Newman is a saint many pilgrims are meeting for the first time. Pope Leo XIV proclaimed him a Doctor of the Church on November 1, 2025, and in a letter dated October 27, 2025 named him co-patron of the Church's educational mission together with St. Thomas Aquinas. Benedict XVI beatified him in Birmingham on September 19, 2010, and Pope Francis canonized him on October 13, 2019.
The Birmingham Oratory is at 141 Hagley Road, Edgbaston. Newman founded the community on February 1, 1848; it settled in Edgbaston in 1852, and the present church was built after his death as a memorial to him and opened in 1909. Weekday Masses are at 7:30 a.m., 12:30 p.m. and 5:45 p.m. (the last in Latin), and the 11:00 a.m. Saturday Mass is followed by devotions to St. John Henry Newman; confessions are heard before every public Mass. The Oratory's museum shows manuscript pages of the Apologia and The Dream of Gerontius, the chalice he used, his spectacles and his rosary beads. Entry is free, by appointment made by email. His room is kept as he left it and can be seen in the Oratory's video tour.
The College at Littlemore is where Newman lived from 1842 to 1846. Sisters of The Work have cared for it since 1987, and visitors see his room, the chapel, a small museum and the library. Admission is free, with an offering of at least £5 a person suggested. Groups, and anyone coming in December or January, need an appointment. Mass is celebrated in the chapel on Fridays at 9:00 a.m.
Good to know before you go: the Oratory does not publish general opening hours for the church, so plan your visit around a Mass time, and write to the museum well ahead. Oxford, where Newman studied and taught as an Anglican, is a short ride from Littlemore. Details were checked on October 10, 2026.