A deathbed conversion is the adoption of a particular
religious
Religion is usually defined as a social system, social-cultural system of designated religious behaviour, behaviors and practices, morality, morals, beliefs, worldviews, religious text, texts, sacred site, sanctified places, prophecy, prophecie ...
faith
Faith, derived from Latin ''fides'' and Old French ''feid'', is confidence or trust in a person, thing, or In the context of religion, one can define faith as "belief in God or in the doctrines or teachings of religion".
Religious people often ...
shortly before dying. Making a
conversion
Conversion or convert may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* "Conversion" (''Doctor Who'' audio), an episode of the audio drama ''Cyberman''
* "Conversion" (''Stargate Atlantis''), an episode of the television series
* "The Conversion" ...
on one's
deathbed may reflect an immediate change of belief, a desire to formalize longer-term beliefs, or a desire to complete a process of conversion already underway. Claims of the deathbed conversion of famous or influential figures have also been used in history as
rhetorical devices
In rhetoric, a rhetorical device, persuasive device, or stylistic device is a technique that an author or speaker uses to convey to the listener or reader a meaning with the goal of persuading them towards considering a topic from a perspective ...
.
Overview
Conversions at the point of death have a long history. The first recorded deathbed conversion appears in the
Gospel of Luke
The Gospel of Luke), or simply Luke (which is also its most common form of abbreviation). tells of the origins, birth, ministry, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ. Together with the Acts of the Apostles, it makes up a two-volu ...
where
the good thief, crucified beside Jesus, expresses belief in Christ. Jesus accepts his conversion, saying "Today you shall be with Me in Paradise".
Perhaps the most momentous conversion in Western history was that of
Constantine I
Constantine I ( , ; la, Flavius Valerius Constantinus, ; ; 27 February 22 May 337), also known as Constantine the Great, was Roman emperor from AD 306 to 337, the first one to Constantine the Great and Christianity, convert to Christiani ...
,
Roman Emperor and later proclaimed a Christian
Saint
In religious belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of Q-D-Š, holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and Christian denomination, denominat ...
by the
Eastern Orthodox Church
The Eastern Orthodox Church, also called the Orthodox Church, is the second-largest Christian church, with approximately 220 million baptized members. It operates as a communion of autocephalous churches, each governed by its bishops via ...
. While his belief in Christianity occurred long before his death, it was only on his deathbed that he was
baptised
Baptism (from grc-x-koine, βάπτισμα, váptisma) is a form of ritual purification—a characteristic of many religions throughout time and geography. In Christianity, it is a Christian sacrament of initiation and adoption, almost inv ...
, in 337 by the
Arian
Arianism ( grc-x-koine, Ἀρειανισμός, ) is a Christological doctrine first attributed to Arius (), a Christian presbyter from Alexandria, Egypt. Arian theology holds that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, who was begotten by God t ...
bishop
Eusebius of Nicomedia
Eusebius of Nicomedia (; grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος; died 341) was an Arian priest who baptized Constantine the Great on his deathbed in 337. A fifth-century legend evolved that Pope Saint Sylvester I was the one to baptize Constantine, but this ...
,
While traditional sources disagree as to why this happened so late, modern historiography concludes that Constantine chose religious tolerance as an instrument to bolster his reign. According to
Bart Ehrman
Bart Denton Ehrman (born 1955) is an American New Testament scholar focusing on textual criticism of the New Testament, the historical Jesus, and the origins and development of early Christianity. He has written and edited 30 books, including t ...
, all Christians contemporary to Constantine got baptized on their deathbed since they firmly believed that continuing to sin after baptism ensures their eternal damnation.
Ehrman sees no conflict between Constantine's Paganism and him being a Christian.
Notable deathbed conversions
Buffalo Bill
Buffalo Bill
William Frederick Cody (February 26, 1846January 10, 1917), known as "Buffalo Bill", was an American soldier, Bison hunting, bison hunter, and showman. He was born in Le Claire, Iowa, Le Claire, Iowa Territory (now the U.S. state of Iowa), but ...
was baptized Catholic one day before his death in 1917.
Charles II of England
Charles II of England
Charles II (29 May 1630 – 6 February 1685) was King of Scotland from 1649 until 1651, and King of England, Scotland and Ireland from the 1660 Restoration of the monarchy until his death in 1685.
Charles II was the eldest surviving child of ...
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
The Royal Declaration of Indulgence was Charles II of England's attempt to extend religious liberty to Protestant Nonconformist (Protestantism), nonconformists and Roman Catholics in his realms, by suspending the execution of the British penal l ...
. As he lay dying following a stroke, released of the political need, he was received into the Catholic Church.
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
Jean de La Fontaine (, , ; 8 July 162113 April 1695) was a French fabulist and one of the most widely read French poets of the 17th century. He is known above all for his ''Fables'', which provided a model for subsequent fabulists across Euro ...
turned to religion. 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
Viaticum is a term used – especially in the Catholic Church – for the Eucharist (also called Holy Communion), administered, with or without Anointing of the Sick (also called Extreme Unction), to a person who is dying; viaticum is thus a part ...
, and the following years, he continued to write poems and fables.
He died in 1695.
Sir Allan Napier MacNab
Sir Allan Napier MacNab, Canadian political leader, died 8 August 1862 in
Hamilton, Ontario
Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Hamilton has a population of 569,353, and its census metropolitan area, which includes Burlington and Grimsby, has a population of 785,184. The city is approximately southwest of T ...
. His deathbed conversion to Catholicism caused a furor in the press in the following days. The ''
Toronto Globe
''The Globe'' was a newspaper in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, founded in 1844 by George Brown as a Reform voice. It merged with ''The Mail and Empire'' in 1936 to form ''The Globe and Mail''.
History
''The Globe'' is pre-dated by a title of the same ...
'' and the ''
Hamilton Spectator
''The Hamilton Spectator'', founded in 1846, is a newspaper published weekdays and Saturdays in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. One of the largest Canadian newspapers by circulation,''The Hamilton Spectator'' is owned by Torstar.
History
''The Hami ...
'' expressed strong doubts about the conversion, and the Anglican rector of
Christ Church in Hamilton declared that MacNab died a
Protestant
Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...
. MacNab's Catholic baptism is recorded at St. Mary's Cathedral in Hamilton, performed by John, Bishop of Hamilton, on 7 August 1862. Lending credibility to this conversion, MacNab's second wife, who predeceased him, was Catholic, and their two daughters were raised as Catholics.
Charles Maurras
In the last days before his death, French author
Charles Maurras
Charles-Marie-Photius Maurras (; ; 20 April 1868 – 16 November 1952) was a French author, politician, poet, and critic. He was an organizer and principal philosopher of ''Action Française'', a political movement that is monarchist, anti-parl ...
readopted the Catholic faith of his childhood and received the last rites.
Oscar Wilde
Author and wit
Oscar Wilde
Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish poet and playwright. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular playwrights in London in the early 1890s. He is ...
converted to Catholicism during his final illness.
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. 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
Pope Pius IX ( it, Pio IX, ''Pio Nono''; born Giovanni Maria Mastai Ferretti; 13 May 1792 – 7 February 1878) was head of the Catholic Church from 1846 to 1878, the longest verified papal reign. He was notable for convoking the First Vatican ...
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." "My position is curious," Wilde epigrammatised, "I am not a Catholic: I am simply a violent Papist."
In his poem ''Ballad of Reading Gaol'', Wilde wrote:
John Wayne
American actor and filmmaker
John Wayne
Marion Robert Morrison (May 26, 1907 – June 11, 1979), known professionally as John Wayne and nicknamed The Duke or Duke Wayne, was an American actor who became a popular icon through his starring roles in films made during Hollywood's Gol ...
, according to his son Patrick and his grandson Matthew Muñoz, who was a priest in the California
Diocese of Orange, converted to
Roman Catholicism
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...
shortly before his death. Muñoz stated that Wayne expressed a degree of regret about not becoming a Catholic earlier in life, explaining "that was one of the sentiment he expressed before he passed on," blaming "a busy life."
Alleged deathbed conversions
Charles Darwin
One famous example is
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended fr ...
's deathbed conversion in which it was claimed by
Lady Hope that Darwin said:
"How I wish I had not expressed my theory of
evolution
Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation ...
as I have done." He went on to say that he would like her to gather a congregation since he "would like to speak to them of Christ Jesus and His salvation, being in a state where he was eagerly savoring the heavenly anticipation of bliss."
Lady Hope's story was printed in the ''Boston Watchman Examiner''. The story spread, and the claims were republished as late as October 1955 in the ''Reformation Review'' and in the ''Monthly Record'' of the
Free Church of Scotland in February 1957.
Lady Hope's story is not supported by Darwin's children. Darwin's son
Francis Darwin
Sir Francis "Frank" Darwin (16 August 1848 – 19 September 1925) was a British botanist. He was the third son of the naturalist and scientist Charles Darwin.
Biography
Francis Darwin was born in Down House, Downe, Kent in 1848. He was the ...
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."
Darwin's daughter
Henrietta Litchfield
Henrietta Emma Litchfield (née Darwin; 25 September 1843 – 17 December 1927) was a daughter of Charles Darwin and his wife Emma Wedgwood.
Henrietta was born at Down House, Downe, Kent, in 1843. She was Darwin's third daughter and the eldest da ...
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."
Doc Holliday
According to an obituary by the ''Glenwood Springs Ute Chief,
Doc Holliday
John Henry Holliday (August 14, 1851 – November 8, 1887), better known as Doc Holliday, was an American gambler, gunfighter, and dentist. A close friend and associate of lawman Wyatt Earp, Holliday is best known for his role in the event ...
had been baptized in the Catholic Church shortly before he died. This was based on correspondence written between Holliday and his cousin,
Sister Mary Melanie Holliday
Sister Mary Melanie Holliday (born Martha Ann "Mattie" Holliday; December 14, 1850 - April 19, 1939) was an American Catholic nun. As a member of the Sisters of Mercy, she served as Mother Superior at the Convent and Academy of St. Vincent de P ...
(a Catholic Nun), though no baptismal record has ever been found.
Edward VII
King Edward VII
Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910.
The second child and eldest son of Queen Victoria a ...
of the
U.K.
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
is alleged by some to have converted to Roman Catholicism on his deathbed, with other accounts alleging he converted secretly two months before his death.
Wallace Stevens
The poet
Wallace Stevens
Wallace Stevens (October 2, 1879 – August 2, 1955) was an American modernist poet. He was born in Reading, Pennsylvania, educated at Harvard and then New York Law School, and spent most of his life working as an executive for an insurance compa ...
is said to have been baptized a Catholic during his last days suffering from
stomach cancer
Stomach cancer, also known as gastric cancer, is a cancer that develops from the lining of the stomach. Most cases of stomach cancers are gastric carcinomas, which can be divided into a number of subtypes, including gastric adenocarcinomas. Lymph ...
. This account is disputed, particularly by Stevens's daughter, Holly, and critic,
Helen Vendler
Helen Hennessy Vendler (born April 30, 1933) is an American literary critic and is Porter University Professor Emerita at Harvard University.
Life and career
Helen Hennessy Vendler was born on April 30, 1933, in Boston, Massachusetts, to George ...
, who, in a letter to
James Wm. Chichetto, thought Fr. Arthur Hanley was "forgetful" since "he was interviewed twenty years after Stevens' death."
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.
George Washington
After U.S. President
George Washington
George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of th ...
died in 1799, rumors spread among his slaves that he was baptized Catholic on his deathbed. This story was orally passed down in African-American communities into the 20th Century, as well as among early Maryland
Jesuits
The Society of Jesus ( la, Societas Iesu; abbreviation: SJ), also known as the Jesuits (; la, Iesuitæ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...
. The ''Denver Register'' printed two pieces, in 1952 and 1957, discussing the possibility of this rumor, including the fact that an official inventory of Washington's personal belongings at the time of his death included 1 Likeness of Virgin Mary" (an item unlikely to have been held by a Protestant).
However, no definitive evidence has ever been found of a conversion, nor did any testimony from those close to Washington, including the Catholic
Archbishop John Carroll, ever mention this occurring.
See also
*
Björn Ironside
according to Norse legends, was a Norse Viking chief and Swedish king. According to the 12th- and 13th-century Scandinavian histories, he was the son of notorious Viking king Ragnar Lodbrok and lived in the 9th century, between 855 and 858. Bj ...
*
Germaine de Staël
Anne Louise Germaine de Staël-Holstein (; ; 22 April 176614 July 1817), commonly known as Madame de Staël (), was a French woman of letters and political theorist, the daughter of banker and French finance minister Jacques Necker and Suzan ...
*
Robert Stephen Hawker
Robert Stephen Hawker (1803–1875) was a British Anglican priest, poet, antiquarian and reputed eccentric, known to his parishioners as Parson Hawker. He is best known as the writer of "The Song of the Western Men" with its chorus line of "An ...
*
Bobby Jones (golfer)
Robert Tyre Jones Jr. (March 17, 1902 – December 18, 1971) was an American amateur golfer who was one of the most influential figures in the history of the sport; he was also a lawyer by profession. Jones founded and helped design the August ...
*
Shigeru Yoshida
(22 September 1878 – 20 October 1967) was a Japanese diplomat and politician who served as prime minister of Japan from 1946 to 1947 and from 1948 to 1954. Yoshida was one of the longest-serving Japanese prime ministers, and is the third-long ...
*
Mortimer J. Adler
Mortimer Jerome Adler (December 28, 1902 – June 28, 2001) was an American philosopher, educator, encyclopedist, and popular author. As a philosopher he worked within the Aristotelian and Thomistic traditions. He lived for long stretches in N ...
*
John von Neumann
John von Neumann (; hu, Neumann János Lajos, ; December 28, 1903 – February 8, 1957) was a Hungarian-American mathematician, physicist, computer scientist, engineer and polymath. He was regarded as having perhaps the widest cove ...
*
Kenneth Clark
Kenneth Mackenzie Clark, Baron Clark (13 July 1903 – 21 May 1983) was a British art historian, museum director, and broadcaster. After running two important art galleries in the 1930s and 1940s, he came to wider public notice on television ...
*
Alistair McAlpine, Baron McAlpine of West Green
Robert Alistair McAlpine, Baron McAlpine of West Green (14 May 1942 – 17 January 2014) was a British businessman, politician and author who was an advisor to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.
McAlpine was descended from the McAlpine baronets ...
*
Henry Bennet, 1st Earl of Arlington
Henry Bennet, 1st Earl of Arlington, KG, PC (1618 – 28 July 1685) was an English statesman.
Background and early life
He was the son of Sir John Bennet of Dawley, Middlesex, by Dorothy, daughter of Sir John Crofts of Little Saxham, Suff ...
References
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Deathbed Conversion
Cultural aspects of death
Religious conversion
Religion and death