On Good Friday, as Catholics piously walk the Via Crucis, many will pray the meditations of John Henry Newman – and not just because he is expected to be canonised later this year. They are a rare combination of theological depth, spiritual intensity and literary quality – much like the man himself.
There are two versions, the longer and the shorter. In 2001, for the bicentennial of Newman’s birth, his meditations were chosen for the night-time papal Via Crucis at the Colosseum. The shorter version was chosen, as it almost always is for public recitation, because it is thought a bit too controversial to use the more profound longer version. The text too bold for timid souls is the Sixth Station (Veronica), which Newman beautifully connects to the Fourth Station (Blessed Mother) and the Fifth Station (Simon of Cyrene).
