In a letter to his mother, Newman not only described how the Mediterranean was the seat of the most celebrated empires and events, but also how it had become the center of the lives of the church fathers.

What did John Henry Newman learn from his first journey to Rome in 1833, and how did it affect him? Did he experience what he later called an "enlargement of mind" during this visit to Rome?

In a letter from 1863 to his sister Jemima, John Henry Newman remarked that "a man's life lies in his letters." Equally revealing, perhaps—at least in Newman's case—are the prayers that he composed and recited.

The news finally arrived today. Ever since it was announced in February that Newman would be canonized, we've been waiting eagerly to learn the details of when and how the ceremony would take place.

The place where the educational process unfolds must be a place where all of reality is presented (Giussani, The Risk of Education, 133).

One of the great challenges in Newman scholarship today has to do with making Newman's work more applicable for members of the younger generations, many of whom have never been exposed to his thought and writings.

It's easy to read this account from Scripture and to cast aspersions on Esau. "How could he have been so foolish?" we wonder. "I'd never act that rashly," we tell ourselves. Yet how often in our own lives do we make a similar, yet graver mistake by squandering the gifts of God—in our case, the graces that we receive through the sacraments—in exchange for some lesser good?

For Newman, the disciplines of Lent—in this case, fasting—are a way for the Christian to participate mystically in the life of Christ. By intensifying our self-denial for these forty days of Lent, we come to know, in part, what Christ experienced in full measure:

In reading Newman's letters and diaries, it's clear that he knew of divine mercy not as an abstract theological idea, but at a deeply personal level as a core part of his spiritual journey. Because he himself had experienced the grace of God in many profound ways, Newman was eager to encourage others to cast themselves before the mercy seat.

While they lived in different centuries, different nations, and in vastly different geo-political situations, Newman and Giussani shared a common interest in resolving the challenges of living the Christian life presented by a world that was growing increasingly secular and irreligious.