THE
P RTAL
November 2011
Page 12
The Beatus and the Brute:
The Conversions
of Two Oriel Men
by Br Sean of The Work
Many of Newman’s friends at Oxford proved to have, all in their particular ways, very significant roles
to play in his religious development. In a real sense the Senior Common Room of Oriel provided an ideal
opportunity for a meeting of minds and hearts among some of the Nineteenth Century’s most influential
Anglican Churchmen. Yet perhaps no two men at Oriel shared so much in common, on a personal basis, and
displayed such sympathies, as Newman and Joseph Blanco White.
Joseph Blanco White
Joseph Blanco White (right) was
an intriguing figure who had a rather
impromptu career in the academic
circles at Oxford during the height of
Newman’s position as an Anglican in
the 1820s.
It gave them an opportunity to
write works for a theological library
for which they had both been
commissioned. The
publication
of books would see the eventual
divergence of these two friends.
While Newman’s work had become
almost entirely a work on the dangers
Born in 1775 in Seville of an
of Arianism and a sharp polemic
Irish Father and a Spanish mother
against the heterodoxy of his day,
Blanco White was ordained to the
Blanco White’s work was essentially
Roman Catholic priesthood at the
an apology of his rejection of a
age of 23. In 1802 he underwent a
Trinitarian faith. Reading Blanco
profound spiritual crisis which saw
him abandon not only his priestly ministry but also White’s work Newman was genuinely convinced that
the Roman Catholic Church. Suffering from a near he had lost his mind.
nervous breakdown he moved to Madrid and later to
With the rise of the Oxford Movement Blanco White
London in 1810, in what can only be described as an
impassioned but contorted attempt to find the Truth. moved to Dublin and later to Liverpool. By 1839 in
Oxford it was said of him that he had “collapsed into
grand and beautiful visions
complete infidelity.” Blanco White and Newman were
Blanco White claimed in his autobiography that he both gifted with sharp intellects and a keen religious
“shared grand and beautiful visions” with Newman. sense which led them both in an untiring search for
They both had a love for Beethoven, whom Newman God.
called “the Dutchman” and they frequently played
duets on their violins.
The arduous search which both undertook in the
search for authenticity and truth led both men along
Quite tellingly Thomas Mozley, Newman’s student, the way of life-changing decisions. While Newman
observed the difference in the characters of the two men progressed from Evangelicalism to High-Church
when they played music together: “Most interesting Anglicanism, and eventually to Roman Catholicism, in
was it to contrast Blanco White’s excited and indeed which he was recently proclaimed a Beatus, the story
agitated countenance with Newman’s sphinx-like of the equally gifted Blanco White was much different.
immobility.” Further it was also Blanco White who, in
1827, explained to both Hurrell Froude and Newman
His journey of faith took him from Roman Catholicism
how to use the Roman Breviary. In the Long Vacation to Anglicanism and eventually to a complete denial of
of 1831 both Newman and Blanco White were the sole the doctrine of the Trinity and the acceptance of a form
residents at Oriel.
of Unitarian belief, dying in obscurity in Liverpool.