Portrait of John Henry Newman. (CNS)

Officials at the Birmingham Oratory in England have announced that the body of Cardinal John Henry Newman will be exhumed in advance of his possible beatification.

The body of the famous 19th-century Anglican convert will lie in state at the Birmingham Oratory Oct. 31-Nov. 1.

It will be reburied Nov. 2.

Earlier this week, Vatican officials studying Cardinal Newman’s beatification cause convened to examine evidence regarding the miraculous cure of a Massachusetts man that is attributed to Cardinal Newman’s intercession.

“The Board of Theologians met to consider the miraculous nature of the cure of Deacon Sullivan,” Peter Jennings, press secretary at the Birmingham Oratory, said Oct. 1. “They have asked for more time to study the cause for beatifying Cardinal Newman.”

Jennings told the Register last spring that Pope Benedict XVI has been “terribly enthusiastic” about Cardinal Newman since the Pope was a seminarian.

If Cardinal Newman is beatified and then subsequently canonized a saint, the London Evening Standard noted, he would be the first non-martyred Englishman to be canonized since 1282.

Update: Cardinal Newman’s grave was found to be almost empty when it was excavated Oct. 1, the BBC reported Oct. 3.

In a statement, Birmingham Oratory spokesman Jennings said, “Brass, wooden and cloth artefacts from Cardinal Newman’s coffin were found. However there were no remains of the body of John Henry Newman.”

Jennings said contrary to previous assumptions, Cardinal Newman was not buried in a lead-lined coffin. Medical experts at the scene of the exhumation said that as a result, it should be expected that his body would not have remained intact since it was buried in a very damp location.

Instead of Cardinal Newman’s body, the Birmingham Oratory now plans to display the articles found in the almost empty grave along with locks of the cardinal’s hair that were already in the oratory’s possession.

Jennings said some of those locks were earlier sent to Deacon Jack Sullivan, the Massachusetts man who was cured from a serious spinal disease after praying to Cardinal Newman, prior to Deacon Sullivan’s recovery.

— Tom McFeely