A US Roman Catholic deacon has spoken of how the agonising pain he had suffered from a spinal disorder disappeared after praying to the revered Birmingham cleric Cardinal John Henry Newman.

Jack Sullivan, from the US archdiocese of Boston, Massachusetts, described the moment the “agony” had left him and he had been able to walk, to the “utter amazement” of medical staff, after he prayed to the late Cardinal.

“I said ‘please Cardinal Newman, help me to walk, so that I can return to classes and be ordained’ (as a deacon). Suddenly, I felt a tremendous sense of heat, very, very warm and a tingling feeling all over my entire body. It was very strong and lasted for a long time,” he said.

“I felt a tremendous sense of peace and joy, very uplifted, and a sense of confidence and determination that finally I could walk, without even taking a step.

“Immediately the pain left. It was tragic before, and I exclaimed to the nurse: ‘I have no more pain.’

“Thereafter, I walked out of the room, to the utter amazement of everybody, up and down the corridors and the floor of my hospital. I was experiencing what I felt was paradise.”

Deacon Sullivan, now 71 years old, was speaking at the start of a six-day tour of Britain with his wife Carol, following an invitation from the Archbishop of Westminster, the Most Rev Vincent Nichols.

The couple will visit Birmingham on Wednesday. They will also visit Oxford during the tour.