On November 1, Pope Leo XIV proclaimed St. John Henry Newman as a Doctor of the Catholic Church, in a moving spiritual celebration in the Vatican, which was witnessed by thousands.
Pope Leo said, “It is a great joy to include Saint John Henry Newman among the Doctors of the Church, and, at the same time, on the occasion of the Jubilee of the World of Education, to name him, together with Saint Thomas Aquinas, as co-patron of the Church’s educational mission.”
Newman thus became the 38th Doctor of the Catholic Church, joining a select group of saints recognized for their enduring contribution to Catholic theology and spirituality. He is especially noted for his insights on the development of doctrine and the role of conscience.
Significantly, Pope Francis canonized John Henry Newman (1801–90) as a saint of the Catholic Church on October 13, 2019. The ceremony took place just days after the world celebrated (on October 2) the 150th birth anniversary of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (1869–1948), the National Father of India. Both Newman’s canonization and Gandhi’s sesquicentennial were momentous events. What is little known, however, is the connection between Mahatma Gandhi and Saint Newman, and the amazing similarities that marked their lives! Newman had a profound influence on Gandhi.
As a professor at Oxford University, Newman proved to be one of the foremost scholars and thinkers of his time. Newman’s most well-known poem-prayer, Lead, Kindly Light (dated June 16, 1833), was apparently penned during his search to do what is right.
He wrote it when he was stranded in Palermo, Italy, for three weeks. He was impatient to return home, but he was sick; besides, there was no boat to take him back to England.
Newman writes, “I began to visit the churches, and they calmed my impatience, though I did not attend any services. At last, I got off in an orange boat, bound for Marseilles. We were becalmed for a whole week in the Straits of Bonifacio, and it was there that I wrote the lines ‘Lead, Kindly Light,’ which have since become so well known.”
In a matter of time, this poem became very popular in literary circles and church circles in England, the United States, and other parts of the vast British Empire of that time.
Lead, Kindly Light held a unique position as the motto of Gandhi’s Satyagraha (the force of truth) movement.
There is a deep spirituality, yet an unnerving similarity in both Newman and Gandhi, which is reflected in the very first verse of the poem:
“Lead, Kindly Light, amid the encircling gloom,
Lead Thou me on!
The night is dark, and I am far from home,
Lead Thou me on!
Keep Thou my feet; I do not ask to see
The distant scene, one step enough for me.”
In his homily at the ceremony for Newman, Pope Leo said, “We must work together to set humanity free from the encircling gloom of nihilism, which is perhaps the most dangerous malady of contemporary culture, since it threatens to ‘cancel’ hope. This reference to the darkness that surrounds us echoes one of Newman’s best-known texts, the hymn Lead, Kindly Light. In that beautiful prayer, we come to realize that we are far from home, our feet are unsteady, and we cannot interpret clearly the way ahead. Yet none of this impedes us, since we have found our Guide: ‘Lead, Kindly Light, amid the encircling gloom, Lead Thou me on.’”
Both Newman and Gandhi went through a painful process of search, a pursuit of truth, to be able to embrace the truth from the untruth, the right from the wrong. It was one of spiritual discernment, asking for light and conversion, before they unreservedly plunged into the crucial next step in their journey ahead. These ‘enlightened steps’ were indeed turning points in their lives and in the profound impact they had on the lives of several others.
In 1916, after Mahatma Gandhi had established his ashram on the banks of the River Sabarmati, Ahmedabad, Lead, Kindly Light had a very special place in the daily prayers of the Ashram. Gandhi had the prayer translated into the native Gujarati language. For more than thirty years, several of Gandhi’s writings and speeches had a reference to the phrases Lead, Kindly Light or one step enough for me.
Once, when asked the reason for his constant references to Newman and the latter’s works, Gandhi was quick in his retort, “He is perhaps the only honest Englishman I have come across!”
On March 10, 1947, Gandhi wrote to Vinobha Bhave, his closest disciple, “In my prayers, I pray to God to lead me from untruth to truth; isn’t it the same idea conveyed in ‘Lead, Kindly Light’?”
In India, people live today, as the anti-Nazi poet and playwright Bertolt Brecht would say, “in dark times.” The country desperately needs selfless and committed leaders, in the mould of Newman and Gandhi, who have the courage, the vision, and the ability to emulate their values and strengths. Saint Newman and Mahatma Gandhi were characterized by their spiritual depth and intellectual honesty. As we celebrate the Mahatma and the Saint, let us resolve to learn from them: the depth to pray Lead, Kindly Light. India today yearns for Mahatmas and Saints, who have the openness to search for what is right, the transparency which is innate, the humility to discern, the audacity to take risks, and above all, the unflinching courage to stand up, visibly and vocally, for justice and truth!
(Fr. Cedric Prakash SJ, an Indian Jesuit, is a human rights, reconciliation, environmental & peace activist/writer.)
