In preparation for the feast of St John Henry Newman on 9th October, there will be a Triduo of prayer from Tuesday 6th October to Thursday 8th October. Do join the Fathers at 17:30 on these days to hear a beautiful meditation from St John Henry about Our Lord Jesus, accompanied by music and prayer – including a litany and a time of silence for personal meditation (the Triduo lasts about half an hour).
We are preparing for Newman’s feast this year in a special way, as we commemorate him for the first time as Doctor of the Universal Church, as declared last November by Pope Leo. This honour for the Oratory is shared by all who take Newman as patron and guide as they rejoice with all Catholics at the declaration of Newman as both Doctor and co-Patron of the Church’s educational mission.
Newman’s feast day, on 9th October, will be celebrated with a solemn Mass at 17:30 in St Bernadette’s followed by a reception. Do join us on the feast – further details to follow.
Newman wrote, “God has created me to do Him some definite service; He has committed some work to me which He has not committed to another. I have my mission—I never may know it in this life, but I shall be told it in the next”. In these words, we find beautifully expressed the mystery of the dignity of every human person, and also the variety of gifts distributed by God. Life shines brightly not because we are rich, beautiful or powerful. Instead, it shines when we discover within ourselves the truth that we are called by God, have a vocation, have a mission, that our lives serve something greater than ourselves.
From Pope Leo’s sermon at Mass on the Solemnity of All Saints’ 2026, at which St John Henry Newman was declared a Doctor the Church.