John Henry Newman was an important and controversial figure in the religious history of England in the 19th century. An esteemed academic, prolific author and convert from the Church of England to Catholicism, Newman was a complex and conflicted individual. Intensely loyal to his friends, highly-strung, kind-hearted, and tenacious, Newman combined the best of both the Anglican and Catholic traditions. His volume of lectures entitled The Idea of a University explained his philosophy of education. During the four years he spent in Dublin he was instrumental in the founding of the Catholic University of Ireland in 1854; this later evolved into University College Dublin, now the largest university in Ireland. John Henry Newman was declared a saint on 13th October 2019.
