Second healing attributed to Newman intercession

After an extensive local investigation, the Archdiocese of Chicago has forwarded to the Vatican a possible miracle attributed to the intercession of Cardinal John Henry Newman, writes Kenneth L. Woodward.

If it is sustained by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, it would be the second miracle necessary for his canonisation. The case involves a Catholic mother who survived a life-threatening pregnancy after praying to Newman. Her physicians have testified that they cannot explain her sudden cure. The Roman postulator for Newman’s cause, Dr Andrea Ambrosi, declined to comment on the miracle unless and until it is approved by the Congregation and officially promulgated by Pope Francis.

This is not surprising: a previous healing in Mexico attributed to Newman’s intercession, involving a baby who was born perfectly healthy after prenatal scans showed it had deformities, was discussed publicly in 2010 but never approved by the Congregation.

Newman’s path to sainthood has been a protracted one. Documentation in support of his cause was not sent to Rome until 1958, 68 years after his death.

This was before the canonisation process was streamlined in 1983 under Pope John Paul II. But it took another 43 years before Newman was declared Venerable by the same pope in 1991. He was beatified by Benedict XVI in Birmingham in 2010 after the Vatican approved the first miracle, the healing of a deacon in Boston of a debilitating back condition.

The mother in relation to whom the second miracle is being investigated is a graduate of Washington University, St Louis, and Northwestern University School of Law, Evanston, Illinois.

For more details and analysis by Kenneth L. Woodward visit www.thetablet.co.uk