On 1 November, Pope Leo XIV proclaimed St. John Henry Newman a Doctor of the Catholic Church, in a moving spiritual celebration at the Vatican witnessed by thousands.
Pope Leo said, “It is a great joy to include Saint John Henry Newman among the Doctors of the Church, and, at the same time, on the occasion of the Jubilee of the World of Education, to name him, together with Saint Thomas Aquinas, as co-Patron of the Church’s educational mission. Newman’s impressive spiritual and cultural stature will surely serve as an inspiration to new generations whose hearts thirst for the infinite, and who, through research and knowledge, are willing to undertake that journey which, as the ancients said, takes us per aspera ad astra—through difficulties to the stars.”
Newman thus became the 38th Doctor of the Catholic Church, joining a select group of saints recognised for their enduring contribution to Catholic theology and spirituality. He is especially noted for his insights on the development of doctrine and the role of conscience.
Significantly, Pope Francis canonised John Henry Newman (1801–90) as a saint of the Catholic Church on 13 October 2019. The ceremony took place just days after the world celebrated (on 2 October) the 150th birth anniversary of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (1869–1948).
Both Newman’s canonisation and Gandhi’s sesquicentennial were momentous events. What is little known, however, is the connection between Mahatma Gandhi and Saint Newman, and the remarkable similarities that marked their lives. Besides, it is important to note that Newman had a profound influence on Gandhi.
As a professor at Oxford University, Newman proved to be one of the foremost scholars and thinkers of his time. He could hold vast congregations of students and intellectuals spellbound with his depth, erudition, and brilliant communication skills. He was a spiritual and intellectual giant—a theologian and a poet, a writer and an orator all rolled into one. He was a prolific and incisive writer.
He became known as a leader and an able polemicist for the Oxford Movement, an influential but controversial group within the Anglican Church that challenged some of its practices and sought to restore elements of liturgy from the Catholic tradition. Newman was a relentless seeker of truth. In a major shock to the Victorian establishment and intelligentsia of his time, he finally left the Church of England to embrace Catholicism in 1845.
Newman’s most well-known poem-prayer, Lead, Kindly Light (dated 16 June 1833), was apparently penned during his search to do what was right. He wrote it while stranded in Palermo, Italy, for three weeks. He was impatient to return home, but he was ill and there was no boat to take him back to England.
Newman wrote, “I began to visit the churches, and they calmed my impatience, though I did not attend any services. At last, I got off in an orange boat bound for Marseilles. We were becalmed for a whole week in the Straits of Bonifacio, and it was there that I wrote the lines, ‘Lead, Kindly Light’, which have since become so well known.”
In time, this poem (first published in 1834) became very popular in literary and church circles in England, the United States, and other parts of the vast British Empire.
Gandhi, who studied at Alfred High School in Rajkot, would most probably have come to know of this poem as a schoolboy. He became more acquainted with it as a law student in London from 1888 to 1891—just around the time of Newman’s death, which had left a deep void in the intellectual and religious circles of England.
Later, in South Africa, the tremendous impact this poem had on Gandhi became evident from the fact that Lead, Kindly Light held a unique position as the motto of the Satyagraha (Force of Truth) movement. On 11 September 1906, Gandhi organised the first Satyagraha campaign to protest against the Transvaal Asiatic Ordinance that discriminated against local Indians. Again, in June 1907, he led another Satyagraha against the Black Act.
There is a deep spirituality—and an unnerving similarity—in both Newman and Gandhi, reflected in the very first verse of the poem:
“Lead, Kindly Light, amid th’encircling gloom,
Lead Thou me on!
The night is dark, and I am far from home—
Lead Thou me on!
Keep Thou my feet; I do not ask to see
The distant scene—one step enough for me.”
In his homily at the ceremony for Newman, Pope Leo said:
“We must work together to set humanity free from the encircling gloom of nihilism, which is perhaps the most dangerous malady of contemporary culture, since it threatens to ‘cancel’ hope. This reference to the darkness that surrounds us echoes one of Newman’s best-known texts, the hymn Lead, Kindly Light. In that beautiful prayer, we come to realise that we are far from home, our feet are unsteady, we cannot interpret clearly the way ahead. Yet none of this impedes us, since we have found our Guide: ‘Lead, Kindly Light, amid th’encircling gloom, Lead Thou me on.’ The task of education is precisely to offer this Kindly Light to those who might otherwise remain imprisoned by the particularly insidious shadows of pessimism and fear. For this reason, I would like to say to you: let us disarm the false reasons for resignation and powerlessness, and let us share the great reasons for hope in today’s world. Let us reflect upon and point out to others those ‘constellations’ that transmit light and guidance in this present time, darkened by so much injustice and uncertainty.”
Both men went through a painful process of search—a pursuit of truth; the struggle to embrace truth over untruth, right over wrong. It was a journey of spiritual discernment, of seeking light and undergoing conversion, before they unreservedly plunged into the next crucial step of their journeys.
These ‘enlightened steps’ were indeed turning points—in their own lives and in the profound impact they had on others. Our country today is being throttled by lies, half-truths, and empty promises; some of those who control the reins of power revel in falsehood and hypocrisy.
In 1916, after Mahatma Gandhi had established his ashram on the banks of the River Sabarmati in Ahmedabad, Lead, Kindly Light had a very special place in the daily prayers of the ashram. Gandhi had the prayer translated into Gujarati by Narasimharao Divetia; the initial words read: “Premal Jyoti (Light of Love) taaro daakhavi Muj jeevan panth ujaal. Dur padyo nij dhaamthi hun ne ghere ghan andhaar, Maarg suje nav ghor rajanimaan, nij shishune sambhaal; Maaro jeevanpanth ujaal.”
For more than thirty years, several of Gandhi’s writings and speeches referred to the phrases Lead, Kindly Light or one step enough for me. Once, when asked the reason for his constant references to Newman and the latter’s works, Gandhi was quick to reply, “He is perhaps the only honest Englishman I have come across!” On 10 March 1947, Gandhi wrote to Vinoba Bhave, his closest disciple: “In my prayers, I pray to God to lead me from untruth to truth; isn’t it the same idea conveyed in ‘Lead, Kindly Light’?”
In India today, we live, as the anti-Nazi poet and playwright Bertolt Brecht would say, “in dark times.” The country desperately needs selfless and committed leaders—in the mould of Newman and Gandhi—who have the courage, the vision, and the ability to emulate their values and strengths. Saint Newman and Mahatma Gandhi were characterised by their spiritual depth and intellectual honesty. As we celebrate the Mahatma and the Saint, let us resolve to learn from them: the depth to pray Lead, Kindly Light. Our country today yearns for Mahatmas and Saints—who have the openness to search for what is right, the transparency that is innate, the humility to discern, the audacity to take risks, and above all, the unflinching courage to stand up, visibly and vocally, for justice and truth!
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*Human rights, reconciliation, and peace activist and writer
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