Had they ever ceased at all?
Many Roman Catholics, if not the most enlightened and instructed, thought not.

Newman conceived that the lives of English and Irish saints held much matter for edification, including marvels and portents of various kinds.

He desired that these things should be believed, as he doubtless believed them.

They proved, he thought, if they could be proved themselves, that supernatural power resided in the Church, and when the Church was concerned he laid his reason aside.
He was extraordinarily sanguine.

"Rationalise," he said to Froude, "when the evidence is weak, and this will give credibility for others, when you can show that the evidence is strong." Froude chose St.Neot, a contemporary of Alfred, in whose life the supernatural played a comparatively small part.