I have never been much of a fan of holy relics, and the mumbo-jumbo end of Catholicism didn’t much appeal to the Victorian convert John Henry Newman either.

The Anglican who became a cardinal, and was made a saint by Pope Francis in 2019, is an enigma.

When they opened his grave looking for relics, his body had completely decomposed. But his spirit thrives in secular institutions we all take for granted: universities.

His essay The Idea of a University established the principles underpinning higher education in these islands since the mid-1800s. As first rector of the Catholic University in Dublin, he set University College Dublin on its path.

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Surprisingly perhaps, Newman did not see universities as a tool for proselytising, but he believed in the intrinsic value of education for the benefit of individuals and society. No subject should be out of bounds.

Newman believed everything came from God, and he welcomed every branch of learning – even those the religious of his time viewed with suspicion.

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