About the Author: John Henry Cardinal Newman (1801–1890) was an Anglican clergyman and a prominent member of the Oxford movement, a movement within the Anglican church that opposed Liberalism and sought to restore Mediaeval English traditions. After intensive study of Arianism and the early Church, Newman became convinced that the one true Church was the Catholic Church. He entered into communion with the Catholic Church in 1845 and was made a cardinal of the church of Rome in 1879. He was named the 38th Doctor of the Church on November 1, 2025.
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Whene’er across this sinful flesh of mine
I draw the Holy Sign,
All good thoughts stir within me, and renew
Their slumbering strength divine;
Till there springs up a courage high and true
To suffer and to do.
And who shall say, but hateful spirits around,
For their brief hour unbound,
Shudder to see, and wail their overthrow?
While on far heathen ground
Some lonely Saint hails the fresh odour, though
Its source he cannot know?