Newman, John Henry (1801–1890)

English Roman Catholic theologian. While still an Anglican, he wrote a series of Tracts for the Times, which gave their name to the Tractarian Movement (subsequently called the Oxford Movement) for the revival of Catholicism. He became a Catholic in 1845 and was made a cardinal in 1879. In 1864 his autobiography, Apologia pro vita sua, was published.

Newman, born in London, was ordained in the Church of England in 1824, and in 1827 became vicar of St Mary's, Oxford. There he was influenced by the historian R H Froude and the Anglican priest Keble, and in 1833 published the first of the Tracts for the Times.His poem The Dream of Gerontius appeared in 1866, the words of which were used in Edward Elgar's The Dream of Gerontius, The Grammar of Assent, an analysis of the nature of belief, in 1870, and The Idea of a University in 1873.