CSF April 2023: Famous converts

Some famous Catholic converts …

ST. AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO: St. Augustine’s conversion from a hedonistic lifestyle to Christianity is famously described in his “Confessions.” He is one of the early Church Fathers.

G.K. CHESTERTON: English writer who converted from Anglicanism to Catholicism and became a well-known Christian apologist.

BUFFALO BILL CODY: The Quaker-raised Wild West Show founder converted to Catholicism on his death bed after an audience with Pope Leo XIII.

CHRISTINA, QUEEN OF SWEDEN: Scandalized the Lutheran country she ruled by secretly converting to Catholicism, eventually abdicating her throne for her faith.

DOROTHY DAY: The Catholic Worker movement founder and activist felt God had given her a second chance at motherhood after she became pregnant after an earlyin-life abortion.

GRAHAM GREENE: The writer was engaged to a Catholic, but that wasn’t his only reason for converting to Catholicism. Intellectual reasoning brought him to the Church’s doors.

ST. PAUL THE APOSTLE: Pharisee who participated in the persecution of early Christians, St. Paul had a mystical encounter with the risen Christ on the road to Damascus and immediately began to proclaim him as the Messiah.

THOMAS MERTON: Scholar, poet and social activist gravitated toward the Catholic Church and eventually became a Trappist monk.

DR. BERNARD NATHANSON: Jewish former abortionist and founder of NARAL (National Association for the Repeal of Abortion Laws) became a devout pro-life Catholic at age 70.

ST. JOHN HENRY NEWMAN: Anglican priest who became a Catholic priest and cardinal and was ultimately canonized.

ST. EDITH STEIN: Jewish philosopher who became a Carmelite nun and saint (St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross). She died at Auschwitz.

ST. KATERI TEKAKWITHA: A member of the Mohawk tribe who was converted through the preaching of Jesuit missionaries and committed her short life to spreading the Christian faith among her tribesmen.