Editing Deathbed conversion (section)

==Alleged deathbed conversions==

===Charles Darwin===
[[File:Charles Darwin by Julia Margaret Cameron, c. 1868.jpg|thumb|upright|After [[Charles Darwin]] died, rumours spread that he had converted to Christianity on his deathbed. His children denied this occurred.]]
One famous example is [[Charles Darwin]]'s deathbed conversion in which it was claimed (in 1915) by [[Elizabeth Cotton, Lady Hope|Lady Hope]] that Darwin said:
"How I wish I had not expressed my theory of [[evolution]] 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."<ref name="stephenjaygould1">{{cite web |url=http://www.stephenjaygould.org/ctrl/ladyhope.html#Autobiography |title=The Lady Hope Story: A Widespread Falsehood |publisher=Stephenjaygould.org |accessdate=2009-11-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070428181635/http://www.stephenjaygould.org/ctrl/ladyhope.html#Autobiography |archive-date=28 April 2007 |url-status=live }}</ref>
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 (post 1900)|Free Church of Scotland]] in February 1957.

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."<ref name="stephenjaygould1"/> 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."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/hope.html |title=Lady Hope Story |publisher=Talkorigins.org |date=23 February 1922 |accessdate=2009-11-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091012194435/http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/hope.html |archive-date=12 October 2009 |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Doc Holliday===
According to an obituary by the ''Glenwood Springs Ute Chief''', [[Doc Holliday]] 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]] (a Catholic Nun), though no baptismal record has ever been found.<ref>{{cite book|last=Tanner|first=Karen Holliday|year=2001|title=Doc Holliday: A Family Portrait|publisher=University of Oklahoma Press}}</ref>

===Edward VII===
[[Edward VII|King Edward VII]] of the [[U.K.]] 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.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://timesofmalta.com/articles/view/a-king-in-heaven.863913|title = A king 'in heaven'| date=11 April 2021 }}</ref><ref>The Heir Apparent: A Life of Edward VII, the Playboy Prince</ref>

===Wallace Stevens===
The poet [[Wallace Stevens]] is said to have been baptized a Catholic during his last days suffering from [[stomach cancer]].<ref>Maria J. Cirurgião, "Last Farewell and First Fruits: The Story of a Modern Poet". ''Lay Witness'' (June 2000).</ref> This account is disputed, particularly by Stevens's daughter, Holly,<ref>Peter Brazeau, ''Parts of a World: Wallace Stevens Remembered'', New York, Random House, 1983, p. 295</ref> and critic, [[Helen Vendler]], who, in a letter to [[James Wm. Chichetto]], thought Fr. Arthur Hanley was "forgetful" since "he was interviewed twenty years after Stevens' death."<ref>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.</ref>

===Voltaire===
The accounts of [[Voltaire|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.<ref>Peter Gay, ''The Enlightenment – An Interpretation, Volume 2: The Science of Freedom'', Wildwood House, London, 1973, pp. 88–89.</ref>

===George Washington===
After U.S. President [[George Washington]] 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 [[Jesuit]]s.<ref>{{cite web|last=Carlson|first=B.|title=Was George Washington a Catholic?|url=https://medium.com/catholicism-coffee/was-george-washington-a-catholic-catholicism-coffee-2527649ae59c|work=Catholicism Coffee|date=18 October 2021}}</ref> 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).<ref>{{cite web|author=The Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary|title=Slaves Held Washington Became a Catholic on His Deathbed|work=Catholicism.org|url=https://catholicism.org/washington-slaves.html|date=14 October 2008}}</ref> However, no definitive evidence has ever been found of a conversion, nor did any testimony from those close to Washington, including the Catholic [[John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore)|Archbishop John Carroll]], ever mention this occurring.