George Washington's Thanksgiving Proclamation

[Brennus]

Encyclopedic friends. Was that Denis Diderot? I've read some of his  writings. they are fascinating. They are also filled with faulty logic  -- Hey, we need a thread on logic!
 
 There is a tract from that  era supposedly writtten by a Catholic priest denouncing the whole  faith. He supposedly wrote it to be published after his death. I should  like to find that again and investigate it for authenticity. I was an  atheist when I read it.
 
  Baron d'Holbach's writings are interesting too. I don't know anything about his death.
 
 
 

[Credo]

I've studied Thomas Paine's life and have read most of his writings including "The Age of Reason" the one to which you are referring here. I don't think the conversion stories are true. 

I don't know about Voltaire.

 

       I am only relaying what I have heard about Paine, though I have not studied his life. However I do remember hearing about Stalin on his deathbed. It is in the book When Character was King, or God and Ronald Reagan. Stalin's daughter recounts how right before he died, a look of horrible fear came over Stalin's face, he sat up in bed, shook his fist to Heaven and died. It is funny how men act when facing death, it tells a lot about them.

[HMiS]

If the devil fights with God over these souls he already seems to have won, then how hard, think ye, would the satan not fight over our souls at the hour of our death!

 

May we be protected by Our Lady's powerful intercession and assistance, which Her divine Son cannot refuse to answer.

[Brennus]

Beethoven shook his fist at heaven before he died as well. I don't know what his position on religion was at the time, but he had been some sort of Deist for most of his life.

I think some of these deathbed stories get convoluted because people project their own wishes onto the events and even make stuff up.
 
HMiS, you're right. Catholics need to remember that the deathbed, the final struggle, is not going to be a pleasant experience like the protestants with their "falling asleep in Jesus" like to think.

Brennus

[DominusTecum]

I agree... Death is not a pretty thing, and that is where it all comes down. However, it is very consoling (or in some cases not!) to remember that the great majority of men die as they have lived. For a Catholic, this is a consolation, but for us when we think of the apostates and heretics, it is frightening.

 

As for deathbed conversions, I have heard that Voltaire died in a very nasty way, not pleasant at all. Apparently, he died cursing God and pleading for mercy at the same time. Very sad. I have heard that Washington was ministered to by a Jesuit priest on his deathbed, and thus effected his conversion.