‘Heart speaks unto heart’: a pilgrimage with Dr St John Henry Newman, within the Archdiocese of Birmingham, is ready to walk!

This pilgrim way follows St John Henry Newman’s spiritual path, from Evangelicalism, through High Anglicanism and finally to Catholicism. Newman (1801 – 1890) was an English Catholic theologian, academic, philosopher, historian, writer, and poet. He was an Anglican priest, and after his conversion to Catholicism, became a cardinal. He was an important figure in the religious history of England in the C19. The route was walked to mark Newman being proclaimed a Doctor of the Church on 1st November 2025.

The way starts at Deddington where Newman gave his first public address in 1825, via Over Worton, where he preached his first sermon as an Anglican priest. The walk continues through Oxford where Newman was educated, ordained as an Anglican minister and led the Oxford Tractarian Movement. The route ends at Littlemore where Newman founded a High Anglican church. Here in 1845, he became a Catholic.

This pilgrimage is an adaption of the existing Newman Pilgrimage which was created by Rev Hugh White and is based on the journeys Newman made as a young man from Oxford to Deddington. Newman walked the eighteen miles to Over Worton from Oxford, starting at 4am and arriving ‘punctually at the breakfast table’! Details of that pilgrimage can be found at: http://www.newmanpilgrimage.org/. Neither route follows Newman's probable path which is now a busy road.