Cardinal Newman to be reinterred in preparation for sainthood

Ruth Gledhill of The Times states that the Vatican has ordered that the body of Cardinal Newman be exhumed and reinterred in a marble sarcophagus, where it can be more easily venerated by the faithful.

"The Causes of Saints wants the remains of John Henry Newman, who died in 1890, to be moved from a secluded cemetery and placed in the Birmingham Oratory, part of the English Oratory movement that he founded. ...

The Cardinal, already a Venerable, is expected to take the next step up the ladder to sainthood this year when Pope Benedict XVI declares him “Blessed”. ... He was the founder of the Anglo-Catholic Oxford Movement revival in the 19th century and advocated a “via media” for the Church of England. But eventually he could no longer walk it himself and was received by Rome in 1845, and created a cardinal eventually.

Medics investigating the Newman cause have already validated one miracle. Another would be needed before he took the final step to sainthood, however, at least one other person claiming a miraculous cure after praying for the cardinal’s intercession is known to be waiting to testify.

Cardinal Newman, founder of the English Oratory of St Philip Neri, died in Edgbaston, Birmingham, on August 11, 1890, aged 89. His funeral Mass was held a week later when more than 15,000 people lined the route as his cortège made its way to the Oratory House at Rednal, on the outskirts of Birmingham, where he was buried in a small, secluded cemetery used by other members of his community.

After the exhumation, which must first be authorised by the British authorities, the body of Cardinal Newman would be put in a specially made, simple, marble sarcophagus and placed in the Birmingham Oratory. "