Did George Washington Die
a Catholic?
There are many inspiring
and amazing stories surrounding our first President. Though certainly not perfect, George
Washington was a man of high integrity whose life was filled with remarkable
events.
David Barton, founder of WallBuilders, tells the story of when
Washington was an English commander during the French and Indian War. He and his troops were ambushed from both
sides while traveling through a canyon.
After the battle Washington found bullet holes through his coat and
fragments in his hair, yet he was not touched.
Years later he was visited
by an Indian chief who said he had commanded the braves that day, and
instructed them to take Washington down since he was clearly the British
company’s leader. However, none of his
men could hit Washington and he finally gave them orders to stop trying. He was visiting our first President so many years
later, he said, because he wanted to meet personally the man that God would not
let die.
One of the more
interesting historical questions about Washington’s life is whether, hours
before his death, he converted to Catholicism.
There are those who are skeptical, and it can not be considered an
undeniable matter of our nation’s historical record, but the evidence is quite
interesting.
The story is that about
four hours before his death on December 14, 1799, Washington called for a
friend, Jesuit Father Leonard Neale, with whom he spoke and who baptized him
into the Faith before he died.
Though critics of this
story will cite Washington’s association with Masonry, our first President
seems to have been anything but an anti-Catholic. He was known to read St. Robert Bellarmine
and St. Thomas Aquinas, and servants report that he made the Sign of the Cross
before meals. And a picture of the
Virgin Mary was reportedly found among his belongings after his death. He forbade such anti-Catholic practices among
his troops as burning an effigy of the pope.
He was friends with the United States’ first bishop, John Carroll, and
Pope Leo XIII, who wrote against Freemasonry, praised Washington.
Though we don’t have
historical documentation of George Washington’s deathbed baptism, it was a
matter of tradition among servants and the local Jesuits.
Was George Washington the
first U.S. President to die a Catholic?
At present perhaps we can’t prove it, but the evidence is quite
compelling, and it would certainly not be out of character for this American
icon.
