A miracle for sainthood

Richard A. Sokerka

Blessed John Henry Newman, a Roman Catholic cardinal, scholar, and founder of the Oratory of St. Philip Neri in England, will soon be a saint.

Pope Francis approved his canonization on Feb. 13, after the Holy Father signed off on a second miracle attributed to the intercession of Newman, who was beatified by Pope Benedict XVI in 2010.

The first miracle attributed to Newman’s intercession involved the complete and inexplicable healing of a deacon from a disabling spinal condition.

The second miracle that God worked through the intercession of Newman involved a Chicago mother of three who faced life-threatening complications during her pregnancy with her fourth child but suddenly recovered when she prayed to the cardinal for help in 2013.

The stay-at-home mother’s pregnancy was considered high risk because she was over 40 and had suffered previous miscarriages. As a result, her doctor ordered blood tests on the baby early on and monitored the pregnancy closely. She started to bleed during the pregnancy and was diagnosed in spring 2013 with a subchorionic hematoma, a blood clot in the fetal membrane. The only thing doctors can do for that condition is prescribe bed rest. If the blood clot ruptures, it can result in a spontaneous miscarriage.

One morning, she started to hemorrhage and locked herself in the bathroom. She felt she was losing her baby. At that moment she called out, “Cardinal Newman, please stop the bleeding!” And the bleeding immediately stopped.

Afterward, when her doctor examined her, the baby’s heart tones were normal and she was able to continue all normal activities for the rest of her pregnancy. She has since gone on to have two more children through normal pregnancies. By all indications, she should have lost that baby if not for Blessed Newman’s intercession.

Blessed Newman was there that day to hear and heal that woman’s bleeding and save the life of her child in the womb.

But he is often known as “absent Father of Vatican II” because his writings on conscience, religious liberty, Scripture, the vocation of lay people, the relation of Church and State, and other topics were extremely influential in the shaping of the Council’s documents. Maybe “absent Father of Vatican II” is the wrong terminology because he was certainly there in spirit to have had such a big influence on the Council Fathers.

Thanks to his steadfast preaching of the Good News by word and example, through his intercession for healing within the Church and its members, he deserves to be declared a saint.