Book Review: Cardinal Newman’s Path to Holiness and Hindu Echoes

By Isaac Harold Gomes –

Title: The Triumph of Failure
Author: Dr Sister Merlyn George SCSC

Publisher: Salesian Publications

The Triumph of Failure is a biography of Saint John Henry Cardinal Newman (21 February 1801 – 11 August 1890).  Newman, the 19th-century’s most important English-speaking Catholic theologian, spent the first half of his life as an Anglican and the second half as a Roman Catholic celibate priest. He was a very popular preacher (both young and the old, the orthodox and the modern thronged to listen to his engrossing sermons), a writer, a critical thinker, leader of national proportions and one of the greatest religious authorities in both churches. He was a strong proponent of Laity’s partnership in the Church and its institutions. His pioneering recommendations were summarily rejected by his bishops but accepted a century later by Second Vatican Council in Lumen Gentium and Apostolicam Actuositatem.

Dr Sister Merlyn George SCSC, the author of this 439-page in-depth book (published by Salesian Publications – Sonada & Siliguri), is from the Sisters of Mercy of the Holy Cross congregation. She is the immediate past Principal of St. Joseph’s College for Women, Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh. Prior to that she was on the faculty of Salesian College, Sonada, and the Holy Cross Institute, Kurseong.  

This biography primarily centres on the spiritual success that Cardinal Newman, a single-minded ‘Seeker of Truth’ and a primary driver of the Oxford or Tractarian Movement (1833-1845), found through his numerous setbacks.

Newman was one of the central figures of the Oxford Movement (1833-1845 also known as Tractarian Movement), which sought to restore early Christian traditions, doctrines, and practices within the Church of England and urged the Church to affirm that its authority came from God and not the State. Newman contended through `Tract-90’ (90 theological influential pamphlets published in 1833-1841) that the Church of England’s Thirty-Nine foundational Articles aligned with the Catholic practices of the early Church Fathers. This exploded fierce controversy, with many Anglican bishops condemning it as a veiled attempt to introduce Roman Catholicism into the Church of England.

 

The backlash from Tract-90 led to Newman’s downright humiliation, ostracization and his conversion to Roman Catholicism in 1845. The shock his conversion alienated many in the Anglican Church which declared him a heretic and traitor. Lord Morley termed it an “earthquake” to the whole of England.

Newman had to pay a heavy price for his conversion to Catholicism:

·He lost his job and his friends and the influence he had on the minds of Anglicans throughout England.

·He deeply offended his sisters Jemima and Harriet

·It was agonising for him that he had to switch from his beloved Anglican Church to the Church of Rome.

 

Newman’s life illustrates how accepting suffering, living honestly for faith, and taking personal limitations in one’s stride ultimately led to greater spiritual fulfilment, where his apparent failures were converted to intense holiness. 

Pope Francis canonized Cardinal Newman on 13 October 2019. On 1st November 2025 (All Saints Day), Pope Leo XIV extolled him as “a light for new generations, a guide for those who seek truth with humility and a companion for all who walk the demanding road of faith,” and pronounced him the 38th (and the only English) Doctor of the Universal Church and also Co-patron of Catholic education, putting him alongside St. Thomas Aquinas in that role.

Saint Newman is called the “Absent Father of Vatican II” because his writings on conscience, religious liberty, Scripture, the vocation of lay people, the relation between the Church and State (one of the contentious issues of Oxford Movement), and other topics were extremely influential in shaping the Council’s 16 documents.

Newman was born in a well-to-do family. His father was a banker in London. His parents were devout Christians and regularly read the Bible. So, he had a very religious upbringing and developed a deep love for the Bible (which later he termed ‘outpourings of eternal harmony’) from his childhood. He studied at Oxford’s Trinity College, was a tutor at Oriel College, and for 17 years was vicar of Oxford University’s St. Mary the Virgin Church.

In her book Dr Merlyn has linked Newman’s persona with Indic scriptures/ Hindu sacred texts, Shruti (Vedas/Upanishads) and Smriti (Puranas, Mahabharata/Bhagavad Gita) as follows:

· God is infinite and reveals himself to His ‘finite’ children according to their individual grasping capability. This quest/thirst of the human to understand the divine is found in all religious traditions.Saint Newman was one such ‘Seeker of Truth.’

· Jesus Christ is the perfect example of a yogi who is an integrated and organic whole, the way Gita views a man. He was a Gyani (wise), a great Bhakt (unquestioning obedience to God the Father), a healer and at the same time a servant-leader. Newman inculcated similar attributes.

· Dr Merlyn refers to ‘Aano Bahadraha Kratavo Yantu Vishwataha’ in Rig Veda V.I.89:1. This means ‘Let noble thoughts come to us from every direction.’It’s in line with Pope John XXIII’s historic “Open all windows” call at the start of Vatican Council-II, meaning the Church should allow “fresh air (thoughts)” to connect with contemporary world, fostering dialogue and renewal rather than overly critical or closed-off attitudes.Newman was an advocate of ‘liberal’ education and didn’t see any conflict between faith and scientific pursuits. His mindset aligned with Rig Veda V.I.89:1 and ‘aggiornamento’ (bringing up to date) of Vatican-II.

· Newman discerned that the only permanent truth is God the Creator. All the rest in this world is unreal, ‘Maya.’ This realisation helped him develop self-detachment from the materialistic/consumerist world.

· He held that Truth is far larger than any single mind can comprehend. The human mind itself exists in a flow of knowledge that is constantly changing.

· Like Ramkrishna Paramhamsa (guru of Swami Vivekananda) he realised that all religions of the world lead to the one destination that is God.

·To him faith and reason were distinct and complementary, not opposed; both were gifts from God.

KEY ASPECTS “TRIUMPH OF FAILURE”

• Conversion
       (The "Great Failure"): Newman's conversion to Catholicism in
       1845 was seen as a massive betrayal by his Anglican peers, ending his
       prominent leadership in the Oxford
       Movement and shattering his reputation with
       many. Yet, he viewed it as the logical culmination of his search for truth,
       at a huge personal cost.

• Embracing
       Suffering:In critical/pioneering
       thinking, Newman was light years ahead of his contemporaries and
       superiors.Therefore, he was often
       misunderstood, and faced frequent opposition to his projects which were
       stopped in their tracks. He saw this vulnerability/ suffering as a path to
       God, modelled his life on Christ's suffering and resurrection, and believed
       that "we should succeed by failure".

• The Role of Reason versus Faith: His "triumph" involved submitting
       intellect to faith and recognizing the limits of reason in spiritual
       matters.

• Spiritual
       Fruitfulness: Despite heartbreaking setbacks, his deep commitment to truth
       and communion with God allowed him to achieve spiritual clarity. His
       beatification and canonization recognized his holiness, turning his
       apparent failures into crowning glory. 

• Biglietto Speech:
       His famous 1879 speech upon being made a Cardinal famously echoed this
       theme, acknowledging his difficult journey and asserting that personal
       trials can lead to greater spiritual success, embodying the idea of
       "succeeding by failure". 

Cardinal John Henry Newman’s most important works include his spiritual autobiography ‘Apologia Pro Vita Sua’ – his philosophical defence of faith and his theological journey from Anglicanism to Catholicism, ‘Grammar of Assent’ – his influential treatise on intellect/higher education, ‘The Idea of a University’, his groundbreaking essay on doctrinal change, ‘An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine’,‘Tracts for the Times’(1833-1841): A series of influential pamphlets during the Oxford Movement, alongside his famous poem ‘Dream of Gerontius’ depicting a pious man’s soul journeying from death through judgment to Purgatory, set to music by Sir Edward Elgar.

Amid:

§ alarming polarization (religion, caste, creed and ethnicity);

§ superpowers’ contempt for the sovereignty of other nations and their voracious hunger to gobble up other nations’ critical resources through military might (examples: Venezuela, Ukraine, Greenland);

§ jealousy/backbiting (which Newman experienced firsthand from both the churches for his ‘bloodless martyrdom’, as mentioned in the book); and

§ our unquenchable urge for immediate gratification

This biography of Saint John Newman proves that his spirituality/philosophy to encourage Catholic education of the Laity in both liberal arts and scientific pursuits, and above all his self-emptying and self-effacing way of life (a touchstone of a true Christ-Bhakt), are much more relevant today’s precarious world, where US President Donald Trump’s text message to Norway’s Prime Minister Jonas Garh, shockingly reads: “Considering your country decided not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize for having stopped eight wars PLUS, I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of peace, although it will always be predominant, but can now think about what is good and proper for the United States of America.” (Source: The Telegraph Calcutta 20.01.2026).

For further insights on Newman’s manifold virtues, readers may refer to the link below:

Additional Attributes of Cardinal Newman