CARDINAL JOHN HENRY Newman, the founder of University College Dublin, will be made a saint in October. 

The Vatican made the announcement today that Newman is set to be canonised on 13 October by Pope Francis. 

The canonisation of Newman, who converted from Anglican to Catholicism in 1845, comes after the Vatican announced in February that it had successfully attributed a second miracle to him. 

Newman was beatified by Pope Benedict XVI in 2010. 

Born in 1801, Newman founded the Catholic University in 1854. Originally located at St. Stephen’s Green in Dublin, it later became University College Dublin. Newman served as the university’s first rector until 1858. 

His conversion to Catholicism caused shockwaves in England in the mid-19th century and he went on to become one of the leading figures in the English Catholic Church. 

In a statement, Sally Axworthy, British Ambassador to the Holy See, said: “Cardinal Newman had a major impact on Catholic theology and on education worldwide, making him a truly global Briton.”

“He brought his experience from the Anglican Church to his work as a Catholic, bridging the two traditions,” she said. 

Two miracles must be attributed to someone in order for them to become a saint. The first miracle attributed to Newman relates to the case of a Boston deacon whom Newman is said to have saved from paralysis. 

The second miracle relates to a pregnant woman in the United States whom it is claimed Newman saved from unstoppable internal bleeding.