In his
perplexity he went to the Bishop of Birmingham and explained the
whole situation. The Bishop assured him that all would be well;
that he himself would communicate with the authorities, and put
the facts of the case before them. Accordingly, while Newman
wrote formally refusing the Hat, on the ground of his
unwillingness to leave the Oratory, the Bishop wrote two letters
to Manning, one official and one private, in which the following
passages occurred:
'Dr. Newman has far too humble and delicate a mind to dream of
thinking or saying anything which would look like hinting at any
kind of terms with the Sovereign Pontiff. ... I think, however,
that I ought to express my own sense of what Dr. Newman's
dispositions are, and that it will be expected of me... I am
thoroughly confident that nothing stands in the way of his most
grateful acceptance, except what he tells me greatly distresses
him-- namely, the having to leave the Oratory at a critical
period
of its existence, and the impossibility of his beginning a new
life at his advanced age.'
And in his private letter the Bishop said: 'Dr. Newman is very
much aged, and softened with age and the trials he has had,
especially the loss of his two brethren, St. John and Caswall; he
can never refer to these losses without weeping and becoming
speechless for a time.
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