Did George Washington Convert to Catholicism on his Deathbed?

By Patty Knap, freelance writer and Bill Lauto, Shroud Scientist https://www.faithandreasonrevival.org/interviews.html 

Catholics in early America were prohibited from speaking or praying in public; they could not publish, participate in town meetings, or hold office.  It’s hard to imagine, but they couldn’t even own land, or vote. The level of prejudice throughout the colonies forced Catholics into a separate class system that stifled their existence.

Yet it was the Catholic Church that was known to condemn slavery, a fact that may have been part of the resentment towards Catholics.  At the time of our revolutionary war, only a few Catholics owned slaves and supported the practice. While media often focus on the few slave owning Catholics during the 1700 and 1800’s, they ignore the fact that they were clearly going against the church’s long standing mandates against slavery.

At the time of the Revolutionary war, Catholics were only 1% of the population.  Yet astoundingly, when the war was won at Yorktown, George Washington’s army was made up of over 70% Catholics. Most of the soldiers who belonged to the Church of England returned to their farms and homesteads, leaving Washington with mostly Catholics to fight the war. His “final” army consisted primarily of Catholic men and women from France, Spain, the Netherlands, and the 1% who were already here in the colonies.  This surely contributed to his Washington’s respect for Catholics.

On July 2, 1776, when Thomas Jefferson’s second paragraph from the original draft of the Declaration of Independence abolished slavery, Georgia and South Carolina demanded the removal of such a declaration. The abolition of slavery could have been accomplished at the very birth of our nation, were it not for these two opposing states. Such opposition towards total emancipation fed resentment held toward Catholics because protestant slave owners were acutely aware that the Catholic Church was against slavery.

It is noteworthy that among the numerous paintings at Washington’s home was one of the Virgin Mary, something confirmed by his slaves.  Another painting was of St. John the Evangelist. Former slaves also stated that Washington made the Sign of the Cross before eating his meals. He was known to tell his troops that they would lose the war if they did not refrain from taking the name of Jesus in vain.

Among other evidence of Washington’s sentiments for the Catholic Church as cited by the Catholic League is a letter he wrote in response to Bishop John Carroll, the first U.S. Catholic bishop, on behalf of Catholics asking whether religious freedom would now include Catholics.

The letter reads in part, “We have been long impatient to testify our joy and unbounded confidence, on your being called, by an unanimous vote, to the first station of a country, in which that unanimity could not have been obtained without the previous merit of unexampled services, of eminent wisdom, and unblemished virtue.… By example as well as by vigilance, you extend the influence of laws on the manners of our fellow citizens you encourage respect for religion, and inculcate, by words and actions, that principle, on which the welfare of nations so much depends, that a superintending Providence governs the events of the world, and watches over the conduct of men. Your exalted maxims and unwearied attention to the moral and physical improvement of our country have produced already the happiest effects.”

Washington’s response, now in the Library of Congress, states, “’that growing liberalism would ensure all worthy citizens are “equally entitled to the protection of civil Government.’ He praised Catholic patriotism and Catholic France’s vital aid during the Revolutionary War, affirming their full and equal place in the American experiment.”

“Washington put these convictions into action. During the War’s 1775–1776 Quebec Campaign, he banned the anti-Catholic “Pope’s Day” (called Guy Fawkes Day in Britain) effigy burnings on November 5, calling them “ridiculous and childish” and “monstrous” whilst seeking alliances with Catholic France and Canada. He warned his forces against any disrespect or contempt toward the Catholic residents of Quebec.””

Just a few blocks from Philadelphia’s Independence Hall is Old Saint Mary’s Catholic Church, the second oldest Catholic Church in PA. It was here where Washington attended the first public religious commemoration of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1779.  A Solemn Mass of Thanksgiving for the victory over the British was held there on November 4th, 1781, with members of the Continental Congress in attendance, including Adams and Washington, although still an Anglican.  They gave thanks for the Catholics who were the majority of Washington’s remaining army, and who stayed to fight at Yorktown and secure victory.

George Washington had to come to terms with his own Anglican religion led by a Christian king that allowed slavery. He had gradually distanced himself from having become a Mason at the age of nineteen, something that was considered a step towards involvement in noble society at that time.  Washington knew firsthand all the atrocities his church allowed and committed during the war. However, since resentment still existed against Catholics, Washington moved cautiously in his support of the Catholic Church. One documented example is that when he returned home to Virginia, he donated to the Catholic Basilica of St. Mary in Alexandria.

Washington would surely have been ridiculed if he announced a conversion at this point.  All his connections to the Catholic Church had to be discreet. That ended on the day before he died.

Historian Martin Griffin found that a slave was sent from Washington’s home at Mount Vernon across the Potomac to bring back a Catholic priest. Father Leonard Neale, a Jesuit, returned with the slave and spent over three hours with Washington at his bedside. Upon leaving, Father Neale told Martha that her husband’s soul had been secured. Later when Father Neale returned to his Jesuit house, fellow religious asked him about his visit with Washington and he simply answered, “Everything has been taken care of.’” George Washington passed over the next day, December 14th, 1799.

It is true that Washington’s funeral was not only a military funeral but also a Masonic one.  Yet this aspect was most likely planned many months in advance and is insignificant in light of all the evidence of Washington’s deathbed conversion. Two months later on February 22, 1800, Congress met for a memorial service for President Washington at Old Saint Mary’s Catholic Church.