McGrath Fms Francis J.

From 1824 to 1843, Newman was an active clergyman in the Church of England. Throughout these twenty years, he entered the pulpit about 1,270 times and wrote about 600 sermons. Of these, he eventually published 217 sermons which he had written and delivered; a further 246 sermons survive in manuscript form in the Archives of the Birmingham Oratory. Volume V marks the second and final stage of a project which began with the publication of the first volume of his celebrated The Letters and Diaries of John Henry Newman in 1961, concluding 32 volumes later in 2008. Volume I of his unpublished Anglican sermons was published in 1991; Volume II in 1993; Volume III in 2010; Volume IV in 2011.

Volume V contains 51 sermons plus 62 sermon abstracts, all but 2 of which belong to the 20 months when he was Curate of St Clement’s, Oxford, from June 1824 until April 1826. During his tenure there, he composed 150 sermons; approximately one quarter of his Anglican output. Part I begins with the first sermon he ever preached and concludes with his farewell sermon. They demonstrate to what extent Newman was an Evangelical on first entering Anglican orders. Part II contains 2 charity sermons preached after resigning the curacy; one on the virtue of almsgiving for the purpose of raising funds for unemployed workers affected by the Stock Market crash of 1825; the other on National Schools and their close connection with the Anglican Church.

Francis J. McGrath, FMS, Birmingham Oratory