Even by Victorian standards, John Henry Cardinal Newman was a prolific writer. He wrote and published in many genres, from the controversial to the pastoral; from fiction and poetry to historical sketches and educational theory; from doctrinal apologetics to the defence of religious faith as reasonable. During his lifetime and throughout the decades since his death, scholars and students have read, analysed and discussed these works. I’ve been a student of John Henry Newman since I was a student in college when the Newman Center at Wichita State University held a week-long Newman School of Catholic Thought on his life and works. Many famous Newman scholars have informed my studies, including Fr Ian Ker, Edward Short, Joyce Sugg and Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger. Newman, however, is being canonised not because he is a great and prolific writer, with a style and mastery of the English language that even his harshest critics acknowledged in his day. It’s the holiness and faithfulness to Jesus Christ and His Church that Newman expressed in those works that led to his Cause, devotion to him and prayers for his intercession. So, which among his many works would help someone who has never read anything written by Newman understand why so many have been devoted to this saint? Here are my suggestions. Start with the Meditations and Devotions, a collection of prayers and reflections for students at the Oratory School in Birmingham. It was compiled and published by Fr William Neville in 1893, three years after Newman’s death. The saint’s simple, confident and humble faith is evident on the pages of this work, including his devotion to Our Lady, to his patron saint Philip Neri and to the Stations of the Cross, meditation before the Blessed Sacrament and the holy rosary. In the “Meditations on Christian Doctrine” the reader will find one of his most famous quotations: