Deacon claims he prayed to Cardinal Newman and walked again
The Vatican earlier this year approved his cure as a miracle, paving the way for Cardinal Newman to become England’s first non-martyred saint since before the Reformation.
The tour comes as it is thought likely that Pope Benedict XVI will beatify Cardinal Newman - who famously converted to Catholicism from the Church of England - during his visit to Britain being planned for 2010.
The events described by Mr Sullivan on August 15, 2001, come after he was diagnosed with severe spinal disc and vertebrae deformities in 2000, a condition leaving him “bent double” and causing him “excruciating pain”.
Deacon Sullivan, also a chief magistrate at Plymouth District Court in Massachusetts, said he had watched a television programme in the US about Cardinal Newman, who died in 1890, following his diagnosis and had prayed to him in June 2000.
He said: “The following morning I got out of bed pain-free, whereas previously I was in agony. I thought ‘wow’ what is happening, my prayer was answered to Cardinal Newman.”
He said he had undergone a pain-free period, for which his doctor said there was no medical explanation, before the pain returned in April the following year.
He said he had undergone surgery on August 9, 2001 and had been told that complications meant that doctors did not know immediately whether he would be able to walk again.
Doctors had been forecasting a period of eight months to a year to recover at best.
Deacon Sullivan said he had been given a relic of Cardinal Newman and had conducted many healing services in his name.
“The results have been astounding, in terms of healing,” he said.
Deacon Sullivan is expected to visit places connected with the life of Cardinal Newman, including Littlemore, near Oxford, where the Cardinal was received into the Catholic Church.
He will also travel to Birmingham where he and his wife will be guests of the community of the Birmingham Oratory, founded by Cardinal Newman.
The couple are also expected to visit the City of London and see the blue plaque on the entrance to the Stock Exchange marking the site where Cardinal Newman, the eldest son of a banker, was born in 1801.
