St. John Henry Newman feast day marks first celebration as Doctor of the Church

October 9 marks the feast day of St. John Henry Newman, the first celebration of his feast day since he was named the 38th Doctor of the Church in 2020.

Unlike many saints whose feast days coincide with their death, Newman’s feast day commemorates the date of his conversion to Catholicism in 1845. A former Anglican minister, Newman sought a middle ground within Anglicanism before concluding that the fullness of the faith was found in Roman Catholicism. Following his conversion, he was ordained a Catholic priest in 1847 and later founded the Oratory of Saint Philip Neri in London and Birmingham. He died in Birmingham in 1890.