The Portal Archive November 2012 | Page 14

THE P RTAL
November 2012 Page 14

Thoughts on Newman

Never less alone than when alone

by Br Sean of The Work
Nunquam minus solus , quam cum solus , was a phrase which the eighteenth century London born poet , Abraham Cowley , claimed had been used with such frequency that every man and boy had it on his lips . The phrase derives from beginning of the third book of Cicero ’ s De Officiis , and was naturally the stuff of a typically classical education .
In the work Cicero explained how the great Scipio Africanus , after becoming master of the Roman Empire , would crave after solitude . Of Scipio he records that he used to say that he was never less idle when he had nothing to do and never less alone than when alone . For Cicero this disposition of character exemplified Scipio ’ s greatness for it is so contrary to our natural human reactions .
Cicero claimed that , for most , solitude and leisure would cause either idleness , frustration or loneliness , but for Scipio it spurred him on to even greater things beyond the measure of worldly success .
a strange and a wonderful thing
What struck Abraham Cowley about these words , in his work Of Solitude ( 1688 ), was the comfort which an exile could derive when in the solitude of distant lands and foreign peoples . Cowley , who as a faithful monarchist had been banished from England during the Civil War , felt the real extent of these words . For him solitude had become both a strange and a wonderful thing , not something he craved , rather something thrown upon him .
Man struggles with the reality of solitude , and often reacts against it . For some , solitude represents isolation and the awful reality of loneliness , for others it can be a means by which the mind and heart can fix its energies on one needful thing . It is a strange thing , Cowley laments , that ‘ It is very fantastical and contradictory in human nature , that men should love themselves above all the rest of the world , and yet can never endure to be with themselves .’
I was very much alone
While a young Fellow at Oriel , Newman ’ s timid disposition , coupled with the great difference of opinion he felt amongst his colleagues , led him to great loneliness . He wrote : ‘ During the first years of my residence at Oriel , though proud of my college , I was not quite at home there . I was very much alone , and I used often to take my daily walk by myself .’
It was during this time that the Provost of Oriel , Edward Copleston , approached Newman quite spontaneously , bowed reverently and said ‘ Nunquam minus solus , quam cum solus !’ The event left such an impression on Newman that he recorded it in his spiritual autobiography , the Apologia pro Vita Sua , some forty years later .
A Christian is never less alone than when alone
In many ways Copleston ’ s words were prophetic of Newman ’ s life . The pain he felt in obedience to conscience in leaving active ministry in the Church of England is felt in the last sermon he gave , ‘ The Parting of Friends ’. After his conversion he was in many ways thrown among strangers . Yet Newman ’ s solitude cannot be compared to either the reclusiveness of Scipio or to the exiled poet Cowley . Rather Newman was ‘ never less alone than when alone ’ because he understood that to believe means to enter into communion not simply with God but with the communion of the whole Church triumphant , suffering and militant .
In this Year of Faith we could apply to Newman the poignant words spoken by our Holy Father , Pope Benedict , ‘ He who believes is never alone .’ A Christian is never less alone than when alone .