List of people who converted to Catholicism
This page lists historic individuals who at some point in their lives, sometimes on their deathbeds, formally adopted the Catholic faith without having been born into it. Individuals who were baptized Catholics, but who as an adult practiced a non-Catholic faith (such as evangelical Protestant), then returned to the Catholic Church are technically "reverts" and are so noted where known.
List of people who converted to Catholicism
A-D
- Approximately 400 Anglican priests in the UK, along with some politicians such as Ann Widdecombe and John Gummer who objected in 1993 to the ordination of women to the priesthood in the Church of England (see Graham Leonard, below).
- Harold Abrahams: British athlete; won gold medal in 100m at 1924 Summer Olympics; featured in 1981 film Chariots of Fire (converted from Judaism in 1934, after his athletic career concluded).
- Creighton Abrams: General in U.S. Army; tank commander in WWII (M1 Abrams main battle tank named after him); led U.S. forces in Vietnam from 1968–72.
- Mortimer Adler: editor of the Great Books series; American philosopher
- Afonso I of Kongo: African king. Although politically motivated he became quite pious[1]
- Mehmet Ali Ağca: Turkish born who shot and wounded Pope John Paul II in 1981. he became a Catholic during his time in prison (Citation? While he expressed interest, his actual conversion seems very much in doubt.)
- Fadhma Aït Mansour: Algerian singer
- James Alison: Catholic priest and theologian
- Magdi Allam: Egyptian-born Italian journalist and writer
- Leo Allatius: Greek theologian[2]
- Thomas William Allies: English writer[3]
- Pablo Alvaro: Spanish knight
- Władysław Anders: General in the Polish Army and later in life a politician with the Polish government-in-exile in London.[4]
- Anne of Cleves: Fourth wife of King Henry VIII of England.
- G. E. M. Anscombe: British analytical philosopher and theologian who introduced the term consequentialism into the English language[5]
- Francis Arinze: Nigerian Cardinal and Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments[6]
- Hadley Arkes: Professor of Jurisprudence and American Institutions at Amherst College
- Augustus II of Saxony: German monarch
- Johann Christian Bach: German composer, eleventh son of Johann Sebastian Bach.
- Edward Lowth Badeley: English ecclesiastical lawyer.
- Beryl Bainbridge: English novelist[7]
- Jules Barbey d'Aurevilly: French novelist and short story writer
- Maurice Baring: English dramatist, poet, novelist, translator and essayist
- Barlaam of Seminara: Greek-Italian humanist, philologist, and theologian
- Binnie Barnes: British American actress, converted for her husband, Mike Frankovich
- Aubrey Beardsley: English illustrator, leading figure in the Aesthetic movement
- Peter Benenson: founder of human rights group Amnesty International
- Francis J. Beckwith: American philosopher, Baylor University professor, and former president of the Evangelical Theological Society. Beckwith is technically a revert[8]
- Jean-Baptiste Belin: French painter
- Robert Hugh Benson: English writer and theologian, son of an Archbishop of Canterbury[9]
- Lennox Berkeley: English composer; converted in 1928
- Samuel-Jacques Bernard: French financier
- Basilios Bessarion: Leading fifteenth-century Greek humanist scholar. A leading Eastern bishop who worked for the reunion of Eastern and Western Churches at the Council of Florence; remained in the west and was made a Cardinal.
- Charles Bewley: Irish politician and Cabinet member in Éamon de Valera's government during World War II (aka "The Emergency")
- Conrad Black: Canadian-British businessman and writer
- Tony Blair: former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom; converted Dec. 22, 2007, after stepping down as prime minister[10]
- Félix Houphouët-Boigny: first President of Côte d'Ivoire
- Cherry Boone: Daughter of devoutly evangelical Christian entertainer, Pat Boone; she went public about her battle with anorexia nervosa[11]
- Robert Bork: Leading Constitutional Law scholar, Yale Law School professor, U.S. Solicitor General, nominated for the United States Supreme Court
- John Boswell: American historian, writer, educator
- Louis Bouyer: French theologian
- L. Brent Bozell, Jr.: American conservative activist and writer
- Walter Brandmüller: German historian and priest, now cardinal
- Elinor Brent-Dyer: English writer[12]
- David-Augustin de Brueys: French theologian and dramatist
- Hermann Broch: Austrian writer
- George Mackay Brown: British poet, author and dramatist[13]
- Sam Brownback: U.S. senator from Kansas[14]
- Orestes Brownson: American writer[15]
- Dave Brubeck: American jazz musician.[16]
- Ferdinand Brunetière: French writer and critic
- John Frederick, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg: Germanic aristocrat, converted from Lutheranism, who employed Gottfried Leibniz
- Buffalo Bill: American Old West legend (deathbed conversion)
- Ismaël Bullialdus: French astronomer
- Andrew Burnham: English Anglican Bishop of Ebbsfleet who converted in 2011 and became Catholic priest
- James Burnham: Leader of the Trotskiyite movement who later became a conservative
- John Ellis Bush: American politician, forty-third Governor of Florida[17]
- Christopher Butler: English Benedictine and scholar
- Thomas R.D. Byles: English priest who remained on board the RMS Titanic as she was sinking, hearing confessions and giving absolution.
- Judith Cabaud: American-born French writer and musicologist.
- Roy Campbell: South-African-born, English-based (later Portuguese-based) poet[18]
- Kit Carson: American frontiersman
- Diana Serra Cary: Child actor (known as "Baby Peggy") from the silent era, took the name Serra from Junípero Serra
- John Chapman OSB: Benedictine scholar who had previously been an Anglican deacon
- Charles II of England, King of Great Britain[19]
- G. K. Chesterton: English writer
- Florent Chrestien: French satirist
- Queen Christina of Sweden: Seventeenth-century monarch, abdicated throne to embrace Catholic faith
- Colin Clark: British economist who later moved to Australia, one of the first to advocate the use of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
- Brian Cleeve: Irish writer and broadcaster
- Emily Coleman: American-born expatriate writer
- James Collinson: Artist who briefly went back to Anglicanism in order to marry Christina Rossetti.[20]
- Cornelia Connelly: American educator, founder of the Society of the Holy Child Jesus
- Gary Cooper: Oscar-winning American film actor
- Frederick Copleston: English historian of philosophy and Jesuit priest[21]
- Jacques de Coras: French poet
- Michael Coren: British-Canadian writer and broadcaster
- Richard Crashaw: English poet and son of a staunch anti-Catholic father.[22]
- Philippe de Courcillon: French officer and author
- Amelia Curran: Irish painter
- Lorenzo Da Ponte: Italian writer and poet (conversion from Judaism on his father's remarriage)[23]
- André Dacier: French classical scholar and editor of texts
- John Dobree Dalgairns: English theologian
- Marcel Dassault: French aircraft industrialist
- Christopher Dawson: English historian
- Dorothy Day: social activist and pacifist, founder of the Catholic Worker movement. Raised nominally Episcopalian.[24]
- David-Augustin de Brueys: French theologian[25]
- Regina Derieva: Russian poet[26]
- Catherine Doherty: Canadian pioneer of social justice, from Russian Christianity.[27]
- Henri de la Tour d'Auvergne: French military leader
- Brita Sophia De la Gardie, Swedish noble
- Jules Doinel: founder of the modern 'Gnostic Church', convert in 1895
- Alfred Döblin: German expressionist novelist, best known for Berlin Alexanderplatz.[28]
- John Dowland: English composer
- Jonathan Downes: English Cryptozoologist
- Ernest Dowson: English poet
- David Paul Drach: French Talmudic scholar
- Augusta Theodosia Drane: English writer and theologian also known as Mother Francis Raphael, O.S.D[29]
- John Dryden: English poet, literary critic, and playwright[30]
- Avery Dulles: American Jesuit Theologian, Professor at Fordham University.[31]
- Michael Dummett: British Analytic philosopher who devised the Quota Borda system.[32]
- Faye Dunaway: Oscar-winning American actress
E-K
- Ferdinand Eckstein: Danish-born German philosopher and playwright
- Black Elk: Oglala medicine-man[33]
- Mark Elliot: Canadian broadcaster
- Shusaku Endo: Japanese novelist who was baptized when his mother converted and remained Catholic
- Veit Erbermann: German theologian and controversialist
- E. E. Evans-Pritchard: British anthropologist
- William Everson: Beat poet whose parents were Christian Scientists, he took the name Brother Antoninus in the 18 years he spent as a Dominican[34]
- Thomas Ewing: U.S. Senator from Ohio who served as Secretary of the Treasury and first Secretary of the Interior
- Frederick William Faber: English theologian and hymnwriter[35]
- Lola Falana: Dancer and actress
- Ronald Firbank: British novelist[36]
- Tsuguharu Foujita: Japanese painter who took the name Leonardo on baptism.
- Elizabeth Fox-Genovese: Historian; feminist turned anti-feminist; Founder of the Institute of Women's Studies; wife of Eugene D. Genovese
- Antonia Fraser: British historian, biographer and novelist (Her parents converted when she was little)[37]
- Johann Jakob Froberger: German composer and organist
- André Frossard: French writer and journalist, member of the Académie française from 1987 to his death
- Georgiana Fullerton: English novelist who converted in 1846 when she was in her 30s.[38]
- Álvar García de Santa María: Spanish historian
- Julia Gardiner Tyler: First Lady of United States (1844–45), widow of President Tyler
- René Gâteaux: French mathematician
- Peter Geach: one of the foremost contemporary British philosophers
- Eugene D. Genovese: Award-winning historian of the American South and American slavery; first Marxist president of Organization of American Historians; husband of Elizabeth Fox-Genovese
- Fritz Gerlich: German journalist
- August Friedrich Gfrörer: German historian
- Eric Gill: British sculptor, typographer and engraver
- Newt Gingrich: American history professor, Speaker of the House of Representatives, and author
- René Girard: Franco-American anthropologist, converted through his research in human sciences
- Rumer Godden: English author of children's books, novels concerning India, and books on Catholic mysticism
- Lady Valerie Goulding (née Monckton): British-born, Irish-based disabilities activist and humanitarian
- John Gray: English aesthetic poet and translator
- Julien Green: French novelist
- Graham Greene: British novelist
- Vivien Greene: English authority on dolls' houses
- Bede Griffiths: cleric/mystic who bridged Catholicism and Hinduism by converting to Roman Catholicism, entering the Order of St Benedictine (OSB) and running a Catholic ashram
- Sir Alec and Lady Guinness: British actor and his wife
- Sir John Gummer: Conservative British politician, 1993
- Fabrice Hadjadj: French writer
- Theodor Haecker: German writer, translator and cultural critic
- Scott and Kimberly Hahn: American theologian, author, professor and his wife. Former Presbyterian minister.
- Margaret Radclyffe Hall: English poet and novelist
- Dag Hammarskjöld: Swedish diplomat, UN secretary-general
- Barbara Grizzuti Harrison: She wrote about being raised Jehovah's Witnesses, converted in part due to inspiration of the Catholic Worker Movement.
- Frederick Hart: (1943–1999) American sculptor, best known for his public monuments and works of art in bronze, marble, and clear acrylic (a technique he coined as "sculpting with light"). Notable work – Ex Nihilo maquette, Hart's winning design for The Creation sculptures on the National Cathedral, Washington D.C. See Wikipedia for Frederick Hart.
- Robert Stephen Hawker: English poet and antiquarian
- June Haver: American actress who considered becoming a nun after converting; became wife of Fred MacMurray
- Susan Hayward: Oscar winning American actress, who converted with her second husband Eaton Chalkley
- Anna Haycraft (aka Alice Thomas Ellis): British novelist. Raised as a Positivist she became a conservative Catholic critic of the Second Vatican Council
- Carlton Hayes: Historian and United States Ambassador to Spain during World War II
- Isaac Thomas Hecker: founder of the Paulist order, spent time at Brook Farm
- Richard Heller-Nicholas, poet and author, converted to Roman Catholicism at 22 years of age.
- Frederick II, Landgrave of Hesse: German nobleman
- Elisabeth Hesselblad: Swedish nurse and nun; she was beatified
- Ernest Hemingway: American novelist, soldier and traveller
- King Henry IV of France
- Dietrich von Hildebrand: German theologian
- James Hope-Scott: English lawyer connected to the Oxford Movement
- Gerard Manley Hopkins: English poet and writer; Jesuit priest
- Doc Holliday: American gambler and gunfighter
- Walter Hooper: Trustee and literary advisor of the estate of C.S. Lewis.[39]
- Bob Hope: Comedian and comic actor.
- Mieczysław Horszowski: Polish pianist
- Stephen Hough: British-Australian classical pianist
- Albert Hourani: Anglo-Lebanese historian and orientalist
- Thomas Howard: American writer and scholar
- Allen Hunt: American radio personality. Former Methodist pastor.[40]
- E. Howard Hunt: American spy and novelist[41]
- Reinhard Hütter: American theologian[42]
- Joris-Karl Huysmans: French novelist
- Laura Ingraham: American conservative talk radio host and author.
- Princess Irene of the Netherlands: her conversion, related to her marrying a Falangist, became something of a national issue.
- Levi Silliman Ives: Episcopal Church of the USA Bishop of North Carolina.
- Władysław II Jagiełło: King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania
- James II of England: English monarch
- Jiao Bingzhen: Chinese painter and astronomer
- Jörg Jenatsch: Swiss political leader during the Thirty Years' War
- Bobby Jindal: Governor of the U.S. state of Louisiana
- Casey Jones, American railroad engineer
- Walter B. Jones U.S. politician, Member of the United States House of Representatives
- Ernst Jünger: German writer and philosopher
- Kim Dae-jung: 15th President of South Korea
- Nicholas Kao Se Tseien: World's oldest priest[43]
- Sheila Kaye-Smith: English poet (with her husband in 1929)
- Katharine, Duchess of Kent: musical member of the British Royal Family
- Willmoore Kendall: Trotskiyite activist who became a conservative political scientist
- Joyce Kilmer: American journalist, poet, literary critic, lecturer and editor
- Orest Kiprensky: leading Russian portraitist in the Age of Romanticism
- Russell Kirk: American historian, moralist and social critic
- Ronald Knox: English theologian turned Roman Catholic priest and monsignor
- Dean Koontz: American novelist. Converted in college
- Ozana Kotorska: Serbian mystic and Anchoress
- Peter Kreeft: an apologist for Christianity, professor of philosophy at Boston College and The King's College, and author of many books
- Fritz Kreisler: Austrian violinist and composer
- Leopold Kronenberg: Polish banker
- Albert Küchler: Danish painter
- Lawrence Kudlow: American supply-side economist and cable TV talk show host
- William Kurelek: Canadian painter.
- Stephan Kuttner: German Canonist
- Demetrios Kydones: Byzantine theologian, writer and statesman
L-P
- George Parsons Lathrop: Poet and writer
- Rose Hawthorne Lathrop: Founder of Dominican nuns serving those with cancer, daughter of Nathaniel Hawthorne
- Halldór Laxness: Icelandic writer, converted in 1923,[44] left the Church, but returned at end of his life.[45]
- Christopher Lee (historian): British writer, political & constitutional historian and broadcaster
- Gertrud von Le Fort: German writer of novels, poems, and essays
- Graham Leonard: former Anglican Bishop of London
- Ignace Lepp: French psychiatrist and author
- Shane Leslie: Irish diplomat and writer
- Denise Levertov, British-American poet
- William Levy (actor), Cuban-American actor
- Saunders Lewis: Welsh writer
- Torgny Lindgren: Swedish writer, member of the Swedish Academy from 1991
- James Longstreet: Confederate general turned Republican "scalawag".[46]
- Paulina Longworth: Daughter of Alice Roosevelt Longworth
- Arthur Lourié: Russian composer
- Clare Boothe Luce: editor, author, journalist, congresswoman, ambassador, wife of Henry Luce
- Gertrud Luckner: German British-born righteous among the Nations
- Arnold Lunn: English writer
- Jean-Marie Lustiger: Cardinal Archbishop of Paris
- William P. Longley: American gunfighter
- Frederick Lucas: Quaker who converted and founded The Tablet.[47]
- James McAuley: Australian poet, converted in 1952.
- Claude McKay: African American poet and writer
- Alasdair MacIntyre: Scottish-born moral and political philosopher
- Ford Madox Ford: English writer, converted at age 19.
- Pierre Magnol: French botanist
- Gustav Mahler: Austrian classical composer
- Sara Maitland, British writer
- Curzio Malaparte: Italian journalist and writer
- Henry Edward Manning: Widowed Anglican priest who later became a Catholic Cardinal
- Gabriel Marcel: Existentialist philosopher, converted in adulthood.
- Countess Constance Markievicz (née Gore-Booth): Irish nationalist, politician and, between 1916 and 1923, a revolutionary
- Jacques Maritain: Neo-Thomist philosopher
- Raïssa Maritain: Poet and Philosopher
- Basil W. Maturin: Irish-born Anglican priest who later became a Catholic priest and writer, died on board the RMS Lusitania
- Norma McCorvey: anonymous plaintiff in Roe vs Wade
- Marshall McLuhan: Canadian educator, philosopher, and scholar
- Carlos Menem: President of Argentina
- Thomas Merton: American Trappist monk and spiritual writer
- Frank Meyer: political philosopher, co-founder of National Review magazine
- Alice Meynell: Poet, suffragist
- Joseph Mielziner: French-born American theatrical scenic and costume designer
- Lorenzo Milani: Italian priest and educator
- Czesław Miłosz: Polish Nobel prize winning poet
- Walter Michael Miller, Jr.: American science fiction writer, author of A Canticle for Leibowitz
- David Mills: executive editor of the journal First Things
- Sherman Minton: United States Supreme Court justice
- George Jackson Mivart: English biologist
- Alexander Montgomerie: Scottish poet
- Charles Moore: British journalist
- Jan Andrzej Morsztyn: Polish poet and writer
- Malcolm Muggeridge: British writer and journalist (his wife, Kitty, was received into the Church at the same time)
- Paul Mulla: Turkish scholar and professor of Islamic Studies at the Pontifical Oriental Institute
- Adam Müller: German political philosopher and economist
- Les Murray: Australian poet and literary critic
- Jim Nabors: actor portraying "Gomer Pyle" and singer
- Takashi Nagai: Japanese medical doctor, victim of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki
- Bernard Nathanson: American medical doctor and fetologist, former abortionist, active leader in the pro-life movement until his death
- Patricia Neal: Oscar winning actress (Hud, 1963), converted months before she passed away in 2010
- Richard John Neuhaus: Priest, founder and editor of the journal First Things
- John von Neumann: A leading twentieth century mathematician, most well known for contributions to game theory, the mathematical formalization of quantum mechanics, and the theory and development of computers.
- John Henry Newman: Anglican clergyman, theologian, and leader of the Anglo-Catholic Oxford Movement who converted to Roman Catholicism in the 1840s, and was later appointed Cardinal-Deacon
- Keith Newton: Anglican bishop who converted to Roman Catholicism in the 2011, and was appointed after priest's ordination as Ordinary of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham
- Sister Nirmala: Successor to Mother Teresa as head of her worldwide order (first generation Indian of Nepalese extraction) on behalf of the poor, the Missionaries of Charity, coming from Brahminism, the highest caste of Hinduism
- Joshua Nkomo: Leader of Matabele tribe in Zimbabwe who helped bring about the demise of white-minority rule in then-Rhodesia.
- Robert Novak: From nominal Judaism. Leading Washington journalist, syndicated columnist, and conservative commentator.
- Alfred Noyes: He wrote about his conversion to Catholicism in The Unknown God
- Helena Nyblom: Swedish children's writer
- Natalija Obrenović: Queen Consort (1882–1889) and Regent (1889–1891) of Serbia
- Jacques Offenbach: composer and cellist
- Sulkhan-Saba Orbeliani: Georgian writer
- Johann Friedrich Overbeck: German painter
- Ferdynand Antoni Ossendowski: Polish writer and journalist
- Henry Nutcombe Oxenham: English theologian (some leanings toward the Old Catholic Church)
- Ludek Pachman: Czechoslovakian chess grandmaster
- Coventry Patmore: English poet
- Danica Patrick: American Auto Racer
- Floyd Patterson: American boxer
- Christopher de Paus: Norwegian land owner, known as philanthropist and art collector
- Péter Pázmány: Hungarian philosopher, theologian, orator and statesman
- Joseph Pearce: English writer
- Paul Pellisson: French author
- Walker Percy: American writer
- Charice Pempengco: a Filipino singer, converted from the cult Iglesia ni Cristo
- Johann Pistorius: German controversialist and historian
- Linda Poindexter: former Episcopalian priest, wife of former National Security Advisor John Poindexter
- John Hungerford Pollen: English artist and writer
- Ramesh Ponnuru: political columnist, author, and a senior editor of National Review magazine
- Peter Poreku Dery: Ghanaian Cardinal
- Katherine Anne Porter: American writer, on and off convert
- Vincent Price: American actor, converted after marrying his third wife (actress Coral Browne, also a convert)
- Augustus Pugin: English-born architect, designer and theorist of design
Q–Z
- Marc-André Raffalovich: French poet and writer
- Andrew Michael Ramsay: Franco-Scottish writer
- Clemente Rebora: Italian poet and Rosminian priest
- R. R. Reno: Editor of the journal First Things
- Peter le Page Renouf: Egyptologist from Guernsey
- Alphonse Ratisbonne: French banker
- Gerard Reve: Dutch writer
- Alma Reville: Actress and assistant director who was married to Alfred Hitchcock for over 50 years and worked with him on projects.
- Knute Rockne: football coach at the University of Notre Dame
- Frederick Rolfe: English novelist and eccentric
- William S. Rosecrans Union General in American Civil War
- Joseph Rovan: French philosopher and politician
- Edmund Rubbra: English composer
- Peter Paul Rubens: prolific 17th-century Flemish painter, proponent of an exuberant Baroque style that emphasized movement, color, and sensuality.
- Thomas Fortune Ryan, U.S. tobacco and transportation magnate
- Nazli Sabri: Queen consort of Egypt
- Maurice Sachs: French writer
- Siegfried Sassoon: English poet and author
- Joseph Saurin: French mathematician and Calvinist minister.[48]
- Max Scheler: German philosopher
- Karl Wilhelm Friedrich von Schlegel: German poet, critic and scholar
- Dutch Schultz: American gangster (for his wife)
- E.F. Schumacher: Economist and author of "Small is Beautiful"
- Elizabeth Ann Seton: foundress of the 'American Sisters of Charity and first U.S.-born person to be canonized.
- Francesco Severi: Italian mathematician
- Alfred Schnittke: Russian composer
- Frances Shand Kydd: mother of Diana, Princess of Wales
- William Tecumseh Sherman: American soldier, businessman, and author (re-baptized as a child by his adoptive parents after he was orphaned)
- Angelus Silesius: German mystic and poet
- Edith Sitwell: Eccentric British poet
- Sixtus of Siena: From Judaism, theologian believed to have coined the word "deuterocanonical"
- Skanderbeg: Albanian hero
- Richard Simpson: British writer and literary scholar
- Wesley Sneijder: Dutch international footballer
- David Snellgrove: English Buddhologist and Tibetologist
- Delia Smith: British cooking expert and cookbook writer
- Tony Snow: Political commentator, columnist, television news anchor, radio host, and third White House Press Secretary under President George H.W. Bush
- Queen Sofia: Greek princess who converted to marry King Juan Carlos I of Spain
- Reinhard Johannes Sorge: German dramatist and poet
- Etsuro Sotoo: Japanese sculptor
- Muriel Spark: British novelist (The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie)
- Ignatius Spencer: British Passionist priest, son of the 2nd Earl Spencer
- Adrienne von Speyr: Swiss medical doctor and later Catholic mystic[49]
- Henri Spondanus: French Catholic jurist and historian
- Jean de Sponde: French poet
- Ellen Gates Starr: American social reformer
- Nicholas Steno, Niels Stensen: Danish physician and scientist, pioneer of modern geology (Beatified by Pope John Paul II)
- Edith Stein: Philosopher, Catholic nun; Jewish by birth, died in a concentration camp during World War II; canonized a saint (St. Teresia Benedicta of the Cross, her monastic [Carmelite] name) in 1998 by Pope John Paul II.
- Karl Stern: Jewish German psychiatrist
- John Lawson Stoddard: American writer, hymn writer and lecturer
- Sven Stolpe: Swedish writer
- Francis Stuart: Irish nationalist writer and novelist; son-in-law of Maud Gonne, also a convert
- Su Xuelin: Chinese author and academic
- Montague Summers, author, former Church of England deacon
- Mary Surratt, first woman executed by the United States federal government
- Graham Sutherland: English painter
- Jón Sveinsson: Icelandic children's writer
- Italo Svevo: Italian businessman and author of novels, plays, and short stories
- Madame Swetchine: Russian writer and mystic
- Gédéon Tallemant des Réaux: French writer
- Alfred Tarski: Polish logician and mathematician (converted for social reasons)
- Allen Tate: American poet, essayist and social commentator, and Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress.[50]
- Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha, daughter of a Mohawk warrior
- Sir John Thompson: the fourth Prime Minister of Canada
- Alice B. Toklas: lover and confidante of Jewish writer and poet Gertrude Stein
- J. R. R. Tolkien: British novelist (his mother converted when he was a small child and he was re-baptized)
- Valentin Tomberg: Russian Christian mystic and polyglot scholar
- Tran Le Xuan: Wife of Ngo Dinh Nhu
- Meriol Trevor: British biographer, novelist and children's writer
- Lars von Trier: Danish film director
- Margaret Trudeau: Wife of late former Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau
- Malcolm Turnbull: Australian republican politician
- Victor Turner: British anthropologist
- Samuel Tuke: English army officer and playwright
- Julia Gardiner Tyler: widow of President Tyler
- Brahmabandhab Upadhyay: Bengali theologian and social reformer
- Sigrid Undset: Norwegian novelist, Nobel Prize (1928)
- Sheldon Vanauken: American author
- Bill Veeck: American baseball team owner[51]
- Paul Verlaine: French poet associated with the Symbolist movement. He is considered one of the greatest representatives of the fin de siècle in international and French poetry.
- Karl Freiherr von Vogelsang: Austrian politician
- Joost van den Vondel: Dutch poet
- Johannes Vermeer: Dutch painter who converted in 1653
- Robert F. Wagner: U.S. Senator from New York, author of Wagner Act, father of mayor of New York City
- Bruno Walter: Austrian-born conductor and composer, who converted near the end of his life
- Françoise-Louise de Warens: Swiss benefactress and mistress of Jean-Jacques Rousseau
- Evelyn Waugh: British writer
- John Wayne: Oscar-winning American film actor (converted shortly before his death; all his wives and children were Catholics)
- Zacharias Werner: German poet, dramatist and preacher
- Mary Wesley: British writer and novelist
- E. T. Whittaker: Mathematician who converted in 1930, later served at the Pontifical Academy of Sciences.
- Ann Widdecombe: Conservative British politician, 1993
- Oscar Wilde: Irish novelist, playwright and wit (reportedly converted on his deathbed)
- Richard Williamson: English Bishop
- Mary Lou Williams: Jazz pianist
- Paul Williams: British professor at the University of Bristol. he was a Buddhist for many years
- Tennessee Williams: major American playwright and one of the prominent playwrights of the twentieth century
- Michael Willmann: German painter
- Johann Joachim Winckelmann: one of the founding fathers of modern archaeology
- Edward Windsor, Lord Downpatrick grandson of the Duke of Kent
- Lord Nicholas Windsor, son of the Duke of Kent
- Gene Wolfe: science fiction writer
- Jane Wyman: Oscar-winning American actress, first wife of movie star Ronald Reagan, who would become the 40th President of the United States
- Xu Guangqi (Baptismal name: Paul Xu): Chinese mathematician, one of the earliest Chinese converts
- R. V. Young: Literary critic and columnist
- Robert Charles Zaehner: British orientalist and religious scholar
- Carol Zaleski: Religion scholar and writer
- Zheng Zhilong: Chinese merchant, admiral, occasional pirate
- Israel Zolli, former chief Rabbi of Rome who was received into the Church with his wife in 1945; he took as his Christian name Eugenio.
Converts who later left Catholicism
- Mary Kathleen Valentine Ackland, English poet: converted and left twice, in between which she was a member of the Communist Party
- Spyrydon Babskyi, Ukrainian hierarch for different Orthodox jurisdictions, who served some years as Catholic priest.
- Annie Dillard, renowned nature writer (Pilgrim at Tinker Creek) who converted during the early 1990s but left the Church during the 2000s.
- Rod Dreher – Conservative "Crunchy Con" columnist who converted to Catholicism from Methodism and then later converted to Eastern Orthodoxy.
- Ammon Hennacy: Christian anarchist and activist who was Roman Catholic from 1952 to 1965. His essay On Leaving the Catholic Church concerns his formal renunciation of the religion.[52]
- David Kirk: Mississippi-born and reared (as a Baptist) civil rights activist who became a (Melkite) Catholic priest, but late in life converted to Eastern Orthodox Christianity
- Halldór Laxness: Icelandic writer who converted to Catholicism in 1923,[44] but later became disillusioned with it. Laxness did however return to Catholicism at the end of his life[45]
- Robert Lowell: American poet who converted to Catholicism in 1940 but left the Church after only a few years.
- Jean-Jacques Rousseau: Franco-Swiss philosopher, writer and political theorist who converted to Catholicism as a young man but later reverted to Calvinism in 1754.[53]
- Edward Gibbon English historian and author of Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, who converted to Catholicism as a young man but later renounced the faith and became anti-Christian.
See also
Main articles
Catholic related lists
Conversion related lists
References
- ^ BBC
- ^ Gennadius Library
- ^ Catholic Encyclopedia
- ^ Władysław Anders on Technical University Rzeszów (Polish)
- ^ The Guardian
- ^ BBC Profile
- ^ Guardian Unlimited Books: "I wanted it for hellfire and candles. I was married in a Catholic church and I prefer going to a Catholic service, but it changed, like everything else. Even in the Catholic church now they tell you to turn round and shake hands." She looks aghast.
- ^ http://www.francisbeckwith.com
- ^ Notre Dame
- ^ "Tony Blair joins Catholic Church". BBC News. December 22, 2007. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7157409.stm. Retrieved May 8, 2010.
- ^ Contemporary Catholic Converts Tell Their Stories
- ^ Shropshire bio
- ^ The Tablet
- ^ Boston Globe: McCloskey personally baptized Judge Robert Bork, political pundits Robert Novak and Lawrence Kudlow, publisher Alfred Regnery, financier Lewis Lehrman, and U.S. Republican Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas
- ^ Catholic Encyclopedia
- ^ PBS
- ^ Time Magazine: Bush recently made perhaps the ultimate leap for the son of the ultimate Wasp: he converted to Catholicism.
- ^ Washington University St. Louis: He became a Roman Catholic in 1935 and fought for Franco in Spain.
- ^ Royalty site
- ^ [1]: "She accepted him when he reverted to Anglicanism but canceled their wedding plans when he "went over to" Rome for a second time. Collinson's parents disowned him, and he was reduced to begging from his friends in the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood."
- ^ Gifford Lectures
- ^ Catholic Encyclopedia
- ^ Columbia.edu
- ^ Biography at Catholic Worker's site
- ^ Catholic Encyclopedia
- ^ The Guardian
- ^ Madonna House
- ^ Kirjasto
- ^ Catholic Encyclopedia
- ^ Catholic University of America
- ^ Crisis Magazine
- ^ The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
- ^ Black Elk Speaks: Black Elk saw in Catholicism a way for his people to practice religion within the confines of the United States laws, and "at the same time, he was able to fulfill the traditional role of a Lakota leader, poor himself, but ever generous to his people"
- ^ Prodigious Thrust: A Memoir of Catholic Conversion by William Everson ISBN 1-57423-007-7
- ^ Catholic Encyclopedia
- ^ 1911 Encyclopedia
- ^ The Guardian
- ^ Catholic Encyclopedia
- ^ Crisis Magazine: "A Conversation with Walter Hooper". July-August 1994.
- ^ The Georgia Bulletin: "15-Year Journey Led Allen Hunt To Become Catholic". 27 March 2008.
- ^ William F. Buckley, Jr., "Howard Hunt, R.I.P" National Review, March 5, 2007: "Howard Hunt was my boss, and our friendship was such that soon after I quit the agency and returned to Connecticut, he and his wife advised me that they were joining the Catholic Church and asked if I would serve as godfather to their two daughters, which assignment I gladly accepted, continuing in close touch with them."
- ^ [2]
- ^ The Standard
- ^ a b Nobel Prize bio
- ^ a b "Books and Writers"
- ^ "James Longstreet". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. 1913.
- ^ The Tablet
- ^ McTutor
- ^ Ignatius Insight: Adrienne von Speyr
- ^ "...he was an atheist arguing for religious values, a man writing an essay on religion 'in a spirit of irreligion.'... He would not convert to Catholicism for two decades, but his need for religious authority was acute even in 1930." Allen Tate: Orphan of the South, p. 167, biographer Thomas A. Underwood, Princeton University Press, 2000, ISBN 0-691-06950-6
- ^ "Parents eyes"
- ^ Catholic Worker
- ^ Encyclopædia Britannica: Jean-Jacques Rousseau.
External links
- [3] Historic Catholic Converts to Catholicism Produced by EWTN hosted by Fr. Charles Connor – Real Audio
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