sight and use in the dim recesses of the Oratory at Birmingham?
If the call were to come to him to take his talent out of the
napkin, how could he refuse? And the call did come. A Catholic
University was being started in Ireland and Dr. Cullen, the
Archbishop of Armagh, begged Newman to become the Rector. At
first he hesitated, but when he learned that it was the Holy
Father's wish that he should take up the work, he could doubt no
longer; the offer was sent from Heaven. The difficulties before
him were very great; not only had a new University to be called
up out of the void, but the position was complicated by the
presence of a rival institution--the undenominational Queen's
Colleges, founded by Peel a few years earlier with the object of
giving Irish Catholics facilities for University education on the
same terms as their fellow-countrymen. Yet Newman had the highest
hopes. He dreamt of something greater than a merely Irish
University--of a noble and flourishing centre of learning for the
Catholics of Ireland and England alike. And why should not his
dream come true? 'In the midst of our difficulties, he said, 'I
have one ground of hope, just one stay, but, as I think, a
sufficient one, which serves me in the stead of all other
argument whatever. It is the decision of the Holy See; St. Peter
has spoken.'

The years that followed showed to what extent it was safe to
depend upon St. Peter. Unforeseen obstacles cropped up on every
side. Newman's energies were untiring, but so was the inertia of
the Irish authorities. On his appointment, he wrote to Dr. Cullen
asking that arrangements might be made for his reception in
Dublin. Dr. Cullen did not reply. Newman wrote again, but still
there was no answer. Weeks passed, months passed, years passed,