Newman Documentary, Day 10, Sicily

Day 10: Sicily
May 20, 2025

Dear Friends,

St. John Henry Newman experienced a significant turning point in his life during his Mediterranean journey. On April 21, 1833, he traveled by road from Messina to Catania, along Sicily’s eastern coast, passing through Taormina—a place he found so beautiful he likened it to Eden. From there, he headed inland toward Mount Etna, the snow-covered volcano he wished to climb, though it was too snow-laden and he desisted from attempting to do so. He described it as “magnificent beyond description.”

On April 26, he took a boat from Catania to Syracuse, further south along the coast, returning to Catania on the evening of the 28th. On May 1, he set off inland to the northwest but fell ill at Leonforte, a small town. He developed a fever and grew very weak—possibly typhoid. Convinced that he would not die, he wrote, “I think God has work for me yet” (AW, p. 118). After three days in an inn, he received some medical attention and was able to continue to Castro Giovanni, a larger town. Once he had sufficiently recovered, he made his way to Palermo, arriving there on May 27.

Earlier, in February, Newman had been in Palermo and had written to his sister Harriet about the city’s beauty—its magnificent churches, elegant houses, and many convents. He attended some Catholic liturgies and compared them with the reverence he had observed in Orthodox liturgies. He also noted the city’s filth and the prevalence of beggars.

During his illness, Newman was well cared for by his servant, a local doctor, and others. While in Palermo, he was pleased to learn that one of his best students, Frederic Rogers, had been elected a Fellow at Oriel.

Some weeks later, Newman would reflect on the wilfulness of his character, especially during his time at Oriel, yet he affirmed that he “had not sinned against light,” a conviction he repeated often (AW, p. 118). As his health improved, he felt an urgent sense of mission and was “aching to get home,” though the lack of a ship delayed his departure for three weeks (AW, p. 119). Finally, on June 13, he boarded a boat to Marseilles en route to England. While at sea, he composed the poem Lead, Kindly Light. He landed in France on June 27.

Years later, reflecting on the workings of Divine Providence in his life, Newman wrote about three great illnesses:

“The first keen, terrible one, when I was a boy of fifteen, and it made me a Christian—with experiences before and after, awful and unknown only to God. My second, not painful but tedious and shattering, was that which I had in 1827, when I was one of the Examining Masters, and it broke me off from an incipient liberalism and determined my religious course. The third was in 1833, when I was in Sicily, before the commencement of the Oxford Movement.”
(Diary, June 25, 1869)

Fr. William Neville, Newman’s assistant, commented on this third illness:

“The third illness…seemed to him to have been a period of probation, a kind of enforced retreat, which God had designed for him in preparation for the part he was to play in the Movement about to be initiated.” (AW, p. 120)

Thus, Sicily was for Newman not only a land of striking natural beauty, evoking ancient Greece, but above all, a place of spiritual transformation—a providential retreat.

Thank you for joining us on this journey with St. John Henry Newman. Please continue to pray for the film team and for the guests who are guiding us—so that through this documentary, many may come to know Our Lord Jesus Christ and the richness of our Catholic faith.

Here is a prayer you can say with us:

O God, who bestowed on your Priest Saint John Henry Newman the grace to follow your kindly light and find peace in your Church; graciously grant that, through his intercession and example, we may be led out of shadows and images into the fullness of your truth.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.
(From the Memorial Mass of St. John Henry Newman)