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Ex umbris et imaginibus in veritatem

Abstract: Cardinal Newman to be exhumed and reburied.

Cardinal John Henry Newman (pictured left) died on August 11, 1890 and was buried in the same grave as his long-time companion, Father Ambrose St John (d. 1875, pictured right). The memorial stone marking the two men's grave is inscribed: Ex umbris et imaginibus in veritatem (From shadow and images into truth).
In 1991 the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints declared Newman "venerable", and after 17 years, it appears that Cardinal Newman will be declared a saint later this year or early in 2009.
Anticipating Newman's beatification, the Vatican has requested that his remains be exhumed from the cemetery at Rednal and reburied in a marble sarcophagus at the Birmingham Oratory.
A nineteenth century law prohibits the removal of a body from a graveyard to a church tomb. On August 11 (the anniversary of Newman's death), the U.K. Ministry of Justice granted the Vatican an exception to this law.
Father Paul Chavasse, provost of the Birmingham Oratory and postulator for the beatification of Cardinal Newman, said:
Part of the established procedure prior to a beatification requires that, if the body of the new Beatus exists, then it must be exhumed, inspected, and transferred to a place of honour befitting the person's new status.
It should be noted that, at the specific request of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, the exhumation will be an entirely private event but that the re-interment in our church will be a public ceremony.

No schedule has been announced for the exhumation and reburial, but it is expected to take place before the end of the year.
Gay rights activist Peter Tatchell described the Vatican order as "an act of religious desecration":
The re-burial has only one aim in mind: to cover up Newman's homosexuality and to disavow his love for another man. It is an act of shameless dishonesty and personal betrayal by the gay-hating Catholic Church.
Peter Jennings, the press secretary to Fr. Chavasse, said:
The bodies do not lie side by side. The coffins are separated by about three feet of earth.

(Vol. II, xliii August 25, 2008 )

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