Tribunal seeks to confirm miracle

The Archdiocese of Boston has convened a secret tribunal to investigate whether a religious miracle occurred in Boston when a disabled man regained his ability to walk after seeking the intercession of a deceased British cardinal who some Catholics would like to see named a saint.

Evidence of such a miracle would mark a major step toward the canonization of the cardinal, John Henry Newman, according to a British priest who advocates Newman's sainthood.

Few details are known about the Boston man, a church deacon, who reported being cured, and church officials guard the secrecy of such investigations. It is not clear, for example, when the man regained his ability to walk, although it appears to have occurred in the last few years.

Father Paul Chavasse, the Birmingham, England, priest who advocates recognizing Newman as a saint, said in a telephone interview that he had seen correspondence from Boston-area doctors who he said concluded there was no medical explanation for the recovery of the man, who had suffered from a spinal cord ailment. According to Chavasse, one of the doctors said: ''If you want an explanation, ask God."

''It looks very good, but it is still being investigated, so until that is complete we have to be quite cautious," Chavasse said. ''[But] all those who have been working for the cause of Cardinal Newman are quite convinced that he is a saint. The miracle is a sign from heaven of his sanctity."

The tribunal in the Boston Archdiocese began its work in late June and will continue until February, when it will report its findings to the Vatican's Sacred Congregation for the Causes of Saints, Chavasse said.

At the Vatican, two panels -- one of physicians, another of theologians -- will review the findings.

Verification of the Boston-area miracle could lead to Newman's beatification -- that is, public declaration of his holiness by the Vatican. A second miracle, verified in the same manner, would be required before the pope could recognize him as a saint. But verification of the first miracle would be a major step.

A spokesman for the Boston Archdiocese, Kevin Shea, said the archdiocese's role was limited to collecting testimony and medical evidence, and forwarding that information to Rome.

''We are not disagreeing that there is an investigation underway," said Shea, who added that no specific information about the reported miracle could be made public because of the secrecy rules governing such proceedings.

Newman was a leading philosopher, intellectual, and religious figure of the 19th century.

Born into the Church of England in 1801, he was recognized early as an outstanding student and became a prominent Anglican vicar while he was very young.

Following a serious illness during a Mediterranean tour in the 1830s, he returned to England feeling that he had been saved for a special mission and launched the Oxford Movement.

According to a Catholic Church history of Newman, the movement sought to combat spiritual stagnation, state interference, and doctrinal unorthodoxy in the Church of England.

This led to a series of disagreements with other leading Anglican figures, and to Newman's conversion to Catholicism.

He studied for the Catholic priesthood in Rome, and on his return he brought to England the Oratory of St. Philip Neri, a Catholic religious order. He also established the forerunner of what is today University College in Dublin.

The Birmingham Oratory that Newman established was a key influence on the life of J.R.R. Tolkien, who characterized his ''Lord of the Rings" trilogy as ''fundamentally a religious and Catholic work."

In a surprising development in 1879, Newman, a priest, was made a cardinal by Pope Leo XIII without going through the usual intermediate positions. He died in 1890.

Consideration of Newman's saintliness was opened in 1958 and he was declared venerable -- the first step in Catholic Church recognition of persons of extraordinary virtue -- in 1991.

Catholics do not pray to venerated persons or saints, but ask them to intercede with God on their behalf.