Deathbed conversion
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A deathbed conversion is the adoption of a particular
Overview
Conversions at the point of death have a long history. The first recorded deathbed conversion appears in the
Perhaps the most momentous conversion in Western history was that of
Notable deathbed conversions to Catholicism
Buffalo Bill
Buffalo Bill was baptized Catholic one day before his death in 1917.[4][5][6]
Charles II of England
Charles II of England reigned in an Anglican nation at a time of strong religious conflict. Though his sympathies were at least somewhat with the Roman Catholic faith, he ruled as an Anglican, though he attempted to lessen the persecution and legal penalties affecting non-Anglicans in England, notably through the Royal Declaration of Indulgence. As he lay dying following a stroke, released of the political need, he was received into the Catholic Church.[7]
Jean de La Fontaine
The most famous French fabulist published a revised edition of his greatest work, Contes, in 1692, the same year that he began to suffer a severe illness. Under such circumstances, Jean de La Fontaine turned to religion.[8] A young priest, M. Poucet, tried to persuade him about the impropriety of the Contes, and it is said that the destruction of a new play of some merit was demanded and submitted to as a proof of repentance. La Fontaine received the Viaticum, and the following years, he continued to write poems and fables.[9] He died in 1695.
Sir Allan Napier MacNab
Charles Maurras
In the last days before his death, French author Charles Maurras readopted the Catholic faith of his childhood and received the last rites.[12]
Oscar Wilde
Author and wit Oscar Wilde converted to Catholicism during his final illness.[13][14][15][16] Robert Ross gave a clear and unambiguous account: "When I went for the priest to come to his death-bed he was quite conscious and raised his hand in response to questions and satisfied the priest, Father Cuthbert Dunne of the Passionists. It was the morning before he died and for about three hours he understood what was going on (and knew I had come from the South in response to a telegram) that he was given the last sacrament."[17] The Passionist house in Avenue Hoche, has a house journal which contains a record, written by Dunne, of his having received Wilde into full communion with the Church. While Wilde's conversion may have come as a surprise, he had long maintained an interest in the Catholic Church, having met with Pope Pius IX in 1877 and describing the Roman Catholic Church as "for saints and sinners alone – for respectable people, the Anglican Church will do". However, how much of a believer in all the tenets of Catholicism Wilde ever was is arguable: in particular, against Ross's insistence on the truth of Catholicism: "No, Robbie, it isn't true."[18][19][20] "My position is curious," Wilde epigrammatised, "I am not a Catholic: I am simply a violent Papist."[21]
In his poem Ballad of Reading Gaol, Wilde wrote:
Ah! Happy they whose hearts can break
And peace of pardon win!
How else may man make straight his plan
And cleanse his soul from Sin?
How else but through a broken heart
May Lord Christ enter in?
John Wayne
American actor and filmmaker
Alleged deathbed conversions
Charles Darwin
One famous example is
Lady Hope's story is not supported by Darwin's children. Darwin's son Francis Darwin accused her of lying, saying that "Lady Hope's account of my father's views on religion is quite untrue. I have publicly accused her of falsehood, but have not seen any reply."[25] Darwin's daughter Henrietta Litchfield also called the story a fabrication, saying "I was present at his deathbed. Lady Hope was not present during his last illness, or any illness. I believe he never even saw her, but in any case she had no influence over him in any department of thought or belief. He never recanted any of his scientific views, either then or earlier. We think the story of his conversion was fabricated in the U.S.A. The whole story has no foundation whatever."[26]
Doc Holliday
According to an obituary by the Glenwood Springs Ute Chief',
Edward VII
Wallace Stevens
The poet
Voltaire
The accounts of Voltaire's death have been numerous and varying, and it has not been possible to establish the details of what precisely occurred. His enemies related that he repented and accepted the last rites from a Catholic priest, or that he died in agony of body and soul, while his adherents told of his defiance to his last breath.[33]
George Washington
After U.S. President
See also
- Deathbed confession
- Björn Ironside
- Germaine de Staël
- Robert Stephen Hawker
- Bobby Jones (golfer)
- Shigeru Yoshida
- Mortimer J. Adler
- John von Neumann
- Kenneth Clark
- Alistair McAlpine, Baron McAlpine of West Green
- Henry Bennet, 1st Earl of Arlington
References
- ISBN 0-06-063315-8.
- ^ "Eusebius of Nicomedia". Catholic Encyclopedia. Retrieved 18 February 2007.
- ^ YouTube
- ISBN 978-1-4343-4148-8.
- ^ Weber, Francis J. (1979). America's Catholic Heritage: Some Bicentennial Reflections, 1776–1976. Madison: University of Wisconsin. p. 49.
- ISBN 978-0-8263-2089-6.
- ISBN 0-19-822911-9.
- ^ "Jean de La Fontaine Biography - Infos - Art Market". www.jean-delafontaine.com. Archived from the original on 17 December 2014. Retrieved 6 January 2015.
- ISBN 978-0-415-21111-6.
- ^ King, Nelson (5 August 2009). "Alan Napier MacNab". Soldier, Statesman, and Freemason Part 3. Archived from the original on 6 July 2011. Retrieved 4 January 2010.
- ^ Dooner, Alfred (1942–1943), "The Conversion of Sir Allan MacNab, Baronet (1798–1862)", Canadian Catholic Historical Association Report, 10: 47–64, archived from the original on 10 February 2009, retrieved 4 January 2010
- ^ Lettre de l’abbé Giraud à Charles Forot, 4 July 1958, archives départementales de Privas, dossier 24J25
- ^ "The Vatican wakes up to the wisdom of Oscar Wilde". independent.co.uk. 17 July 2009. Archived from the original on 18 September 2017. Retrieved 20 September 2017.
- ISBN 978-0-230-50355-7.
- ^ Pendergast, Martin (17 July 2009). "The Catholic church learns to love Oscar Wilde - Martin Pendergast". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 22 March 2018. Retrieved 21 March 2018.
- S2CID 148849343.
- ^ "Poetrymagazines.org.uk - Oscar Wilde: The Final Scene". Archived from the original on 4 June 2008. Retrieved 4 December 2008.
- ^ Taylor, Jerome (17 July 2009). "The Vatican wakes up to the wisdom of Oscar Wilde – Europe, World". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 18 September 2017. Retrieved 15 November 2009.
- ^ "Oscar Wilde: The Final Scene". Archived from the original on 4 June 2008. Retrieved 4 December 2008.
- ^ McCracken, Andrew. "The Long Conversion of Oscar Wilde". Archived from the original on 1 May 2011. Retrieved 4 December 2008.
- ISBN 978-0-674-98202-4.
- ^ "The religion of John Wayne, actor". Adherents.com. Archived from the original on 19 November 2005. Retrieved 20 October 2008.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ "Everyone called him 'Duke': John Wayne's conversion to Catholicism". Our Sunday Visitor Catholic Publishing Company. Archived from the original on 12 June 2018. Retrieved 10 June 2018.
- ^ Kerr, David (4 October 2011). "My granddaddy John Wayne". California Catholic Daily. Archived from the original on 6 October 2011. Retrieved 4 October 2011.
- ^ a b "The Lady Hope Story: A Widespread Falsehood". Stephenjaygould.org. Archived from the original on 28 April 2007. Retrieved 15 November 2009.
- ^ "Lady Hope Story". Talkorigins.org. 23 February 1922. Archived from the original on 12 October 2009. Retrieved 15 November 2009.
- ^ Tanner, Karen Holliday (2001). Doc Holliday: A Family Portrait. University of Oklahoma Press.
- ^ "A king 'in heaven'". 11 April 2021.
- ^ The Heir Apparent: A Life of Edward VII, the Playboy Prince
- ^ Maria J. Cirurgião, "Last Farewell and First Fruits: The Story of a Modern Poet". Lay Witness (June 2000).
- ^ Peter Brazeau, Parts of a World: Wallace Stevens Remembered, New York, Random House, 1983, p. 295
- ^ Chichetto/Vendler correspondence (8/24/09,8/28/09 and 9/2/09) concerning conversations with Dr. Edward Sennett, uncle of Chichetto's brother-in-law, W. J. Sennett. Dr. Sennett was a former head of the Oncology Dept. at St. Francis Hospital and in charge when Stevens was a patient there. Sennett knew Fr. Hanley and the nuns who worked at the hospital with Hanley. Archives of the Congregation of Holy Cross, American Province Archives Center, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana.
- ^ Peter Gay, The Enlightenment – An Interpretation, Volume 2: The Science of Freedom, Wildwood House, London, 1973, pp. 88–89.
- ^ Carlson, B. (18 October 2021). "Was George Washington a Catholic?". Catholicism Coffee.
- ^ The Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (14 October 2008). "Slaves Held Washington Became a Catholic on His Deathbed". Catholicism.org.