately and the Oriel Noetics.

3. Mediterranean Voyage with Froude and Illness in Sicily

Hurrell came from a wealthy family. His father was Archdeacon at Dartington, Devon. He had been elected Fellow of Oriel with Robert Wilbeforce in 1826 and became Tutor two years later. He was an athletic, lively and enthusiastic young man, who enjoyed riding, shooting and other gentlemanly pursuits. Newman became a close friend of Froude at Oriel and learnt important lessons from him. In 1830, they were relieved of their duties as Tutors at Oriel, as a result of differences of opinion with Provost Hawkins 2 3. Together with Froude and the other Tutors he led the opposition to the re-election of Sir Robert Peel as Member of Parliament. Hurrell contracted pulmonary tuberculosis in 1831 and was told to travel to a warmer climate, avoiding the English winter. After an initial reluctance, Newman joined Froude and his father on a trip to the Mediterranean.

They sailed on December 8, 1832 and visited Gibraltar, Corfu, Malta, Messina, Palermo, Naples and Rome. Along the way Newman wrote many letters to family and friends as well as many verses. He

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described in great detail the scenery, customs, expenses, food and lodging. He sent two poems to Hugh Rose for publication in the British Magazine. In Naples he was disturbed upon hearing of the Church Temporalities Bill, which would abolish ten sees of the established Church in Ireland and tax the Church benefices. In a few letters he referred to this and compared it to similar injustices in Italy. He visited Pompeii and Herculaneum which he admired as wonderful places. In Naples he remarked on the contrast between the beautiful coast, mountains and buildings with the rudeness and frivolity of the people; for many «religion is turned into a mere medium of gaiety and worldly festivity»24. He enjoyed visiting the churches which «no words can describe*25, and the monuments of Rome, and seeing the Vatican Museums and St. Peter's illuminated 2 6.

Newman had been very much enthralled by the scenery of Sicily 2 7

and the memory of poets, philosophers and historians; 2 8 when the Froudes returned to England he went back to Sicily. The island was «so exquisitely beautiful» and yet «so miserable in its population» 2 9. His trip to Sicily turned out to be a close to death experience from an endemic fever and another important turning point in his life. Newman at first, thought it might be God's punishment for his resentment towards Hawkins or his willfulness for going to Sicily alone. At the same time he wrote that the devil tried to destroy him with the illness he contracted3 0. «1 could almost think that the devil saw I am to be a means of usefulness, & tried to destroy me. The fever was most dangerous; for a week my attendants gave me up, & people were dying of it on all sides; yet all through I had a confident feeling I should reco-vera51.

Fortunately he took on a loyal servant by the name of Gennaro, who had spent many years in the service of an English family. They reached Messina on April 21 , 1833 and traveled on mule to Taormina on the eastern coast of Sicily, where he was «enraptured by the "superb view" from the theater, "the most wonderful I can ever see"»3 2. He wished to climb Mount Etna, but decided not to do so because it was snow covered. He continued by mule to Catania and there set sail for Syracuse on a thirty-five foot sailing boat; on his way he re-read Thucy-dides.

Due to wind change the return trip to Catania was an exhausting mule trip and on April 30th he began to have fever. The following day he traveled into the middle of the island, but on May 2nd was unable to go on; he was very weak and ill. He stayed at Leonforte with fever for three days until May 6th. He fell sick again just seven miles from


Leonforte and had to lay in a cabin by the roadside. A doctor «who by chance was at hand» treated him and helped him to reach Castro Giovanni, ancient Enna, where he lodged with a kind and honest man 3 3 . On May 20 he was able to leave his bed and a few days later journeyed for three days to Palermo. When he reached the city he was improving, but «could not read nor write, not talk nor think» 3 4.

Newmans closeness to death and recovery were tied to a sense of a mission to accomplish. He must return to England and help to defend the Church against Liberalism. «1 thought God had some work for me» were the words he repeated when semi-delirious to Gennaro. One day after his recovery, he wept for many hours repeating these words which were unintelligible to his servant. Newman wrote to Wilberforce that he did not repent of his expedition to Sicily; it was not a failure: out of his two goals, —to see the antiquities and to see the country— he had accomplished one. He had seen part of the country, which was like the «Garden of Eden». More importantly however, he had become aware of his own «sinfulness», experienced God's mercy and re-discovered the sense of his vocation 3 5. Laying in the hut past Leonforte he said «"I have not sinned against light" and repeated this often. And then thought I would try to obey God's will as far as I could» 3 6.

All this accounts for his great impatience when obliged to wait three weeks before securing passage on a boat for Marseilles. Once the ship set sail, it lost wind at the Straits of Bonifacio and they had to wait for another week 3 7. He spent this time writing verses, especially The Pillar of the Cloud. In this well known poem, which begins with the words «Lead Kindly Light», Newman admitted his pride and asked God not to remember past faults 3 8. His proximity to death had been a true conversion which marked his life as an Anglican until 1845. He felt he had been elected by God and now his mission seemed clearer39. His return to Oxford coincided with Keble's Assize Sermon. Newman immediately thrust himself into the fight against the liberal tendencies at Oxford.

Years later, Newman summarized this illness as one of three crises brought about by Providence to give a new direction to his life: «Another thought has come to me, that I have had three great illnesses in my life, and how they have turned out! The first keen, terrible one, when I was a boy of fifteen, and it made me a Christian —with experiences before and after, awful and only known to God—. My second, not painful, but tedious and shattering was that which I had in 1827 when I was one of the Examining Masters, and it too broke me off


from an incipient liberalism, —and determined my religious course—. The third was in 1833, when I was in Sicily, before the commencement of the Oxford Movement»4 0.

4. The Deaths of Hurrell Froude and Mrs. Jemima (Newman) Foudrinier

Newman spent a month of the fall of 1835 with Hurrell who was worsening from his illness. On February 21, 1836, Newman wrote to Harriet that he wanted to live solely for God, but expressed the great loss he was about to experience with the death of Hurrell. Archdeacon Froude communicated to Newman the death of his son on the following Sunday; Hurrell was only thirty two years of age.

Newman wrote to John Bowden, his close friend since undergraduate studies at Trinity, describing Hurrell s death as a «very heavy visitation (of God) to all who were intimate with him» 4 1; it was an irreparable loss for the Church. Bowden consoled him speaking of Froude s help from heaven. As in the death of Mary, Newman tried to discover a hidden meaning, and in a letter to Jemima wrote that God was teaching him to depend solely on Him. Newmans attachment to Froude was similar to that which he had had for his sister Mary. This painful experience led him to a spiritual considetation of death and greater trust in God.

On April 29, the day following his sister Jemimas wedding to John Mozley, his mother became ill. The doctors did not think that it was serious and a letter Harriet sent Newman missed him. He arrived to see Mrs. Newman on the 13th and discovered that her illness was grave; she died on the 17th and was buried at St. Mary's. Newman was saddened by the thought of his mother's misundetstanding of his work and of not having spent much time with her in the months prior to her death. She had been upset by his notoriety and the criticisms, he raised, and had not given him much sympathy. Newman also regretted his shyness with her and felt guilt for his words and attitude toward her. Letters sent to his sisters expressed Newman's solitude and desolation. He had lost both parents, his sister Mary and Froude. Jemima was married and Harriet was about to marry.

He tried to accept this suffering as God's will and grew in the virtue of hope. He meditated on the shortness of life and the need to trust in God. He felt that he was living in the presence of the dead and recalled othet years of loneliness at Oriel between 1822-1826 4 2 .


Amid solitude and sadness he had sense of God's presence in his life. He wrote to Jemima: «God intends me to be lonely; He has so framed my mind that I am in a great measure beyond the sympathies of other people and thrown upon Himself... God I trust will support me in the following whither He leads»4 3.

All the while Newman was immersed in the controversy against Renn Hampden's appointment as Regius Professor of Divinity by Lord Melbourne. Together with Pusey and Keble, he led the campaign among country clergymen that resulted in the Convocation's vote —474 against 94— which deprived Hampden of voting in the election of university preachers, and removed the university's endorsement of his theological opinions. Newman was also busy writing tracts, preaching, lecturing and supervising the building of the Littlemore Church. In September he planned with Pusey the Library of the Fathers.

Newman's work and the content of his sermons indicate the deep awareness of his vocation as well as the hope which he had in God in the midst of significant personal losses. In The Greatness and Littleness of Human Life (1836) 4 4 he preached on the promises which the world cannot fulfill. With a veiled reference to Froude he spoke of someone with great talent, who cannot develop his talents and exercise his gifts because of the short duration and imperfection of this life. Promises are broken, but we look to the future state in which all these capabilities will be brought out 4 5 . Death is not the ultimate end of our existence; it is the scene and means of a trial. This world is only a token and a promise of another one, heaven. The following week he preached Doing Glory to God in Pursuits of the World46 on the sanctification of human work, which counteracts any wrong impression about worldly affairs.

In The Invisible World (\837y7 he pointed out that this mysterious world is already present. Man lives even now in eternity because his soul is in contact with God. Shortly before Froude's death he had delivered a sermon on the subject of the soul's immortality and had also spoken on the reward for celibacy48. The death of his friend and mother increased his dependence on God and awareness of the need for faith and hope. At the same time, he relied on the Church which he believed is the instrument for Christ sacramental presence and provides a real companionship. The following year he preached on the Church as the tangible presence of God in the world 4 9 and on the communion of the saints5 0. In later sermons the impression of the death of his family and friends remained very much alive and moved him to greater hope and love of God 5 1.

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5. Newman's closeness to death

Newmans poor health and many adversities led him to think of an impending death in March 1864. Earlier that year, Charles Kingsley, chaplain of the Queen and professor of Modern History at Cambridge insulted Newman in a book review and in a subsequent letter. A debate ensued and Newman defended himself in a pamphlet to which Kingsley replied with another article. The latter prompted Newman to write his afterwards famous autobiography with the history of his religious ideas; he had wanted to do this for some time before and the debate with Kingsley provided the right occasion. On March 13th, in the midst of the controversy and while preparing to write the Apologia, Newman had the presentiment of a very close death.

Alone at his home he wrote a profession of faith and a prayer for a good death, which is contained in his Meditations and Devotions under the heading «written in the prospect of death» 5 2. He acknowledged his faith in the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church founded by Christ and entrusted to St. Peter. The profession was followed by a long litany which begins with an invocation to the Blessed Trinity. It ends with a petition asking God to bring into the fold of the One Church all who are outside it, before their death.

Newman's health did not deteriorate at that point and by the end of March he began writing the Apologia pro Vita Sua (1864). First it was published as seven booklets which came out at intervals between April and June 5 3 . The project involved great work and much suffering. Some months later he composed The Dream ofGerontius, which will be discussed in the second chapter.

During the following three decades Newman suffered the death of many dear friends. In 1873, Newman lost three great friends, Edward Bellasis, Henry Wilberforce and James Hope-Scott. Sergeant Bellasis was a lawyer who lived in London and did not belong to the Oxford group of Tractarians. After being received into the Church in 1850, he was always at Newman's side encouraging him and helping him in many ways. Wilberforce had been tutored by Newman at Oriel and like Rogers had been one of his intimate friends at Oxford. Wilberforce also followed Newman into the Church. Once a Catholic, he worked as Secretary of the Catholic Defense Association and became proprietor and editor of a journal, the Weekly Register. At the funeral of Henry Wilberforce, someone led Newman to the pulpit; after a few attempts to speak, he managed to say that Wilberforce had been like Abraham, leaving home and friends to become «a fool for Christ» 5 4.


Hope-Scott was a also a lawyer and a friend of Bellasis and Edward Badeley; they had met one another about 1840. Hope-Scott gave Newman much advice and support in the project of setting up the Catholic University in Ireland. During the Achilli trial Newman described him as «emphatically a friend in need» 5 5. On the return from Henry Wilberforce's funeral Newman found out by telegram of Hope-Scott's death and traveled to preach at his Requiem.

Edward Caswall was an Oxford graduate and parish priest, who also had come into the Catholic Church through Newman's influence. He wrote some volumes of poems and sermons and various devotional treatises. Caswall was a zealous and kind priest and a wise counselor to Newman 5 6 . When he died in 1878, Newman wrote that he was «one of the four who one after another have generously thrown themselves and all that they had into my hands, and whose loyalty and love God only can repay»57.

Ambrose St. John, educated at Christ Church, Oxford, was an Oriental scholar. He was ordained an Anglican priest and worked as curate for Henry Wilberforce, his natural link to Newman. He was received into the Roman Catholic Church shortly before Newman, and for thirty two years devoted himself entirely to Newman's interests. His talents and tastes varied much from Newman's; he knew German and Spanish well, and had mastery of French and Italian whereas Newman only had a working knowledge of the latter; he did not have any musical talent or interest in school teaching, nor did he like pa-tristics or philosophy, but he put aside his preferences to serve Newman and the Oratory5 8. He loved Newman so much that his early death in 1875 was a great affliction for Newman, who asked to be buried in the same grave.

In January 1880 Newman fell and broke a rib; two months later he fell again and broke two ribs. The following years the falls increased in frequency. He gradually lost hearing capacity and his ability to see failed to the point that he could not read under candle light. He developed considerable difficulty in writing due to pain in his fingers, and in the end was unable to sign his name. At the age of eighty three he began to forget ideas during sermons5 9. This decline in his normal activities of reading, writing, and at last saying Mass and preaching made him more and more aware of his future death; he felt truly in God's hands.

The death of many of his juniors and of his friends often brought the consideration of his own death to mind. His abundant correspondence reveals a serene attitude in the midst of this prolonged physical


suffering and approaching death. The root of his peacefulness was his trust in God's mercy and a constant thanksgiving for all his blessings. He felt that time was not his own and perceived the closeness of death 6 0 . For example, in a letter which he wrote to Pope Leo XIII in November of 1889, he expressed his desire for heaven and the presentiment that this was his last letter to the Pope6 1.

Regarding the time of his death, Newman wrote to a friend, George T. Edwards: «1 am quite in the dark when it is that God will take me, for my worst trial of failing strength at present is nothing more serious than difficulty of writing and dimness of sight, but I have a clear consciousness of course that I cannot last long, nor indeed is any time long or short to one, who as lived so many yeais as I have» 6 2. God who is the Creator decides on each person's death, but this God is not the God of Reason; He is the personal and loving God who Newman described as «a true friend»63. In Newman's letters God was usually named as: Our Lord, Our Maker or Our Creator. The more familiar and intimate connotation of the word «friend» conveyed his personal trust in the Creator. Christ is a true friend in whom he trusts completely. He also spoke of God's wisdom and gentleness, in particular referring to all the blessings which he had received despite illness and trials 6 4.

Although he was advanced in years, he visited his family and friends when they were ill and especially when they were close to death. Lord Coleridge, Bishop Ullathorne, Frederick Bowles and many other friends remarked on his kindness, cheerfulness and saintliness. He also visited some who were close to death with whom he had estranged relations such as William Faber, head of the London Oratory. In 1863, he traveled to London to see Faber who was ill. The latter described Newman's affectionate gestures during that visit and the tears Newman shed upon leaving the room. Faber died in September and Newman assisted the funeral. Another meaningful visit was the one to Frederick Bowles, a convert since 1845 and member of the Birmingham Oratory, who later abandoned the Oratory. Bowles compared Newman's visit to a «plenary indulgences.

He gave great importance to the spiritual care of those close to death and the administration of the last sacraments to them. When Fr. Ambrose St. John developed an unexpected illness and died, Newman complained of the doctor's hindrance to the administration of the last sacraments to him. He made it a point that the members of the Oratory were always to be accompanied at the time of gtave illness. In 1882, at the age of 81, he ttaveled alone to visit his brother Charles


whom he had not seen for over forty years. Charles had become an atheist and lived with a woman named Amy Griffiths who ran a boarding house. When Charles fell gravely ill, the Rector of Tenby went to see him, but he did not show fear of death nor desire to receive spiritual help; he died on March 23, 1884.

Until the end of his life, especially after the publication of the Apologia, Newman attempted to renew contact with friends and to offer them spiritual assistance65. A touching account of this is found in the exchange of letters with Mark Pattison who had been a Tractarian and friend of Newman at Oxford. He was then Rector of Lincoln College, Oxford, but had become a skeptic 6 6. Pattison fell ill on Christmas 1883. He was very moved by a kind letter from Newman and answered addressing him as «my dear master». Pattison acknowledged the distance in their beliefs, but confessed his veneration for Newman and subscribed a letter to him as «your affectionate son and pupil». Pattison however was initially reticent at the prospect of Newman's visit. The Cardinal delicately insisted and, just as soon as he recovered from a month long cold, he traveled in the middle of winter to visit Pattison. Newman did not reveal what they spoke during that meeting, but he was happy and hopeful about Pattison's spiritual condition. The main reason for his trip was to gain him for God and he managed to introduce him to an Oxford priest. Pattison died a few months afterwards.

Besides assisting to the funerals of friends and sometimes delivering the sermons, he always celebrated Mass for their souls. For the deceased members of the Oratory he would celebrate the Gregorian Masses along with the other priests at the Birmingham Oratory. In countless condolence letters, he wrote to the recipients that he had offered or would offer the intention of the Mass for their beloved departed. In 1886, he wrote to Fr. William Hobart Kerr: «Your father, mother, Francis and your sister are all gone to their rest. I pray for them at the Memento, especially for your mother who urged me not to forget»67. Newman wrote to numerous friends and acquaintances immediately as soon as he would hear of the loss of one of their relatives. These letters were usually short; they conveyed an affectionate greeting and often a fond memory of the deceased. Newman invariably alluded to God's mercy and infinite knowledge, and frequently expressed his own grief and compassion.

In 1885, William J . Copeland, his friend and ex-curate at Little-more died; Newman wrote to Miss Giberne telling her that his oldest living friends besides her were Frederick Rogers and Thomas Mozley,


his brother-in lav/58. Newman described Copeland as «one of the faithfullest friends». This description gives us a glance at the affection he had for his friends and how he missed their sensible company 6 9. However, when Maria Giberne died that same year, Newman's reaction expressed serenity and abandonment in God. He succinctly wrote that she had prepared for death with thirty years of penance 7 0. As in many other references to death, he had in mind that life should be a preparation for the particular judgment and the encounter with the Trinity.

During these years, persons who had known Newman at Oxford began publishing their reminiscences of him and the Oxford Movement. He was annoyed at the inaccuracies of Thomas Mozley's Reminiscences and Lord Malmesbury's Memoirs71. He asked Anne Mozley to edit and publish the correspondence of his Anglican years and to consult Dean Church 7 2 and Rogers for help. Newman was concerned with the truth concerning his opinions and actions. He felt the need for this publication because his life was controversial; he would be obliged either to speak or to be silent. He wanted his writings to be studied by someone who was a friend, an Anglican and a contemporary 7 3. He wrote many letters to Miss Mozley providing advice, but at the same time wished her to do the work on her own without his indications. Although she finished it before his death, he trusted fully in her work and did not read it 7 4 .

In 1886, Archbishop George Errington, whom Newman had known for fifty years, died 7 5. Newman felt naturally lonely, but the death of friends and acquaintances no longer saddened him. During this period, he often expressed in his letters the hope of a future meeting with his friends in heaven as well as with those who had been at odds with him, such as Principal Shairp 7 6 (1885) and John Cowley Fisher (1887). He prayed for his friends, received visits and continued to publish. He worked on the revision of his writings, namely On the Inspiration of Scripture and Athanasius. He was also engaged in posing for portraits and photographs. His vitality can be perceived in a small event that took place on Newman's visit to a London photography studio 7 7. The photographer did not like Newman's expression until his face became animated as Fr. Neville began talking about the zoo they had visited. At an old age he still maintained a lively interest in animals and had enjoyed the visit to the zoo.

Up to the end his letters show that he kept up his good humor. His lively and personal correspondence with Maria Giberne serves as an example. In 1882 he wrote to her: «If you have no teeth you cannot


eat hard substances without danger...unchewed meat is as dangerous to a stomach as brick and stone, or a bunch of keys. You are not an ostrich. I am very serious...». Newman who had played the violin as a youth also kept his appreciation for music. As on many other occasions he attended the Birmingham Music Festival in 1889. He was present for the performances on three days and the last day heard a concert with the music of Beethoven, his favorite composer7 8. Although he remained intellectually active, he became physically weaker and needed the constant help of Fr. William Neville, his faithful companion.

Newmans close friend and bishop for forty years, Bishop William B. Ullathorne 7 9 died in 1889. On his retirement two years earlier he had visited Newman who unexpectedly knelt before Ullathorne and asked for his blessing. After expressing his embarrassment, Ullathorne imparted a blessing on Newman. In November of the same year another very close and old friend, Frederick Rogers (Lord Blanchford) died. Rogers had been Newman's favorite pupil at Oriel. He had gained a double first degree and had been elected Tutor of the same College in 1833 while Newman was at Palermo. Newman's love for him was like that which he had had for Hurrell Froude and Ambrose St. John. Rogers had advised and defended Newman for a long time, and in the last years had shown him numerous signs of affection including visits, letters and gifts.

Meriol Trevor's biography of Newman provides a detailed account of Newman's last year and last days. Trevor describes Newman's approach to death as an encounter with Christ. Newman had told William Neville that his work was done at the Oratory. At the start of the decade the cardinal had trained a new generation of priests and now these wete carrying out, on their own initiative, works such as St. Philip's Grammar School, built in 1887. He could do no more and he told Neville «it is not kind to me to wish to keep me longer from God» 8 0. His short letters, dictated to Neville, show how his thoughts were totally immersed in God, the communion of the saints and everlasting life8 1. One of these letter, directed to a Protestant minister, spoke of meeting in heaven to praise God for his mercies8 2.

Newman was cheerful, despite his physical weakness. He had celebrated his last Mass on Christmas 1889, because he was afraid to spill the Chalice, but he continued to say Mass every day —a «dry» Mass— without consecrating. His face and gestures would brighten up even more during these moments 8 3. In 1890, he attended the yearly School play which was Andria, a Latin comedy; as a boy he had


acted in the same play at Ealing School. He awarded the prizes and spent time with the visitors. Newmans last act was to receive his niece Grace, Harriet's daughter whom he had not seen since 1843, the year Harriet severed ties with Newman. Grace was middle-aged and married. He went down the stairs from his room and spent some time wa king with her. Trevor remarks that on the eve of his death Newman happily ended another separation84.

Newman fell sick early the next morning and when the doctors saw him they diagnosed pneumonia. On Sunday during a short revival, he asked Neville to recite a part of the Breviary with him. One of his doctors and Bishop Ilsley who were away returned immediately. The following day he received extreme unction; he was unconscious. He had received Holy Communion the day before. He died on the evening of Monday, August 11 th, 1890 at a quarter to nine surrounded by the members of the Birmingham Oratory. He was buried on August 19th and his friend Bishop Clifford delivered the funeral homily. According to Newman's desire, his body was placed in the tomb of Ambrose St. John at Rednal. The tombstone inscription, which had been chosen by Newman in 1876, reads: Ex Umbris et Imaginibus in Veritatem.

II. D E A T H I N T H E W O R K S O F CARDINAL NEWMAN

During Newman's lifetime his works underwent many editions, and the translation of some of them into Spanish and French began. He wrote on the subject of death more than may appear at first sight, but with the exception of sermons, his thoughts are often contained within texts devoted specifically to other subjects. He alluded to death in reference to a wide range of aspects of Christian life because he attributed great value to the consideration of death and judgment. The awareness of one's future death constituted for him a major stimulus for a true Christian life.

His method and style differ significantly from the scholastic approach, as well as that of some of the principal twentieth century theologians. He did not formulate «questions» on the subject of death, for example, whether death is an act or a passion, or the manner in which suffrages help the souls of purgatory. His point of view on some of these issues is clear from many concise affirmations, but his interest lays on: (1) death as the encounter with Christ, Our Judge; (2) the spiritual and psychological dispositions of men at the time of death;


(3) the bearing of death on present and eternal life —the eschatologi-cal dimension of morality—; and (4) the visible and invisible Church at the moment of death.

His writings offer some new insights towards the solution of problems such as the nature of purgatory and the renewal of morality in the light of life after death. In this chapter, we examine the works in which Newman wrote most on eschatology and death, namely his Anglican and Catholic sermons. We will also refer to texts from his Letters and Diaries, and discuss his major poem The Dream ofGerontius.

1. Dying Men and Women

The Vicar of St. Mary's concurred with the common observation, that, for the most part, each man dies according to the way he has lived. When death is expected, religious persons die peacefully, despite illness and sadness. They prepare through prayer, acts of contrition and the grace of the sacraments. They arrange material affairs and give advice to their family and friends. However, men cannot count on an expected death; it often comes with a sudden illness or accident, which precludes all immediate preparation, or incapacitates the subject for a calm and pious end. Therefore, sincere Christians should live with an attitude of vigilance and constant preparation, following St. Paul's advice, as if every day was their last8 5. The reaction of nominal Christians varies greatly; some convert; some are bitter towards God; others deny that they are going to die, and others who would like to change, are too set in their habits 8 6.

Passages of Newman's sermons are in continuity with the long tradition of works on the artes moriendi which are found among Greek philosophers, the Middle Age Benedictine monks and later renaissance theologians. Among the latter, were Catholics such as Cardinal Bellarmine (1542-1621) and Erasmus of Rotterdam (1466-1536), and Protestants such as John Calvin (1509-1564) and Jeremy Taylor (1613-1667). Tenenti points out how this literature evolved and became, during the fifteenth century, an artes moriendi, which focused on a good life as the best preparation for a good death 8 7. These books did not insist on the closeness of death or the macabre aspects of the agony; they were artes vivendi, and dealt more with living a good life, under the consideration of one's future death 8 8. They underlined the relationship between a holy life and a good death, which in reality was already present in St. Paul's epistles8 9.


The Calvinist Duplessis-Mornay summarized this idea on the front-page of his work, L'Excellent Discours de la Vie et de la Mort (1575): «Pour mourir bienheureux, a vivre il faut apprendre./Pour vivre bienhereuex, a mourir faute apprendre»9 0. Catholics, Anglicans and Protestants of the sixteenth century shared the idea that holiness is necessary in order to ensure a good death and a happy afterlife. On the question of purification after death they were, however, completely divided 9 1.

Unlike the monks of the eleventh century, St. Robert Bellarmine was not over concerned with a mors improvisa, brought about by unexpected causes or violence, because the destiny of men depends more on their entire life, than on the last moment. Inspired by St. Ignatius, Bellarmine taught that men should live soberly as God's administrators. Two centuries later, Newman, who was familiar with Bellarmine's treatise ort purgatory, taught the same doctrine in his sermons and in The Dream of Gerontius92. Christians must live with their mind and heart set on heaven, but without despising God's material blessings or neglecting their ordinary duties. His emphasis was also on a «good life», which is the necessary condition for a Christian death and heaven.

As we have shown, there are many references to the death of his friends in Letters and Diaries. Some of these deaths embodied the Christian ideal of death, although not in the stylized fashion of Victorian death stories93. For him, the Christian's life should be marked by the desire to live for Christ alone, and to be fully united to Him in heaven. In one letter, he acknowledged the edifying account of «fervor and fidelity» of a religious sister who died at 90 years of age 9 4 . On another occasion, Newman wrote to console a religious community at the unexpected death of a young religious sister; he was convinced that she already enjoyed God's reward, and that in heaven she interceded on behalf of her convent sisters95.

Newman often referred to these situations, insisting that repentance is the work of a life time; it is presumptuous to leave it for the end. Otherwise, at the «very moment of death we shall recollect everything; all things will come before us. We shall wish to speak; it will be too late. We shall have passed from this life; the accepted time will have passed by» 9 6. His reflections were confirmed by everyday life observations. In the Letters and Diaries he mentioned the unexpected deaths of friends and acquaintances; for example, in 1859 and 1860, he wrote on the sudden deaths of Richard Simpson from heart disease; of William Henry Scott at age forty, and of the gardener at Edgbaston on Christmas Eve.


Newman compared the need of preparation for judgment to the activity persons undertake before a long trip. They take provisions and inquire on the places they will travel to; they find out the persons they will meet, and ask for letters of recommendations. The end of earthly life will put things into perspective, revealing the true value of earthly goods and pleasures97. These will count much less than the value assigned to them before. Persons in this condition cherish the good works done and ask for prayers; they do not wish to go before God empty handed.

Newman urged men to live in the state of grace, in friendship with God, so as to die in grace. We find, in his diaries, accounts of exemplary Christian life; Fr. Joseph Gordon 9 8 and the Duke of Norfolk99 were two close friends of whom he wrote. He had the consolation of having administered the last sacraments to Gordon, his faithful friend. Newman insisted that the reason for Christ's Incarnation and the mystery of redemption was that men might live and die in grace 1 0 0.

Based on his experience as Vicar, and later as a priest of the Oratory, he was able to preach in his sermons on the light, which the perspective of death and immortality shed on earthly life and all its vanities. A short passage, from one of the Parochial and Plain Sermons, sums up the thoughts of a person beholding death. It was a memoria mortis, but rather than focusing on the corruption of the body and the temptations of the devil it set the attention on Christ and his coming:

«We know how men feel and act when they come to die; they discharge their worldly affairs from their minds, and try to realize the unseen state. Then this world is nothing to them. It may praise, it may blame, but they feel it not. They are leaving their goods, their deeds, their sayings, their writings, their names, behind them; and they care not for it, for they wait for Christ. To one thing alone they are alive, His coming; they watch against it, if so be they may be found without shame»101.

At that moment, only God's glory and the good works done out of God's love will have real value. The Vicar of St. Mary's warned against the pursuit of human glory; no one will remember us after death, not even our neighbors. He remarked that the desire for admiration from persons who do not know us is an irrational sin. Christians should act with the sole intention of pleasing God and obtaining a smile or an encouraging word from Christ. Their gaze should be set on Him alone; their entire life oriented to doing His will 1 0 2 . Christians should not

DEATH, IMMORTALITY AND RESURRECTION IN JOHN HENRY NEWMAN 10 5

act like the pagans who do not believe in eternal life and therefore seek glory, fame and honor. The consideration of personal death and judgment served as a sobering thought 1 0 3.

2. Death of Saints and Martyrs

A number of sermons were dedicated to comment on the death of infants, some in relation to the need for infant baptism, and others on the death of the holy infants 1 0 4. In other sermons he addressed the subject of martyrdom, premature death, sudden death and suicide. His insight on the early death of Josiah, King of Judah, has special interest, because it presents the possibility of death as a blessing from greater suffering on earth, and furthermore, affirms God's authorship over life and death.

Josiah had begun a religious reform at the age of twenty, without the counsel of his priests, who were disbelievers and ignorant. Shortly after, the Law of Moses was found in the temple of Solomon, and Josiah assembled all the people; and read it publicly. He instructed them to do penance; increased the pace of his reforms; and celebrated the Passover in a manner which had not been done since the time of the judges. God rewarded Josiah's obedience with an early death, though a violent one. He was killed by archers in a battle against the King of Egypt. Through this death God spared Josiah from the deportation to Babylon, which was the punishment for Judah's idolatry.

Men should struggle to be found acceptable at the moment of death, which is the moment of judgment and retribution when they must account for their talents. He singled out Josiah's youth and his obedience to natural conscience at early age, even before knowing the Law of Moses 1 0 5. Upon finding and reading it, «Josiah's greater knowledge was followed by stricter obedience». He turned to God with all his heart and with all his soul, unlike any king before him 1 0 6 . Newman praised Josiah's reverence for the law and the worship of God, and set him as an example of one who fills his ordinary life with those practices that most people postpone to their moment of agony.

Although Newman liked to pray, in the Litany, for God to deliver us from sudden death 1 0 7 , he believed that an untimely death, such as Josiah's, can be a reward for obedience to God. All men, good and bad must die, Josiah like Ahab, because death is a punishment for original sin, but the time of death, and its circumstances vary significantly, bestowing a reward, as in the case of Josiah, or further punishment.


Newman also preached on a type of death which is altogether different from the others, namely martyrdom, which is unique, as far as its cause and its torments. Martyrs are those who die for Christ and His Church; they are put to death for preaching the truth 1 0 8 . On the feast of St. Stephen, he singled out some characteristics of martyrs. They suffer voluntarily for Christ's sake, and their torture, like His, is a public and cruel one 1 0 9 . They are mocked by their enemies, and deprived of the sympathy and service of their brothers. The martyrs rely on God's presence; the Lord allays all their fears (Ps 23) . He is their strength and comfort. They participate in His suffering and thus become our benefactors110.

Regarding St. Stephen's martyrdom and that of the Holy Innocents, he spoke of «a kind of sacrament, a baptism of blood». Furthermore, he taught that «a Martyrdom is a season of God's especial power in the eye of faith, as great as if a miracle were visibly wrought» m . In the novel Callista, A Tale of the Third Century (1855) there are some passages in which Newman developed his thoughts on martyrdom. It is an act of perfect love that involves a complete submission to God's will. Martyrdom is a special grace of God by which a Christian identifies himself with Christ's death; he dies with Christ and conquers with Him.

Callista, the young third century convert, describes this grace as a vocation. She replies to her brother, who pleads that she save her life on his behalf: «1 have no brother, except One who is calling me» 1 1 2 . The initiative does not belong to her; it is God's will. Callista is offered an escape from the death penalty, renouncing her faith in Christ, but she rejects it. She answers those who wish her to live at all cost: «He died for each one of us, as if there were no one else to die for. He died on the shameful cross. Amor meus crucifixus est»ni. She also declines to commit suicide, which is offered to her, in order to avoid the cruel Roman tortures; she wishes to die for her Love, and to die as He died for her 1 1 4.

The participation in Christ's suffering and death is a mystery, which God wills and which the Christian must discover. In Murder in the Cathedral, T. S. Elliot develops this notion, mentioning some words of the English martyr St. Thomas Becket. In his last homily, on December 25, 1170, the Archbishop of Canterbury said that God is the one who makes martyrs; martyrdom is His design out of love for men. The true martyr is an instrument of God and the time of his martyrdom is in God's hands 1 1 5 . Becket recalled the memory of Elp-hege (953-1012), also Archbishop of Canterbury and martyr; and be-seeched the prayers of his faithful116.


3. Anglican Sermons

As an Anglican priest, during the years 1824 and 1843, Newman delivered many sermons, which he published under the title Parochial and Plain Sermons; the first volume was printed in 1834. The sermons were preached at St. Clement's Parish, St. Mary's Church, which was the university parish, and the chapel at Littlemore. These sermons had a significant influence on the spiritual life of many of his contemporaries; several thousand copies of the first volume were sold" 7 . Newman's primary concern was to help his parishioners to lead a holy Christian life, based on prayer, the sacraments, and exemplary behavior in their ordinary work.

From his first conversion in 1816 until 1826, he had maintained the Calvinist Theology of imputed righteousness. Gradually, however, the study of S. Scripture and the Church Fathers led him away from «religious emotions to the belief in baptismal regeneration118. In 1839, the Oriel don considered his position as an Anglican at its height 1 1 9. In April he wrote The State of Religious Parties, which criticized the two positions that tyrannized the Anglican Church: Liberalism, and Evangelical religion or Puritanism. For him, the latter was worse, and more dangerous, because it lacked an intellectual basis, a principle of unity and theology1 2 0.

He proposed a Via Media, which was a sort of remodeled and adapted Antiquity 1 2 1 . However, only a few months later, in August, while reading an article by Nicholas Wiseman (1802-1865) on the Donatist Controversy, his theory was torn to pieces 1 2 2. He realized that the rule of Catholicity, expressed by St. Augustine, as securus judicat orbis terra-rum, was a greater criteria than Antiquity alone. The deliberate judgment of the Church constitutes the last and final sentence against those that protest and secede 1 2 3.

Nonetheless, the Vicar of St. Mary still had over five years of agony before entering the Catholic Church. He considered for some time the union between the Anglican and the Roman Church, and attacked some of Rome's political and social lines of action. In addition, he argued that the Anglican Church also had the note of catholicity. Finally however, he decided to resign from St. Mary's because he could no longer defend the Anglican faith. In February of 1841, he published Tract 90, demonstrating that the Anglican Church doctrine expressed in the Thirty-Nine Articles were compatible with Roman Catholic doctrine. The publication of this tract, together with the storm that ensued was an important step towards Rome. The criti-


cism which he received made him feel that he was no longer at home in the Anglican Church.

The following summer he translated St. Athanasius, and moved definitively to Littlemore to pray and study in quiet. There he underwent «three blows»: the bishops' condemnation of Tract 90, a lesson from his study of Arian history, and the establishment of the Jerusalem Bishopric. In September of 1843, Newman preached his last Anglican sermon, The Parting of Friends124, and resigned from St. Mary's. He retired into lay communion as an Anglican, and in October 9, 1845, was received into the Roman Catholic Church by Fr. Domenic Barberi 1 2 5.

3.1. Characteristics of the sermons

Newman began each Anglican sermon with a Scripture passage taken from the liturgy of the season, and continued with an explanation of the text. Unlike many of the theology handbooks, written over the last seven centuries, Newman did not approach S. Scripture as a secondary element of an argumentative character. On the contrary, the Bible was for him, together with Church Tradition, the starting point of Christian knowledge. His exegesis has a sapiential character and contains many everyday examples of moral applications.

The influence of the Fathers of the Church can be ascertained in the Anglican sermons. Although he did not quote them, his sermons reveal many ideas that he learnt from the Fathers, in particular the eastern ones. He studied St. Athanasius, the Cappadocians, St. Gregory the Great, Cyril of Alexandria, St. John Chrysostom, Theodo-ret, Clement of Alexandria and Origen. His notion of the intermediate state, purification, deification, and his insistence on Christ's Parousia and the Final Judgment are some examples of his dependence on them 1 2 6 .

The Vicar of St. Mary's placed great emphasis in his sermons on human correspondence to divine grace, and the work of the Holy Spirit in the soul. He preached on the need for a lively faith which is proved by works. He drew out the eschatological implications of morality, maintaining a fine balance between two possibilities: the promise of heaven and the fear of condemnation. He dealt with these subjects in a manner appropriate for a sermon. With his literary talent and good knowledge of human nature, he evoked numerous details of everyday life and psychology, instead of dwelling on abstract considerations.


Not surprisingly, a large number of the sermons are on the theological and moral virtues, lessons taken from the consideration of the lives of the patriarchs, the Apostles, and Christ Himself. Newman admitted to the moral character of his sermons, but these also addressed all the mysteries of the Faith.

The eschatological themes were frequent in the sermons, but they are not developed, save on few occasions such as the sermons on the intermediate state, the coming of Christ, and the communion of the saints. Death, the final judgment, and hell, were key reference points that Christians must have in order to reach heaven. A study of the sermons provides a general vision of Newman's teaching. His perspective is primarily theological, but contains an underlying philosophical and historical vision. In addition, within this doctrinal context, he often presented an existential approach to death. As a gifted observer, he described the feeling and perception of persons close to death, their human and spiritual concerns.

3.2. Christian Morality

Although Newman reminded his parishioners of the danger of condemnation, he emphasized the promised reward as the most powerful motive for Christian life. Newman depicted life on earth as a continuous struggle with failures and victories. The aim of Christian life, summarized in the following text, is the beatific vision. «After the fever of life... struggling and failing, struggling and succeeding; after all the changes and chances of this troubled unhealthy state, at length comes death, at length the White Throne of God, at length the Beatific Vision. After restlessness comes rest, peace, joy; —our eternal portion, if we be worthy—; the sight of the Blessed Three, the Holy One...» 1 2 7. His moral doctrine was resolutely «heaven-oriented».

«Watching» was a byword which Newman frequently employed to characterize the proper attitude of a Christian who awaits Christ's advent. This term expresses the Evangelical vigilance which arises from hope in Christ. Those who love God, and who have faith in Him, are always «watching». Newman recalled this disposition, drawn from Christ's teaching in the parable of the ten virgins, and His lesson to St. Peter in Getsemani 1 2 8. Newman constantly brought to the minds of his parishioners the reward and the punishment promised by God.

For him, Christian life was synonymous with righteousness, which means living in conformity to God's law. He compared the origins and characteristics of obedience to the law in the Old and New Testa-


merits 1 2 9. The latter taught a new inward law, that of holiness, which superseded the Law of Moses. The Holy Spirit makes this new life possible, first, through baptism, and afterwards, through countless interior graces. In addition to the orthodox doctrine on original sin and the need for baptismal regeneration, he taught that the life of men is a constant warfare with the world, the flesh and Satan. All Christians are called to perfection in their state of life and ordinary work. Thus, Newman warned against two errors, on the one side, the Pelagian heresy, and on the other, a low standard of duty.

The Anglican sermons reveal Newmans strong belief in God's grace, working through the sacraments and ordinances of the Church. He frequently touched on the subject of grace, Baptism, Holy Communion 1 3 0 , Confirmation, Confession and Holy Orders. He taught that God's grace works in the soul of the believer, effecting a real change. Upon hearing some criticism on the severity of his sermons, he commented that his words, as a preacher, could never obtain more than those of John the Baptist, yet his role as a priest gave him the divine influence of the sacraments1 3 1.

The example for all men is Christ's life and teaching, of which the beatitudes are the summary 1 3 2 . At the root of this struggle should be love for heaven, which, rather than miracles, is the way to heaven 1 3 3. Obedience to God is another term equivalent to holiness and righteousness, which is frequently found in Newman's sermons. Obedience sums up a life of (1) self denial; (2) prayer; and (3) frequent reception of the sacraments and ordinances of the Church. He considered that self-denial or mortification was, so to speak, a test of religious earnestness. It consists in giving up innocent pleasures, yielding to others, and doing some unpleasant mortifications134.

Fasting was one of the acts of self-denial that he advised, especially during the season of Lent 1 3 5 . Together with other deeds, prayer, and charitable dealing with others, it must be done with the spirit of love and repentance for sins, bearing in mind the punishment for sins after death. Men should implore God's forgiveness for their past sins, by fasting, and other acts of self-denial. With this in mind, he wrote: «Thus let us enter the Forty Days of Lent now approaching. For Forty Days we seek after love by means of fasting. May we find it more and more, the older we grow, till death comes and gives us the sight of Him who is at once its Object and its Author» 1 3 6.

In all, Newman's sermons constituted a renewal of Christian morality, from a morality based on obligations and commandments to one based on virtues and beatitudes. He stressed the idea of obedience to


God, through a life of virtues and good works, made possible by correspondence to Gods grace. He taught that this grace is obtained through the sacraments, prayer and fasting.

3.3. The Intermediate State

As an Anglican, Newman contributed to the revival of Anglican belief in the intermediate state, which according to Geoffrey Rowell in Hell and the Victorians (1974), was one of the most important changes in Victorian eschatology, and represented a move away from the predominant Calvinistic eschatology of the start of the twentieth century 1 3 7. Newman addressed this issue in his famous Tract 90 (1841) and in various sermons, in particular one titled The Intermediate State (1835). He considered the intermediate state a necessary and desired maturation for the vision of God, rather than a punishment. It is a manifestation of God's mercy 1 3 8.

The intermediate state is characterized by the certainty of salvation, but the soul does not enjoy the vision of God because it needs to undergo further preparation 1 3 9. It is a period of growth in holiness, but no longer a time of probation. The concept of purification is implied, but it is not implicit in his sermons. It is primarily a period of waiting between death and the day of judgment when the soul of the just will be vindicated and rewarded by Christ the King.

This period is a time of rest or sleep, which is reminiscent of the Old Testament sheol and also connects with the patristic and early medieval symbolism of souls beneath the altar, taken from the Book of Revelation (Rev 6,11). The souls are alive, but they rest. They are in an «incomplete state» because their souls and remains are separated, and they wait for the resurrection. They are also incomplete as regards their powers, the place of rest and their happiness. «Under the altar» refers to not being in the full presence of God; it is paradise 1 4 0 rather than heaven. They are happy, but they await perfect happiness which will be reached with Christ's second coming, the true object of our hope 1 4 1 .

In their disembodied condition they form part of the invisible world and the invisible Church. In the sermon The Intermediate State, Newman taught that they have some sort of communication with the world. «They animate us by their example; they cheer us by their company; they are on our right hand and our left, Martyrs, Confessors, and the like, high and low, who used the same Creeds, and celebrated the same Mysteries, and preached the same Gospel as we do» 1 4 2 .


On our part, we should have an «ever-enduring fellowship)) with friends and relatives who are dead.

In The Communion of the Saints (1837), one of the sermons in which Newman expounded on the doctrine of the Church as Christ's mystical body, he explained the intercessory role of the faithfully departed 1 4 3 . This was a source of difficulty for him because he wished to avoid the invocation of separate members of the invisible Church and because of the need to reconcile the idea of rest and activity. He believed that they pray for the Church as a whole, but thought that they are not conscious of the power they have before God. Although they live before God, they rest from their labors. For Newman the greater problem was the risk of idolatry and undue honor paid to the saints 1 4 4.

The Oxford don did not believe in the existence of suffering in the intermediate state and much less of punishment through fire. He considered this belief a Roman corruption of Tradition. He understood as Roman Catholic teaching that purgatory is a prison where the souls of Christians are «kept in fire or other torments, till, their sins being burned away, they are at length fitted for that glorious kingdom into which nothing defiled can enter» 1 4 5. However, Newman added that although the existence of purgatory in not affirmed in the Bible, its existence would not be contradictory to its teaching. In addition, «it would be infinitely less evil to suffer for a time in Purgatory, than to be cast into hell for ever...»146.

The question which is omitted, but latent in his exposition of the intermediate state is the subject of an immediate judgment after death. On the one hand, judgment is relegated to the day of judgment; as we have seen, physical death initiates a waiting period. On the other however, an immediate judgment or sorting out of the dead, like that in sheol, is implied; otherwise the happiness of the saints and the paradise-like condition of the intermediate state is unexplainable.

We do not know why Newman eluded the subject. It is unlikely that the reason is because this Catholic doctrine is not explicit in Scripture; neither is purgatory and yet he admitted that it was not contradictory to Scripture. Perhaps he did not think it was a necessary doctrine. Instead, Newman gave great importance to the vindication of God's justice and honor in the Parousia and last judgment as well as to the Eastern Father s idea of the deification of the faithful. His sermons safeguarded this biblical truth; the last judgment will complete the salvific economy and will be a public manifestation of Christ's royalty and divinity. Nonetheless, the affirmation of an immediate per-

DEATH, IMMORTALITY AND RESURRECTION IN JOHN HENRY NEWMAN 1 1 3

sonal judgment after death does not attenuate the importance of the final judgment. In sum, although the reason for Newman's omission is unclear, this appears to be a weak point in his eschatology.

4. Catholic Sermons

Newman preached his first sermon as a Catholic in Rome, on December 4, 1846 1 4 7 . During this second period of his life, he adopted the custom of delivering sermons without reading a previously prepared text. Fortunately, there are some extant sermons corresponding to this period, which he published under the title: Sermons Preached on Various Occasions. In addition, there are two volumes of texts published posthumously, one titled Sermon Notes, and the other: Catholic Sermons. The former was edited by the Fathers of the Birmingham Oratory and published in 1913, and the latter by Charles Dessain in 1965.

Death, immortality and resurrection were topics frequently addressed in his Catholic sermons and correspondence. From 1845 on, these writings indicate Newman's acceptance of certain truths of the Catholic faith, namely, particular judgment, purgatory, the personal intercession of the saints, and a new understanding of the Holy Eucharist.

4 .1 . The Holy Eucharist and Eternal Life

The relationship between the sacraments and eschatology was already present in his Anglican period, but as a Catholic he emphasized the doctrine on the Holy Eucharist in its relation to the Parousia. The Eucharist is not only the spiritual nourishment of the soul, it is the promise and the cause of the bodily resurrection.

During Easter seasons, Newman preached many sermons on the Holy Eucharist in the Gospel Revelation and Church Tradition. As an Anglican he had believed in the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist, but not in the transubstantiation. Once he became a Roman Catholic, he accepted and taught both of these elements of Eucharistic doctrine. The term «transubstantiation» appears for the first time in his Sermon Notes. Other truths, like the sacrificial character 1 4 8 were not new to him, and neither was his Eucharistic devotion 1 4 9. The Mass is the perfect sacrifice offered by the Son of God in atonement for men's sins 1 5 0.These truths had been taught for centuries; Newman's merit lies in his personal capacity to combine theology and eu-


charistic piety, and in his insistence on the relationship between the Holy Eucharist, and the resurrection of the body.

He repeated Christ's teaching, often commented by the Fathers: the Holy Eucharist is the food of immortality and its seed. The Eucharist has an important eschatological dimension. Christ in the Eucharist is a foretaste of heaven and the pledge of our immortality. Although the Christian is on earth, he is in a certain sense already at the threshold of heaven. He seeks Christ, and at the same time, he can possess Him in the Sacrament of His Body and Blood.

The eternal life which God offers to men is contained in the Holy Communion, yet many persons do not heed His call. Newman asked his listeners: ^why are there so many who do not seek this source of eternal life? He answered that at least in Christian countries it is not out of ignorance. The reason for this unwillingness is the desire to continue living in sin, and the reluctance to take God seriously and to live religious lives 1 5 1. He warned his parishioners that, at first glance, the world is pleasant, but those who have experience, know how it fades and wearies. Man's life on earth is very short and death is certain. With this thought in mind, life should be looked at as a «passage» to another life. Only from this point of view, is life on earth worth living 1 5 2.

Newman showed concern that dying persons receive the Holy Eucharist, aware of the consolation and spiritual strength which Christ provides the moribund. In Callista he had St. Cyprian administer Baptism and Confirmation to the young convert and give her the Holy Eucharist, shortly before her martyrdom. These sacraments gave her, like to so many Christian martyrs, the fortitude to undergo the great trial of martyrdom. They overcame this trial through their faith, hope and love. The theologian and novelist rounded up the idea explaining that Callista completed her communion with Christ under the beatific vision 1 5 3.

For Newman, the sacrament of the Eucharist impresses on the mind Christ's death and resurrection; His suffering and glory produce joy and hope in His second coming, and in our resurrection1 5 4. The invisible presence of Christ is due to His glorified body, which is present in the consecrated host. This is a great miracle which we must believe and adore. Christ's resurrection and communion with His Body and Blood will produce the resurrection of the bodies on the last day 1 5 5 . He often referred to this in his sermon notes, but since his annotations are short phrases that served him as reminders, the ideas are not well defined.


On the Feast of Corpus Christi, he taught on Christ's continual presence in the Tabernacle. This is the means that God has chosen to surpass all limits of time; he counteracts all time. Christ lives in a «present» which envelops the past and the future. Unlike for some Protestants, who consider Christ a historical figure alone, Christ, present in the Holy Eucharist is «the life of our religion* 1 5 6. Christians live by faith in His continual eucharistic presence, which makes devotion easier and stronger.

4.2. Particular Judgment

The Catholic doctrine on «particular judgment* and the term itself does not appear in the Parochial and Plain Sermons, although there are a few texts in which it may be implied 1 5 7 . One of the sermons contains a text which affirms the actual separation of souls at the moment of death, but without a judgment perse. «certain it is that every one who dies, passes at once into one or other of two states; and if he dies unsanctified and unreconciled to God, into a state of eternal misery* 1 5 8. This passage may signal the point when Newman begins to distinguish between these two judgments. At least up to that time, he did not believe in a particular judgment due to his Calvinist and Evangelical upbringing. In addition, his first position can be explained by the numerous and explicit biblical texts on the last judgment which center eschatological expectation on the Parousia alone.

He considered that the doctrine of purgatory was a development of the doctrine of baptism and post-baptismal sin 1 5 9 . For him, particular judgment was probably one example more of the true growth of doctrine. In the Catholic Sermons the doctrine of a particular judgment appears as a truth distinct from that of the final judgment 1 6 0 . One of the Sermon Notes titled On the Particular Judgmentbegins with the affirmation of a judgment (that) will take place directly* at the moment of death 1 6 1 . In both periods however, Newman spoke of judgment as an individual encounter with Christ who is the absolute Lord and Judge 1 6 2 .

The doctrine on judgment is directly connected to ideas on eternal punishment and universal restoration. These are mentioned here, and will be studied in chapter seven. Origen raised the hypothesis of a final universal salvation in his De Principiis {Peri archon)163 which was later adopted by St. Gregory of Nyssa, Diodorus, Theodore of Mop-suestia and Evagrio Pontico 1 6 4. During the middle of the nineteenth century the Latitudinarians also took up the general notion of an apo-


katastasis. Newman reacted to this idea by arguing that the divine attributes of justice and mercy are not contradictory 1 6 5, and affirming the existence of eternal punishment. Men fail to recognize these truths because they look to certain texts of Scripture alone or they adopt philosophical opinions which set aside the doctrines of the Faith. Furthermore, he always admitted the mysterious nature of God's revelation which man can never fully comprehend1 6 6.

Newman set the question of judgment in direct relation to Chris-tology. Christ's death on the Cross is an indication of the depth of iniquity which has required such great a remedy. The Cross and the sacrifice of the Mass fully reveal the greatness of God's mercy. These signs of His mercy and His warnings of judgment when the Son of Man comes in His glory constitute the correct framework for this doctrine. The relationship between the Christian hope of final forgiveness and Christ's death on the Cross must be seen in this light without sentimentalism or presumption.

The existence of judgment and retribution must also be considered it its relation to Christian anthropology. Reward and punishment imply the recognition of man's free will and the responsibility for his acts and intentions. Each person shapes his life through many free decisions and acts which are tied to future consequences. Newman taught that persons must assume responsibility for their own acts. Each person freely decides to go to heaven; this decision cannot be forced on any one. The judgment which condemns someone to damnation is not an accidental decision; it is the result of one or many free human decisions 1 6 7. This vision of man strongly contrasted with the notion of man's freedom held by those with predestinarian beliefs and theological ideas influenced by romanticism.

5. «The Dream of Gerontius»

The Dream of Gerontius is the longest of Newman's Verses, and along with Lead Kindly Light, the best known. Newman wrote the poem in fifty two scraps of paper, between January 17 and February 7, 1865. The poem was first published in the May and June numbers of the Jesuit publication The Month, and was a great success168. In August 1868, it was published with other poems under the title of Verses on Various Occasions. According to Trevor, it was praised in all the newspapers, and even read with interest by those who rejected the doctrine of purgatory 1 6 9. Friends and acquaintances sent him letters expressing


their gratitude for the consolation they found in the poem 1 7 0 , or asking permission to reproduce parts. Even so, not all were enthusiastic; Sir Francis Doyle, Professor of Poetry at Oxford did not consider it a poetical accomplishment1 7 1.

Sir Edward Elgar, a nationally renowned composer, wrote music for The Dream. The preparation for the first performance in the 1901 Birmingham Festival was fraught with difficulties and its rendition was poor. The following year, a version of the oratorio performed in Dusseldorf gained the admiration of Richard Strauss; his endorsement prompted other performances in England and soon Elgar's musical adaptation enjoyed fame 1 7 2. Although The Dream was criticized by some music reviews, the primary objection against it was its Catholic doctrine. One of the critics wrote: «There are many parts of the libretto which seem fanatical to us; for instance, we believe in the existence of "Purgatory" as much as we do in Jack's Beanstalk or Alice's Wonderland, but the whole is vivid and imaginative))173.

Nonetheless, the poem and its musical adaptation were very well received overall. Men such as Dr. Alexander Whyte, a Scottish Presbyterian divine, and, even more surprisingly, Charles Kingsley, Newman's antagonist, read the poem with awe and admiration 1 7 4. Richard Hutton, an early biographer of Newman, did not hesitate to call it «one of the most unique and original poems of the present century)) 1 7 5. It bears some resemblance to the accounts of near-death experiences1 7 6, although the differences are far greater. The Dream is the poetical expression of the elaborate theological thought of a man, who had earnestly lived according to those convictions. It resembles more the theological content of Dante's trilogy, namely, the encounter with God, personal judgment, purgatory and the invisible Church 1 7 7 .

5.1. Christian Death

Gerontius is a Christian very close to death, whose past life is scarcely revealed to the reader. He may represent the ordinary Christian or perhaps Newman himself. The poem begins with the intimation of the protagonist that he is about to die, while death, personified as a visitor, is knocking at his door. Quickly he pleads his friends for prayers; they begin to commend his soul to the heavenly court. From the start to the end, Newman stressed the intercessory and sacramental role of the Church at the point of death. The Church invokes the merits of Christ's death to implore Gerontius' salvation, and to ensure that his soul should not doubt or sin in the final agony.


Throughout The Dream, as in his sermons, Newman referred to the Holy Trinity, distinguishing the mission of the Son and the Holy Spirit, their work of salvation and sanctification. The Father sends the Son to redeem man, and the Holy Spirit transforms man into the perfect image of Christ. Preparing to meet God, Gerontius professes the creed in the form of a prayer, addressed to the Divine Trinity, his Holy God and Judge. A poignant description of death ensues. Death is the «masterful negation and collapse» of all that makes someone a human being, and «a falling through the solid framework of created beings». Gerontius renders his soul to God, while the priest at his bed side commends him to the Holy Trinity. Here and in other parts of the poem, Newman expressed the idea that Gerontius' agony and final expiration are an image of Christ's own passion and death.

Newman had Gerontius doubt if he is alive and dreaming, or dead, a literary ploy that gives way to a consideration of the notion of time after death. Gerontius observes that time has passed away since the beating of his pulse has ceased, as well as all other human measures of time; there is no difference from one moment to another. He described death as a complete «severance» from man's vast universe, leaving the soul in complete solitude. The soul is separated from all material realities, and fully experiences other spiritual beings, namely the angels and God.

The poem continues with a long conversation between Gerontius' soul and his guardian angel, who guides him to the throne of judgment. They pass by many spirits: demons, five choirs of archangels, the angels of the sacred stairs, and the angel of Christ's agony; these spirits unfold to Gerontius' soul the central mysteries of the Catholic faith, short of the Parousia and the resurrection of the body. In the end, the soul undergoes particular judgment, which Newman envisioned as the appearance before the countenance of God. With one divine glance, the «happy suffering soul» is consumed and «quickened»; Gerontius begins his purgatory.

The Dream depicts most of the mayor elements of the historia salu-tis: the angel's fall, the state of Adam and Eve, man's fall, the protoevan-gelium, the efforts of ordinary men to correspond to grace, and the mission of the angels. A choir of archangels explains St. Paul's theology of Redemption; they sing of Christ, the New-Adam. At Gerontius' particular judgment, Newman introduced a Gospel character, whom he names the Great Angel of the Agony, the witness of Christ's agony in the garden and on the cross. Newman explained that only those who have seen the humiliation of the passion can truly intercede for men.


The novelty of Newman's work is double: it provides a rich summary, in poem form, of a major part of eschatology, and it represents a renewal of dogma and spirituality concerning the novissima. Newman placed Scripture and the Church Fathers at the forefront of eschatology. His theology, like that of the Fathers, also conveys a unitary understanding of these truths. In The Dream the mysteries of creation, soteriology, ecclesiology and eschatology are shown in their intimate relation; he did not consider them as closed independent treatises, a mistake which Congar and Von Balthasar have criticized 1 7 8. In addition, his theology highlights the significance which revelation has for a moral life and holiness.

5.2. Purification after Death

Although The Dream does not center on purgatory alone, the theme of purgatory is developed in it more than in any of his works 1 7 9 . Shortly before being admitted to full communion with the Catholic Church, Newman arrived to the conclusion that the doctrine of purgatory was the result of true development of Christian doctrine. This concept is shared by Joseph Ratzinger who writes that the question of the intermediate state between death and resurrection is the result of the gradual clarification of Christian anthropology in the light of its relationship to Christology1 8 0.

In Newman's works, we do not find attempts to prove the existence of purgatory from passages of Sacred Scripture. Aside from the early sermon, The Intermediate State, his other sermons on the subject do not refer to texts of Scripture for this purpose. The author relies on the Church Tradition, as afterwards Yves Congar (1904-1994) has done when he studies the doctrine of purgatory. The latter indicates the insufficiency of classical texts to affirm the existence of purgatory. These provide the truths of personal responsibility, a divine justice which will judge the sinner, divine forgiveness, reconciliation with God, and a certain expiation for sins 1 8 1 . The texts usually invoked suggest the existence of purgatory, but do not prove it. Congar points out that, the Church, as expressed in the Council of Trent decree on purgatory, relies on the teaching of the Holy Spirit, «exsacris litteris etan-tiqua Patrum traditione»1S2. He concludes that the «ttue place» for the doctrine on purgatory is the Church Tradition 1 8 3.

The Oratorian rejected the popular seventeenth and eighteenth century consideration of purgatory, inspired by excessive moral concern 1 8 4 , which made out of purgatory another hell, shorter in dura-


tion. The latter belief focused on the threats of physical pains and sadness, and associated purgatory with a material place. Newman recognized the analogical character of human language which is necessary to speak of the mysteries, but insisted on the notion of a spiritual purification of the soul, rather than a purification through fire. For him, purgatory involves two pains: (1) a longing to see God, and (2) sorrow and shame for one's sins. The soul of the faithful departed experience tremendous sorrow of love, and feelings of worthlessness and shame.

He taught that the soul yearns to see God and to possess Him. His explanation of purgatory placed the emphasis on a spiritual pain, rather than on corporal punishment, which in any case, considering the disembodied condition of the soul, can only be symbolic in character18'. The pain of purgatory is a «penance-fire», but spiritual in nature. He wrote that the purgatorial pain transforms the soul, making it Christlike. He compared this pain to Christ's agony, and to the stigmata which some saints have received on earth. However, the wounds are spiritual, and produce simultaneously an indescribable pain and joy. Newman's mystical language in The Dream resembles that of St. John of the Cross (1542-1591) and St. Catherine of Genoa (1447-1510) 1 8 6 .

Purgatory has no parallel with hell; the first has to do with love and the latter with hate. The Church Tradition of the East opposed the notion of purgatory as a temporary hell or the association of a «purif-ying fire» with the intermediate state. The problem arose with the interpretation of the term «fire», which appears in the New Testament in reference to the intermediate state and eternal damnation (Mt 25,41). In his homilies on 1 Cor 3,1-17, St. John Chrysostom (345-407), rejected Origen's idea of a universal restoration associated with a purification through fire187. The Eastern Churches have kept Chrysos-tom's doctrine of the intermediate state or hades in which all men await the resurrection with different degrees of happiness or misfortune. The Church intercedes for them through the Holy Eucharist, prayers and alms.

Candido Pozo thinks that purgatory should be thought of in terms of a «purification of love» 1 8 8. For him, «fire» should be understood as a metaphor for the delay of the beatific vision, the painful waiting for the possession of the Loved One 1 8 9 . Ratzinger, following J . Gnilka's exegesis of 1 Cor 3,1-17, points out another interpretation. He considers that the «fire» spoken of in this text is Christ Himself who purifies and transforms man. This interpretation provides a true Christo-logic dimension to the doctrine of purgatory 1 9 0. As mentioned earlier,

DEATH, IMMORTALITY AND RESURRECTION IN JOHN HENRY NEWMAN 1 2 1

both of these notions are contained in The Dream of Gerontius. For those who die in grace, personal judgment, which opens their period of purification, will consist in being «consumed» by their encounter with God 1 9 1 .

The Catechism of the Catholic Church, states that the purification of the chosen, termed purgatory, is completely different from the punishment of the damned 1 9 2 . It employs the biblical word «fire» (igne loquitur purificatorio)1^, which had been deliberately excluded from earlier teaching such as the Council of Florence (poenispurgatoriis)m. The Catechism does not however offer an interpretation for the words «purifying fire»195.

In another text, the Catechism refers to Purgatory as a «state» rather than a place 1 9 6. This is in consonance with the spiritual nature of the soul before the resurrection. Without a material body it is not understandable for it to be subject to a location in space and a punishment with physical fire. It is more plausible to consider that the soul experiences an intimate spiritual pain 1 9 7 , which is both a punishment and a welcome purification. For Newman, this pain is greater than any other pain on earth yet it produces a contentment without equal on earth because it likens the soul to God 1 9 8 .

Newmans vision concurs more with the Eastern Church Fathers, for whom redemption is conceived primarily as a restoration of Christ's image in each Christian, rather than a penal satisfaction1 9 9. Towards the close of The Dream, he refers to the guardian angle who dips Gerontius «into the penal waters». Nevertheless, the content of the poem and the child-like connotation of the word «dip» convey a different notion of punishment than that held by theologians like Francisco Suarez (1548-1617) 2 0 0 . Newman expressed his opinion that the intermediate state does not involve «penal suffering» in other works such as the Philosophical Notebook™.

In addition to the Fathers, Newman's doctrine is similar to that taught by St. Bonaventure (1217-1274) 2 0 2 , St. Robert Bellarmine 2 0 3, and St. Francis de Sales 2 0 4, whom he quoted on this subject in Sermon Notes. Newman also adhered to the doctrine on purgatory of the Council of Trent which taught the existence of (1) particular judgment; (2) immediate retribution after death; (3) purgatory; and (4) suffrage for the souls in purgatory 2 0 5. Since then, the Church Magisterium has not defined any further the dogma concerning these truths; the few articles of the Council of Trent have been repeated in the Catechism206.

The Dream also contains some elements of Newman's ecclesiology. Foremost, the Church is Christ's invisible body in heaven. On earth,


the visible body cares for each of her members, teaching them, judging, and administering the sacraments. The sacraments, which are the participation in Christ's paschal mystery, «make up» the Church, and constitute her prime mission. She is a true mother who nurtures her children and prepares them for heaven. Despite the «incommuni-cable» character of death, the Christian does not die alone; he dies surrounded by the Church. When the veil is lifted from the senses, Ge-rontius' soul sees his guardian angel and all the members of the invisible Church, who are tied together in an intimate communion of love, adoring the Triune God, Creator, Redeemer and Sanctifier.

Few authors have, like Newman, considered the joy of the souls of purgatory. An unbalanced moral concern, as well as popular ignorance, has overshadowed this important element. In his treatise, Piolan-t i 2 0 7 explains, under the title De Gaudiis purgatorii, that the souls of purgatory have four reasons for joy, that is: (1) the impossibility of sinning; (2) the certainty of salvation; (3) the suffrages of the Church; and (4) the communion with the angels. On this last point he cites The Dream of Gerontius, from a 1931 Italian translation. It is surprising that only a few authors during this century, namely, Piolanti and Bartmann 2 0 8, have pointed out the joyful character of purgatory. Furthermore, only a few have given credit to Newman for clearly showing this aspect of purgatory 2 0 9. There has been a unilateral emphasis on the sorrow and pain of purgatory, and on suffrages for the soul's of purgatory, in particular through indulgences. Gerontius' angel gives the key to the soul's lack of fear: «he has feared on earth». A sincere and generous Christian life leads to sorrow for one's sins, coupled to an immense peace and joy in purgatory.

C O N C L U S I O N S

1. Newman's bereavement following the successive deaths of his father (1824), sister Mary (1828), friend Hurrell Froude (1836) and mother (1836) contributed to the formation of his theological reflection on death. Various sermons written in this period have a veiled allusion to these deaths and reflect a spiritual attitude of abandonment in God's Providence.

2. The Parochial and Plain Sermons (1834-1843) manifest his early belief in the soul's immortality. The death of Newman's loved ones helped him to consider more attentively the end of human life and the need to prepare the soul for judgment after death. The painful ex-


perience of these losses taught him to place his trust in God alone. Newman's Letters and Diaries, particularly in his later years, disclose his calm acceptance of illness and deteriorating physical state along with deep gratitude for all of God's blessings.

3. Newmans theology has two underlying principles: the dogmatic principle and the sacramental principle, which he summarized in the Apologia pro Vita Sua (1864). According to the former, religion stands on the objective existence of religious truths. Religion is more than sentiment alone and cannot be reduced to one mystery, namely the Atonement of Christ. The sacramental principle holds that all material realities are a symbol and an instrument of the invisible realities.

4. A characteristic of his sermons was the explanation of the created condition of human beings and their relationship with God the Creator, which bears the following important consequences for eschatology and morality: (a) God wishes man to reach perfect happiness, which consists in communion with Him; (b) God made man in His image and likeness, but this image was damaged through original sin; (c) The mysteries of the Incarnation and the Redemption restore man to friendship with God, but obedience to Him is a condition for future happiness; (d) The Creator will reward man with eternal happiness or punish him with eternal suffering according to his conduct on earth.

5. Perhaps one of Newman's most significant contributions was to place Christology at the center of eschatology. He indicated the relevance which the dogma of Calcedonia on the hypostatic union has for an adequate understanding of the Redemption of mankind, Christ's Resurrection and other related truths. For Newman, heaven consists in communion with Christ and through Him with the Blessed Trinity.

Christ's judgment is one of the reference points that each person must always keep in mind. Every Christian must work out his own salvation with «fear and tremblings (Ph 2,12), because salvation is not an automatic effect of baptismal regeneration; it involves a life struggle against sin and the exercise of Christian virtues. The Holy Spirit continues Christ's work in each Christian through the sacraments and many other graces.

6. Newman insisted on the unpredictable timing of death, which should engender an attitude of vigilance, that is, a desire to obey God and to place one's affections on Him alone. The death of others is a strong reminder that life on earth and material goods are transient and imperfect; they are not the source of true happiness.


As an Anglican, the Oxford don spoke of the final judgment alone, whereas once a Catholic he adopted the belief in particular judgment, which takes place immediately after the moment of death. In both periods however, the focus was similar, it will be an encounter with Christ, an All-just and All-merciful Judge.

7. Newman and the Tractarians revived in England the traditional belief in the Intermediate state of souls after death. For each person it will start at the instant of death and last until the final judgment. During this period each soul begins to receive its reward or punishment for its past life. As an Anglican he held the Oriental notion of the intermediate state regarding those who die in a state of grace; it was conceived as a time of rest and waiting.

Once a Catholic he believed that the intermediate state involves suffering, which is a welcome purification and preparation for heaven. Rather than discontinuity, the change in his thinking represents a true development, which maintains the original idea.

8. Whereas his sermon notes on the punishment of hell refer to a physical fire, the ones on purgatory do not. He described the punishment of purgatory in spiritual terms, as a sorrow of love, reminiscent of St. Bonaventure, St. Catherine of Genoa and St. Francis de Sales, whom he quoted. The souls who need further purification after death, possess assurance of salvation and participate in the merits of the communion of the saints. For these reasons they experience great joy in the midst of their suffering. The visible and invisible Church sustains them through the sacraments, its prayers and affection. This teaching which is expressed more fully in The Dream of Gerontius (1865), marks a considerable shift from the popular belief in the torment of purgatory.

9. Newman sustained that the doctrine of the soul's immortality is found in S. Scripture. He thought the Neo-Platonic language, which had been adopted by the Church of Alexandria, was suitable to convey this truth, but indicated the radical difference introduced by Christian belief. The latter defends the goodness of the body and creation which is revealed in S. Scripture and avowed by the doctrine of the body's resurrection. The sermon titled The Individuality of the Soul (1836) contains the main points of this doctrine: (a) the soul is different from the body; (b) it is created by God; (c) it is individual; (d) immortal; and (e) it will be rewarded or punished after the separation of body and soul.

10. Newman studied Aristotle and knew more of Aquinas than is usually thought. His philosophical notion of the person and the


union of soul and body favors the Aristotelian-Thomistic synthesis rather than Platonic anthropology. The soul and the body are so intimately united that the separation which occurs at death leaves the soul in an imperfect state; it is incomplete. The separation of soul and body is unnatural, but the soul continues to exist in its separated condition because of its immortal nature.

11. The Vicar of St. Mary's, and later Oratorian priest, taught that death is a punishment for original sin. Man originally had the gift of immortality of the body, which was lost when he rebelled against God. As a punishment, death is something out of a person's own control. Even though it can be precipitated and involves the person, it is something external.

Death is also a trial; each person will be punished or rewarded accordingly to their conduct in life. Newman taught that the opportunity for doing penance or gaining merit ends at the very moment of death. Thus he underlined the importance of each person's history, manifested through numerous free decisions, which is undermined by the contemporary idea of the «fundamental option».

12. The resurrection is a truth promised by Christ and especially related to the reception of the Holy Eucharist. It is not a superfluous or accidental event. On the contrary, it is the completion of the salvation won by Christ and a necessary condition for happiness and perfection. He maintained that the resurrection is a biblical truth, confirmed by the Church creeds against the Gnostic and Manichean dualism. The resurrection of the body will take place at the Parousia and will affect all men and women; good and evil alike.

13. Against an intellectual milieu indebted to David Hume and John Locke, that began to negate Christ's miracles and divinity, Newman taught that Christ's Resurrection was the greatest sign of His Divinity and represents His victory over death; it is the foundation of Faith. In reply to the secular minded history texts on Christianity of Hart Millman and Edward Gibbons, he wrote that only this event could fully explain the rapid extension of Christianity and the courage of numerous martyrs.

Newman refuted the historical skepticism inspired by the nineteenth century German biblical exegesis. He defended the historical testimony of Christ's empty tomb and the apparitions to his disciples. Although the truth of the Resurrection relies primarily on supernatural faith, the historical testimony of the Gospels cannot be denied.

14. For Newman, the supernatural virtue of hope provides Christians with patience, courage, optimism and joy as they strive to attain


their end, which is God Himself. Hope, like faith, rests on God's omnipotence, manifested in creation and through miracles. Hope, in addition, rests on God's faithfulness and mercy, which are fully revealed in the Person of Christ. This fundamental virtue leads Christians to overcome with God's grace all difficulties and trials, including the final one, which is death.

15. Newman opposed the late Victorian belief in universal salvation or final restoration of all men and angels. In the Anglican and Catholic sermons (for example, in Many Called, Few Chosen, 1837 and The Omnipotence of God and Man's Free-Will, 1870), he sustained the Church doctrine on the existence of eternal punishment, and offered arguments against a unilateral understanding of God's mercy, a partial reading of S. Scripture and a rationalist approach to dogma. In Callista, A Tale of the Third Century (1865) he sustained this truth, placing it in the mouth of a third century testimony of early Christianity, St. Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage.

The existence of eternal punishment was for Newman a biblical fact, which was confirmed by Church Tradition. In addition, the analogy with the natural world made it reasonable, despite the sentimental repulsion it may produce. It brings to light the terrible offense of sin and the great mercy of Christ's Incarnation. Some of Newman's ideas on this seem relevant for the contemporary discussion on the subject.

NOTES

1. Cf. John Henry Newman Autobiographical Writings, ed. TRISTRAM, Henry, Sheed and Ward, New York 1957, p. 189, Feb. 21, 1823.

2. Cf. A. W, p. 200, Sunday, June 1824. 3. Ibid., pp. 202-203, Oct. 3, 1824. 4. This sermon was re-written in 1832 and published as The Lapse of Time,. Cf. P.P.S.,

VII, Jan. 1832, pp. 1-12. 5. Cf. A.W., p. 207. An annotation on his 25th birthday in 1826. 6. Cf. Ibid., pp. 205-206. 7. Cf. Ibid., pp. 207-209, Feb. 21 , 1826 . 8. Ibid. 9. L.D., I, 283, Letter to Mrs. Jemima Newman, April 29, 1826. On his concern for

the danger of the love of literary pursuits see L.D., I, 280, Letter to Harriet Newman, March 21, 1826.

10. Cf. A. W, p. 86. 11. Cf. Ibid., p. 210, Feb. 21, 1827. 12. Cf. MARTIN, Brian, o.c, p. 36. 13. Cf. A.W., p. 120. 14. Ibid., p. 212, Feb. 21. 1828. The entry refers to the events of 1827 that led to his

illness; Newman was obliged to leave Oxford on medical advice. 15. Cf. Ibid., Early Journal Book, II, p. 213. In his poem The Trance ofTimethete is a

similar presentiment. Cf. NEWMAN, John Henry, Verses on Various Occasions, Longmans, Green, And Co., London 1910, p. 25, October 1827.

16. Cf. AW., pp. 210-211. 17. Cf. HENGESBACH, Theodore, o.c, pp. 37-38. Newman did not publish this poem. 18. Cf. L.D., I, 159-160 and Consolations in Bereavement ia. V.V., pp. 26-28. 19. V.V., A Picture, pp. 31-32. August 1828. 20. Cf., Ibid., Epiphany-Eve, p. 53. 21. Cf. !.£>., I, 161,May 10, 1828, Letter to Jemima Newman. Cf. also A. W, pp. 211-

213. 22. HENGESBACH, Theodore, o.c, p. 69. 23. Newman thought that the students needed religious instruction. He did not agree

with the general reception of the Eucharist at Oriel or forced evening prayer. Cf. A. W, p. 209, May 7, 1826. Newman relinquished rhe College Tutorship in 1832.

24. L.D., III, 216, Letter to Jemima Newman, February 19, 1833. Overall he thought that the state of the Church in Italy was in miserable state with open infidelity and loss of the hold on common people. Cf. Ibid., 246, Letter to Henry Wilberforce, March 9, 1833.


25. Ibid., 235, Letter to Frederick Rogers, March 5, 1833. 26. Ibid., 230, Letter to Harriet Newman, March 4, 1833. 27. For his description of the hillsides of Sicily see A. W., p. 123. 28. Cf. L.D., III, 213, Letter to Harriet Newman, Feb. 16, 1833. 29. Ibid., 245, Letter to Henry Wilberforce, March 9, 1833. 30. Cf. A.W., My illness in Sicily, p. 121,Aug.31, 1834. 31. 32. 76K/., p. 112, introduction. 33. Cf. Ibid., p. 115-117, Letter to Frederick Rogers, June 5, 1833. 34. Ibid., p. l\7. 35. Ibid, p. 118, August 4, 1833. 36. Ibid. 37. From Marseilles he traveled to Lyons where he was obliged to rest for a few days

and then to Paris. 38. «1 loved to choose and see my path, but now / Lead Thou me on! /1 loved the ga

rish day, and, spite of fears, / Pride ruled my will: remember not past years». V.V., The Pillar of the Cloud, p. 156, June 1833.

39. A.W.,p. 125, Dec. 28, 1834. 40. Ibid., p. 268, June, 25, 1869. 41. !.£>., V .249 , Letter to John Bowden, March 2, 1836. 42. Ibid, 311 , Letter to Harriet Newman, June 21, 1836. 43. Ibid., 313, Letter to Mrs. John Mozley, June 26, 1836. 44. Cf. P.P.S., IV, The Greatness and Littleness of Human Life, Oct. 1836, pp. 214-225. 45. Cf. Ibid., p. 218. 46. P.P.S.,Wll\, Doing Glory to God in Pursuits of'the World, Nov. 1836, pp. 154-171. 47. Cf. P.P.S., IV, The Invisible World,}u\y 1837, pp. 200-213. 48. P.P.S., I, The Immortality of the Soul, July 1833, pp. 15-26. 49. Cf. P.P.S., IV, The Church a Home for the Lonely, Oct. 1837,pp. 185-199. 50. Cf. Ibid., The Communion of the Saints, May 1837, pp. 168-184. This sermon was

delivered a few days before the first anniversary of his mother's death. 51. «Love of home and family in these and other ways is sufficient to make this life

tolerable to a multitude of men, which otherwise it would not be; but still, after all, our affections exceed such exercise of them, and demand what is more stable. Do not all men die? are they not taken from us? are they not uncertain as the grass of the field?...if our happiness consists in our affections being employed and recompensed, "man that is born of woman" cannot be our happiness; for how can he stay another, who "continueth not in one stay" himself?». P.P.S., V, The Thought of God, the Stay of 'the Soul, June 1839, p. 317.

52. Cf. NEWMAN, John Henry, Meditations and Devotions, Longmans, Green and Co., London 1894, pp. 607-609, March 13, 1864.

53. The full title ran: Apologia pro Vita Sua: Being a Reply to a Pamphlet entitled «What, Then, Does Dr. Newman Mean?».

54. Cf. TRISTRAM, Henry, Newman and His Friends, John Lane the Bodley Head Ltd., London 1933, pp. 98-104.

55. Ibid., p. 108. 56. Cf. Ibid, p. 238. 57. Ibid., pp. 219, 238. Among the other three were Ambrose St. John and Joseph

Gordon and perhaps Frederick Rogers. 58. Cf. Ibid., pp. 221-231. 59. «1 have had several falls. I walk, read, write, speak at a snail's pace, and my mind

gets so confused, especially my memory. Thus I may call myself emphatically in

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God's hands, unable to move day by day except He wills it». L.D., XXXI, 100, Letter to R Stanton., Dec. 6, 1885.

60. Cf. Ibid., 194, Letter to Miss Emmeline Deane, March 3, 1887. She wished to paint a second portrait of Newman. He was then busy working on the revision of his volumes of St. Athanasius.

61. Cf. Ibid., 268, Letter to Pope Leo XIII, Nov. 25, 1888. Newman sent him a gift of 20 pounds and 500 francs.

62. Ibid., 3, Letter to George T. Edwards, Jan. 1, 1885. 63. Ibid., Letter to Charles Smith Morris., Jan. 4, 1885. Charles went to Oxford and at

age of 19 became a Catholic (c. 1883). 64. Cf. Ibid., 207, Letter to Augusta Theodosia Crane, May 4, 1887. 65. In September of 1865, Newman went to Hursley to visit John Keble who was ill.

Edward Pusey was also present at this memorable meeting which gathered the three leaders of the Oxford Movement.

66. For an account of their letters and meeting see TREVOR, Meriol, o.c, pp. 619-620. 67. L.D., XXXI, 140, Letter to Fr. William HobartKerr, May 14, 1886. 68. Of his immediate family, only his brother Francis William (1805-1897) was alive.

His sisters Harriet Mozley (1803-1852) and Jemima Mozley (1808-1879) and his brother Charles (1802-1884) had died.

69. Cf. L.D., XXXI, 79, Letter to Anne Mozley, Sept. 7, 1885. 70. Cf. Ibid., 98-99, Letter to Anne Mozley, Dec. 3, 1885. 71. Lord Cranbrook also wrote his reminiscences and Newman thought other Oxford

gentlemen would follow suit. Cf. TREVOR, Meriol, Light in Winter, Macmillian & Co. Ltd., London 1962, pp. 618-619, 621.

72. Richard W. Church (1818-1890), Fellow at Oriel since 1838 became the person to whom Newman confided most his spiritual situation between 1841-1845. He later became Dean of St. Paul's Cathedral and influential in the Anglican Church. He wrote The Oxford Movement, 1833-1845.

73. Cf. L.D. XXXI, 81-82, Sept. 14, 1885. 74. Cf. TREVOR, Meriol, o.c., p. 617. 75. G. Errington, representative of Traditional English Catholics became Bishop of

Plymouth in 1851, and later auxiliary of Wiseman. 76. John Campbell Shairp (1819-1895) was master at Rugby School and later Profes

sor of Latin at St. Andrews. In 1877, he became Professor of Poetry at Oxford. 77. Cf. TREVOR, Meriol, o.c, p. 628. 78. L.D., XXX, 49, Letter to Miss M. R.Giberne,]m. 5 ,1882. 79. Bishop Ullathorne (1806-1889) was a direct descendant of St. Thomas More. He

was a Benedictine monk and was active in the negotiations for the restoration of the hierarchy in England in 1846. He became bishop of Birmingham in 1850.

80. TREVOR, Meriol, o.c, p. 642. 81. Cf. L.D., XXXI, 281, Letter to George T. Edwards, Jan. 29, 1990. 82. Cf. Ibid, 295, Letter to W. Wood, June 8, 1890. 83. Cf. TREVOR, Meriol, o.c, p. 641. 84. Cf. Ibid., p. 644. 85. Newman was told that the Protestant General Gordon had been reading The Dre

am of Gerontius when his troops were stormed in Khartoum, and he was killed. Newman commented that in St. Paul's words «Gordon "died daily", he was always on his death bed, fulfilling the common advice that we should ever pass the day, as if it was to be our last». L.D., XXXI, 67, May 19, 1885, Letter to Lord Blanchford.

86. Cf. S.N., On the Accepted Time, March 1851, p. 65.


87. ST. ROBERT BELLARMINE, De arte bene moriendi, Opera Omnia, Paris, 1875, Franc-fort, 1965, VIII, pp. 551-622; ERASMUS OF ROTTERDAM, Liber cum primispius de Preparatione ad Mortem, Froben, Basilae 1534; TAYLOR, Jeremy, The Rule and Exercises of Holy Dying, 1651.

88. Cf. TENENTI, Alberto, 77 Senso della Morte e I'Amore della Vita nel Rinascimento, Giulio Einaudi editore, Torino, 1989, pp. 90-120; and ARIES, Philippe, ElHombre ante la Muerte, Taurus, Madrid 1983, pp. 251-255.

89. Jacob of Jiiteborg (t 1465), a Cistercian monk wrote Tractatus de Arte Bene Moriendi, which is on the daily martyrdom that leads one to overcome the fear of physical death through the fear of hell, and the love of heaven. However, he also wrote on the immediate preparation for death by means of the sacraments. Cf. TENENTI, A., o.c, pp. 91-94.

90. DUPLESSIS-MORNAY, L 'Excellent Discours de la Vie et de la Mort, 1575, front-page, cited by TENENTI, A., o.c., p. 276.

91. John Calvin rejected in his work, Psychopannychia (1534) the Catholic doctrine on purgatory and suffrages for the souls of the departed. He spoke of the souls of the faithful deceased in terms of tranquillity and assurance of salvation. Cf. CALVIN, Psychopannychia, Strasburgo 1545, fol. 11 recto-verso, cited by TENENTI, A., o.c, p. 270.

92. Cf. WAMSLEY, Geoffrey, Newman's Dream, in «Downside Review» 21 (1970) 184. 93. Deathbed scenes in Victorian literature were melodramatic representations of mo

ral judgment and emotional farewells, with stereotypes of the death of heroes and sinners. Cf. JALLAND, Pat, Death in the Victorian Family, Oxford University Press, Oxford 1996, pp. 24-25.

94. Cf. L.D., XX, 43, Letter to Marianne Bowden, Sept. 11, 1861, on the death of Sister Mary Xaviera Croskell.

95. Cf. L.D., XXXI, 102, Letter to the superior of the Visitation Convent atAutun, Dec. 15, 1885.

96. S.N, On the Accepted Time, March 1851, pp. 65-66. 97. In April 1843, while following the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola, he

meditated on sin, death and judgment and wrote on «the unknown horribleness of deliberate (or mortal) sin, as an infringement of the order of nature and the will of God». Cf. Autobiographical Writings, ed. TRISTRAM, Henry, Sheed and Ward, New York 1957, p. 224.

98. Fr. Joseph Gordon from Trinity College, Cambridge, had been ordained a priest in 1837. He was received in the Church in 1847; his brother William followed him shortly after. They both entered the Oratorian Novitiate in 1848. There are a number of entries in L.D. regarding Joseph Gordon's death, which took place February 13, 1853. Cf. L.D., XV, 301, Letter to Bishop Ullathorne, Feb. 14, 1853.

99. The Duke of Norfolk died at the age of 45; Newman considered him an exemplary leading Catholic. Cf. L.D., XIX, 426, 429, 435, Nov. 1860.

100. Cf. S.N, No One Can Come to Me except the Father, etc., Aug. 1854, pp. 110-112. 101. P.P.S., IV, Moral Effects of Communion with God, Dec. 1837, pp. 237-8. 102. Cf. P.P.S., VIII, Vanity of Human Glory, Oct. 1830, p. 183. A few decades later,

Theresa of the Child Jesus wrote similar words. Cf. THERESE DE L'ENFANT-jESUS ET DE LA SAINTE-FACE, Oeuvres completes, CERF et Descleee de Brouwer, Lonrai (France), 1997, Poesie n. 41, p. 726; Lettre a Celine, April 26, 1892, pp. 446-448.

103. Cf. P.P.S., VII, The Praise of Men, March 1829, p. 54. 104. Cf. P.P.S., II, The Mind of Little Children, Feast of the Holy Innocents, Dec. 1833,

pp. 61-68; S.N, Suffering, Dec. 1856, p. 142.

NOTES 131

105. Cf. P.P.S., VIII, Josiah, a Pattern for the Ignorant, Sept. 1830, pp. 96-97. 106. Cf. 2 Kings 23,22. 107. Cf. P.P.S., VIII, Doing Glory to God in Pursuits of the World, Nov. 1836, p. 170. 108. Cf. P.P.S., VI, The Incarnate Son, a Sufferer and Sacrifice, April 1836 pp. 69-71;

and S.N., On the Office of the Church, St. Thomas the Martyr, pp. 52-54. 109. Newman described St. John Chysostom's exile to Cucusus and eventual death in

the Pontus from exhaustion, lack of food, exposure to severe weather and other ill treatments. Cf. NEWMAN, John Henry, Historical Sketches, II, Westminster, re-impression 1970, St. John Chrysostom, ch. 5, The Death, pp. 284-302.

110. Cf. P.P.S., II, Martyrdom, July 1831, pp. 41-50. 111 . Ibid, p. 48. 112. NEWMAN, John Henry, Callista. A Tale of the Third Century, Longmans, Green

and Co., London p. 358. 113. Ibid, p. 222. 114. «"I wish Him to kill me, not myself she said. "I am his victim"». Ibid., p. 358. 115. «A Christian martyrdom is never an accident, for Saints are not made by accident. Still

less is a Christian martyrdom the effect of a man's will to become a Saint, as a man by willing and contriving may become a ruler of men. A martyrdom is always the design of God, for His love of men, to warn them, to bring them back to His ways». ELLIOT, T.S., Murder in the Cathedral Faber and Faber Limited, London 1935, p. 49.

116. Cf. Ibid., p. 50. Elphege became Archbishop of Canterbury in 1006. He was martyred during a Danish invasion.

117. «Newman's deepest influence was exercised through these Parochial Sermons...». DESSAIN, C.S., The Biblical basis of Newman's ecumenical theology, in The Rediscovery of Newman: An Oxford Symposium, ed. COULSON, John-ALLCHIN, A.M., Sheed and Ward, London and Melbourne, 1967, pp. 100-101.

118. Cf.Apo.,p. 35. 119. Ibid., p. 102. 120. Ibid., pp. 108-9. Newman however, thought that the Evangelical Movement was also

in its nature rationalistic. Friederich Schleiermacher (1768-1834) had attempted to philosophize and justify the religion of heart and feeling. Cf. MERRIGAN, Terrance, Newman's Catholic Synthesis in «The Irish Theological Quarterly" 60/1 (1994) 42.

121. For him, the Anglicans claimed Antiquity, i.e. Apostolicity, while the Romans claimed Catholicity. The article appeared in the April number of the British Critic of 1839. Cf.Apo,. pp. 112-118.

122. Nicholas Wiseman, Rector of the Irish College in Rome, became Archbishop of Westminster when the English hierarchy was re-established. Wiseman's article was published in the «Dublin Review» September 1839. Cf. Ibid., p. 120.

123. Cf. BOYCE, Philip, La Iglesia Unay Visible en la Viday Pensamiento de Newman, in «Scripta Theologica» 22 (1990/3) 761-7. Regarding the authority of Rome during the Nestorian and Monophysite heresies see Dev., pp. 315-333.

124. Cf. NEWMAN, John Henry, Sermons on Subjects of the Day, Longmans, Green and Co., London 1910, The Parting of Good Friends, Sept., 1843, p. 395.

125. Fr. Domenic Barbieri (1792-1849) was an Italian Passionist priest who went to England as a missionary. Since 1963 he is Blessed Domenic Barbieri.

126. Cf. DESSAIN, C.S., Cardinal Newman and the Eastern Tradition, in «The Downside Review» 94 (1976) 86.

127. P.P.S., VI, Peace in Believing, Trinity Sunday, May 1839, p. 370. Christians are offered the blessed countenance of God's face. Cf. P.P.S., II, The Reverence due to the Virgin Mary, March 1832, p. 138.


128. Cf. P.P.S., IV, Watching, Dec. 1837, pp. 319-322. 129. Cf. P.P.S., V, Righteousness not of us, but in us, Jan. 1840, pp. 130-135; The Law of

the Spirit, Jan. 1840, pp. 143-163; The New Works of the Gospel, Jan. 1840, pp. 164-177.

130. Cf. P.P.S., VII, Attendance on Holy Communion, Jan. 1842, Easter, p. 148 s., The Gospel Feast, May 1838, Easter, pp. 164-178.

131. Cf. L.D., V, p. 21, Feb., 1835. 132. Cf. P.P.S., VI, The Weapons of Saints, Oct., 1837. 133. Cf. P.P.S., VIII, Miracles no Remedy for Unbelief, May, 1830, p. 89. 134. Cf. P.P.S., I, Self-denial, the test of religious earnestness, Dec. 1833, pp. 59-70. 135. Cf. P.P.S., VI, Fasting, a source of Trial, March 1838, pp. 1-14; Life, the Season of

Repentance, March 1840, pp. 15-25; Apostolic Abstinence a Pattern for Christians, March 1841, pp. 26-38; and Christ's Privations a Meditation for Christians, April 1840, pp. 39-52.

136. P.P.S., V, Love, the One Thing Needful, Feb. 1839, p. 340. 137. Cf. ROWELL, G., Hell and the Victorians, Clarendon Press, Oxford 1974, pp. 215-

216. 138. Cf. P.P.S., III, The Intermediate State, Nov. 1835, p. 382. 139. Ibid., p. 377. 140. Newman commented on the words of the Creed which speak of Christ's «descent

into hell». He interpreted this to have the same meaning as Abraham's bosom, the paradise announced to the good robber on the cross and the prison or hades spoken of in 1 Pt 3,19. He explained that this differs from the common understanding of the word «hell». Cf. Ibid., pp. 374-375.

141. Cf. Ibid., p. 378. 142. Ibid, p. 386. 143. Cf. P.P.S., IV, The Communion of the Saints, May 1837, pp. 181-183. 144. Ibid., p. 183. At the same time, he insisted on our obligation to remember these

members of the Church, and to respect and love them. 145. P.P.S., III, The Intermediate State, Nov. 1835, p. 371. 146. Ibid. 147. Cf. WARD, Wilfrid, The Life of Newman, I, p. 155; and Catholic Sermons, Intro

duction by DESSAIN, C.S., p. 24. 148. S.N, The One Sacrifice, Aug. 1864, pp. 189-190. 149. Newman indicated the sense of awe and reverence for the Blessed Sacrament and

the Roman Catholic Liturgy which he has as an Anglican. Cf. Loss and Gain. The Story of a Convert, Oxford University Press, Oxford 1986, pp. 292-295.

150. Cf. 5.7V, The Mass, Sept. 1864, pp. 192-3; Also see The One Sacrifice, Aug. 1864, pp. 189-190.

151. Cf. P.P.S., VII, Attendance on Holy Communion, Jan. 1842, p. 150. 152. Cf. Ibid., p. 158; P.P.S., IV, Watching, Dec. 1837, p. 333. 153. Cf. Call., p. 348. 154. Cf. P.P.S., IV, Watching, Dec. 1837, p. 325. 155. This corresponds with the St. Thomas' explanation of Christ's resurrection as the

efficient and exemplary cause for the resurrection of our bodies. ST. THOMAS AQUINAS, Summa Theologiae, III, q. 56, a. 1, ad 3.

156. Cf. S.N, Devotion to the Holy Eucharist, May 1856, p. 128. 157. For example, «Go before God's judgment-seat, and there plead that you know the

Truth and have not done it». P.P.S., I, Knowledge of God's Will without Obedience, Sept. 1832, pp. 35-36. Another text speaks of the moment «after death», but does

NOTES 133

not establish the existence of an immediate or personal judgment. «They (The Apostles) taught so far as the heathen: "Tomorrow we die"; but then they added, "And after death the judgment"; judgment upon the eternal soul, which lives in spite of the death of the body». Ibid., The Immortality of the Soul, July 1 8 3 3 , p. 1 6 .

1 5 8 . P.P.S., IV, The Individuality of the Soul, March 1 8 3 6 , p. 9 0 . 1 5 9 . Cf. Dev., pp. 4 1 9 - 4 2 1 . He thought that it led to other developments such as a lite

ral interpretation of the word «fire» in biblical texts. 1 6 0 . The New Testament speaks of judgment looking primarily to Christ's second Ad

vent, but it also teaches that there is an immediate retribution after each person's death. Two biblical passages that contain this trurh are the parable of poor Lazarus and the words of Christ to one of the thieves crucified next to Him. Cf. Catechis-mus Ecclesiae Catholicae, Librería Editrice Vaticana, Cittá del Vaticano, 1 9 9 7 , n. 1 0 2 1 .

1 6 1 . S.N., On the Particular Judgment, July 1 8 5 0 , p. 4 0 . The Constitution Benedictus Deus ( 1 3 3 6 ) had defined this doctrine. Cf. BENEDICTOS X I I , Const. Benedictus Deus ( 2 9 . 1 . 1 3 3 6 ) ; DS 1 0 0 0 - 1 0 0 1 .

1 6 2 . Cf. P.P.S., III, A Particular Providence as Revealed in the Gospel, April 1 8 3 5 , p. 1 1 5 . For Newman, the last judgment will have an individual aspect aside from its public manifestation. Cf. Ibid., pp. 1 2 4 - 1 2 5 ; S.N., On Death, Dec. 1 8 5 0 , p. 5 1 .

1 6 3 . Origen's Peri archon was written long before Magisterial declarations on eternal punishment. Furthermore his Contra Celso, written at a later period in his life, does not defend his earlier hypothesis. Cf. SARANYANA, Josep I., Grandes Maestros de la Teología, I, Sociedad de Educación Atenas, Madrid 1 9 9 4 , pp. 3 7 - 3 8 , 4 2 - 4 5 .

1 6 4 . Cf. RATZINGER, Joseph, La Mort et LAu-Dela, Librairie Fayard, Paris 1 9 7 9 , pp. 2 3 3 - 2 3 4 .

1 6 5 . P.P.S., II, The Tolerance of Religious Error, Dec. 1 8 3 4 , pp. 2 8 7 - 2 8 8 . Some consider punishment only as something remedial and therefore deny its eternal duration.

1 6 6 . Cf. Ibid, Human Responsibility, Jan. 1 8 3 5 , p. 3 3 1 . 1 6 7 . Cf. Ibid., pp. 3 2 0 - 3 3 1 . 1 6 8 . Cf. TREVOR, Meriol, Newman, Light in Winter, MacMillan & Co. Ltd., London,

1 9 6 2 , p. 3 6 5 . 1 6 9 . Cf. Ibid. 1 7 0 . Cf. L.D., X X I I , pp. 7 2 , 8 6 , 1 6 3 , 3 2 0 . 1 7 1 . Cf. WAMSLEY, Geoffrey, o.c, p. 1 7 1 , and L.D., X X X I , Letter from Sir Francis Doyle,

August 4 , 1 8 8 8 . 1 7 2 . Cf. TAYLOR, Eric, Elgar's Dream ofGerontius, in «Blackfriars» 3 2 ( 1 9 5 1 ) 1 6 5 - 1 6 0 . 1 7 3 . This was the opinion of J . Porte, a music critic. Cecil Gray and Basil Maine were

other critics with similar opinions. Cf. Ibid., p. 1 5 8 . 1 7 4 . Cf. WAMSLEY, Geoffrey, o.c, p. 1 7 3 . 1 7 5 . HuTTON, Richard H., Cardinal Newman, Methuen and Co., London, 1 8 9 1 , p. 2 4 4 . 1 7 6 . St. Gregory the Great in The Dialogues and Venerable Bede in his Ecclesiastic His

tory of the English People narrated near-death experiences. Cf. ZALESKI, Carol, The Life of the World to Come: Near-Death Experience and Christian Hope, Oxford University Press Oxford, 1 9 9 6 , pp. 3 0 - 3 6 .

1 7 7 . The opposite of the doctrine and spirituality of The Dream was Lord Tennyson's famous poem In Memorian A. H. H, the paradigm of Victorian religious sentiments, coupled to a vague doctrinal and spiritual content. Like the death account of Litde Nelly in Dicken's Old Curiosity Shop, it was an attempt to sustain faith and religious doubt by evoking warm sentiments, and a hope for a heavenly reunion. Cf. JALLAND, Pat, o.c, pp. 2 4 , 2 8 3 .


178. Cf. CONGAR, Yves M., Le Purgatone, in Le Mystère de la Mort et sa Celebration, Paris 1956, pp. 303-305, 311-313, and VON BALTHASAR, Hans Urs, Escatologia, in Panorama de la Teologia Actual, FEINER, Johannes-TRÜTSCH, Josef-BöCKLE, Franz, Ediciones Guadarrama, Madrid 1961, pp. 499-512.

179. In a fine commentary on The Dream ofGerontius, Wamsley identifies three main themes: (1) the mysteriousness of the human soul; (2) the reality of the invisible world; and (3) the majesty of Christ-Savior, Master and Judge. He considers that the best commentary on The Dream are the Oxford sermons. Cf. WAMSLEY, G , o.e., p. 174.

180. Cf. RATZINGER, Joseph, o.e., p. 237. 181. Cf. CONGAR, Yves M., o.e., pp. 285-287. He comments on 2 Mac 12,39-46; Mt

12,31-31; 1 Cor 3,12 s; 1 Cor 5,25-26. 182. «Cum Catholica Ecclesia, Spiritu edocta, ex sacris litteris et antiqua Patrum traditione,

in sacris conciliis et novissime in hac oecumenica synodo docueritpurgatorium esse...». CONC. TRIDEN., sess. XXIV, DENZINGER, n. 983.

183. Cf. CONGAR, Yves M., o.e., p. 287. 184. During the renaissance, authors accentuated the putrefaction of the corpse, and the

total physical destruction of man. The secular response to this trend was a greater love for life and appreciation for earthly existence. Cf. TENENTI, A., o.e., pp. 121-147.

185. He compared the purgatory pains of disembodied souls to the real, yet «phantom» pains experienced by persons after a limb amputation.

186. Cf. TOLHURST, James, o. c., pp. 439-440. 187. Cf. RATZINGER, Joseph, o.e., p. 212. 188. Cf. POZO, Candido, o.e., pp. 531-533. 189. Newman wrote: «S. Bonventura docetpoenam damni in Purgatorio non esse majorem

omni poena...licet absentia Summi Boni ex se generat in amante summam tristitiam, tarnen in Purgatorio mitigatur haec tristitia, et levatur magna ex parte propter certam spem etc. Ista enim certissima spes affert incredibile gaudium». L.D., XXIV, 256, Letter to E. B. Pusey, May 13, 1869. St. Catherine of Genova commented on this notion of purgatory in her Trattato del Purgatorio (1551). St. Ignatius of Loyola expressed the same idea in The Spiritual Exercises (completed in 1541), n. 23.

190. Cf. RATZINGER, Joseph, o.e., p. 213. 191. Cf. V. V., The Dream of Gerontius, p. 366; P.P.S., V, Worship, a Preparation for

Christ's Coming, Dec. 1838, p. 5. Newman refers to 1 Cor 3 in S.N., Punishment of Sin, March 1876, p. 270.

192. Cf. Catechismus, o.e., n. 1031. 193. Ibid. 194. Cf. COUNCIL OF FLORENCE, Deer, pro Graecis (6.VII.1439) DS 1304-1306. had

taught that the separated soul is judged «immediately after death» and receives an eternal reward or punishment. Souls which need further purification before entering heaven are purified with «purgatory pains». Before this the Council of Lyon II had taught the same concerning the «poenispurgatoriis seu catharteriis». Cf. COUNCIL OF LYON II, Professio fidei Michaelis Palaeologi imperatoris (6.VII. 1274) DS, n. 856.

195. Cf. Catechismus, o.e., n. 1054. 196. «In statu qui appellator purgatorium», Cf. Catechismus, o.e., n. 1472. 197. Bellarmine had written that: «obiecto est ignis vivacissimus. Coniunctio est in ipsea

substantia, intime et non in superficie, ut corporibus evenit». ST. ROBERT BELLARMI-NE, Opera Oratoria Postuma, II, ed. STRÜMP, Sebastianus, Universitatis Gregoria-nae, Rome, 1945, p. 327.

NOTES 135

198. Cf. S.N., Purgatory, Nov. 1849, pp. 23-27. For St. John of the Cross, those who live in union with God on earth will reach a total assimilation to God after death without the need for Purgatory. Cf. ST. JOHN OF THE CROSS, Commentaries a los Poemas, Noche Oscura, Ediciones Aguilar, Madrid 1989, book 2, ch. 20.

199. Cf. DESSAIN, Charles S., Cardinal Newman and the Eastern Tradition, in «The Downside Review» 94 (1976) 83-99, especially pp. 94-96. Dessain refers to the opinion of Henri Rondet in Gratia Christi, Paris, 1948, p. 338.

200. Cf. CONGAR, Yves M., o.c, pp. 314-315. 201. A.W., Aug. 29, 1875, pp. 181-183. 202. Newman sent Pusey quotes on purgatory from St. Bonaventure, St. Bridget and St.

Bellarmine. Cf. L.D., XXIV, 256, Letter to £ B. Pusey, May 13, 1869. 203. Newman admired Bellarmine's doctrine and referred to it often in The Essay on the

Development of Christian Doctrine, see for example Dev., pp. 139, 174. St. Robert Bellarmine taught: (1) that the principal suffering in purgatory is sorrow for having offended God; (2) the pains of purgatory are greater than any pain on earth; (3) the souls of purgatory are sure of their salvation; (4) prayer, fasting, alms, and especially the Sacrifice of the Mass help the souls of purgatory; (5) Christians should have compassion for those souls and pray for them; and (6) Indulgences are a great grace from God. Cf. ST. ROBERT BELLARMINE, O.C, VIII, pp. 162,194-195.

204. The bishop of Annency maintained the doctrine of reparation for past sins, but did not consider «purgatory» a horrible situation; the souls of purgatory suffer willingly and peacefully; they are helped by the communion of the saints and are assured of their salvation. Cf. ST. FRANCIS DE SALES, Oeuvres de Saint Francois de Sales, ed. Les Soins des Religieuses de la Visitation, Annency 1900, XI, p. 199; X, p. 283.

205. In Tract 90, he had argued that Article XXII rejecting purgatory was written before the Council of Trent which prohibited superstitious practices, and the gain of any profit from indulgences for the souls in purgatory. Cf. Council of Trent, Deer, de Purgatorio (3.XII.1563); DS 1820.

206. Cf. Catechismus, o.c, on particular judgment, nn. 1020-1022; on final purification or purgatory, nn. 1030-1032.

207. Cf. PlOLANTI, Antonius, De Novissimis, Collectio Theologica Romano, VII, Domus Editorialis Marietti, Turin 1947, pp. 55-73. St. Francis de Sales spoke of «suffering with love». Cf. ST. FRANCIS DE SALES, O.C, V, p. 131.

208. Cf. BARTMANN, Bernhard, Grundis der Dogmatik, XI, Herder, Freiburg, 1931, p. 261. Congar also insists on the interior purification of the soul, and its maturation, but surprisingly does not refer to Newman's doctrine. Cf. CONGAR, Yves M., o.c, pp. 300-304; 316-320.

209. The historian and writer, Paul Johnson has described Newman's Dream ofGeron-tius as a work which is much more convincing to the mentality of contemporary society, than the fear and horror of purgatory, commonly depicted during his youth in England. Cf. JOHNSON, Paul, The Quest for God: a Personal Pilgrimage, Neidenfield & Nicolson, London 1996, p. 224.

INDEX OF THE EXCERPTUM

INTRODUCTION 7 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS OF THE THESIS 7 5 BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE THESIS 7 7 TABLE OF ABBREVIATIONS 8 5 DEATH, IMMORTALITY AND RESURRECTION IN JOHN HENRY NEWMAN 8 7 I. NEWMAN'S EXPERIENCE O F T H E DEATH O F L O V E D ONES 8 7

1. Death of his Father, John Newman 8 7 2. Death of his Sister Mary Newman 8 9 3. Mediterranean Voyage with Froude and Illness in Sicily 9 0 4. The Deaths of Hurrell Froude and Mrs. Jemima (Newman) Fou-

drinier 9 3 5. Newman's closeness to death 9 5

II. DEATH IN T H E W O R K S O F CARDINAL NEWMAN 1 0 1

1. Dying Men and Women 1 0 2 2. Death of Saints and Martyrs 1 0 5 3. Anglican Sermons 1 0 7

3 . 1 . Characteristics of the sermons 1 0 8 3 . 2 . Christian Morality 1 0 9 3 . 3 . The Intermediate State I l l

4 . Catholic Sermons 1 1 3 4 . 1 . The Holy Eucharist and Eternal Life 1 1 3 4 . 2 . Particular Judgment 1 1 5

5. «The Dream of Gerontius» 1 1 6 5 . 1 . Christian Death 1 1 7 5.2 . Purification after Death 1 1 9

CONCLUSIONS 1 2 2

NOTES 1 2 7 INDEX OF THE EXCERPTUM 1 3 7

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