King visits Birmingham Oratory in honour of Saint John Henry Newman

His Majesty the King has visited the Birmingham Oratory in honour of Saint John Henry Newman.

Arriving at the Oratory on 3 September, the King was met by the Archbishop of Birmingham, Bernard Longley, and the Provost of the community, Father Ignatius Harrison.

Daniel Joyce, curator of the Newman Museum, led the King’s tour of the community’s buildings, including the sacristy, where some of Newman’s vestments are kept, and the Cardinal’s Room, which remains exactly as St John Henry left it when he died in 1890.

In the library, the King was shown Brian Walton’s London Polyglot Bible (1657), which contains the entire Bible in nine different languages arranged in parallel columns, enabling side-by-side comparison. He was also shown a handwritten manuscript of The Dream of Gerontius, Newman’s most famous poem, written in 1865 and set to music by Edward Elgar in 1900.

Saint John Henry Newman founded the Birmingham Oratory in 1848, four years after his conversion to the Catholic faith from Anglicanism. He came into contact with the Congregation of the Oratory of St Philip Neri during his time studying for the priesthood in Rome. The Oratorians—a community of secular priests living together under a common rule but without vows—appealed to him for their blend of structure and stability without the obligation of formal vows. This synthesis of freedom and community life particularly suited the recent convert. Upon his return to England, he set about founding the community, and in 1852 the Birmingham Oratory moved to its present home in Edgbaston.

Today, there are seven Oratorian houses in England and Wales. The community has more men training for the priesthood than any diocese in the UK and has been at the forefront of the revival of Catholicism across the country, ushering in hundreds of converts and making the sacraments readily available. Holy Mass is offered seven times on a Sunday and three times on weekdays, with confessions heard beforehand.

King Charles has long been an admirer of Newman’s work, describing him as a “fearless defender of truth” and “a thinker ahead of his time” at his canonisation in October 2019, which he attended.

The visit marked the King’s return to public duties following a summer break at Balmoral. Later that same day, he also opened the Midland Metropolitan University Hospital.

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