Conversion of an Atheist

[james03]

Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein.

Ethnically jewish, he was baptized as an infant and seems to have been influenced by his Catholic grandfather.  He was a sexual deviant being bisexual.  He appears to have lived life as an agnostic, though showed respect towards God.

Perhaps the nearness of death will bring me the light of life. May God enlighten me. I am a worm, but through God I become a man. God be with me. Amen.

I have had a letter from an old friend in Austria, a priest. In it he says that he hopes my work will go well, if it should be God's will. Now that is all I want: if it should be God's will.

Bach wrote on the title page of his Orgelbüchlein, 'To the glory of the most high God, and that my neighbour may be benefited thereby.' That is what I would have liked to say about my work.

That evening, he became very ill; when his doctor told him he might live only a few days, he reportedly replied, "Good!". Joan stayed with him throughout that night, and just before losing consciousness for the last time on 28 April, he told her: "Tell them I've had a wonderful life." Norman Malcolm describes this as a "strangely moving utterance".

Four of Wittgenstein's former students arrived at his bedside – Ben Richards, Elizabeth Anscombe, Yorick Smythies, and Maurice O'Connor Drury. Anscombe and Smythies were Catholics; and, at the latter's request, a Dominican friar, Father Conrad Pepler, also attended. (Wittgenstein had asked for a "priest who was not a philosopher" and had met with Pepler several times before his death.)


Wittgenstein was given a Catholic burial at Ascension Parish Burial Ground in Cambridge.

I'm a sucker for conversion stories.  For those who are fearful (beyond a healthy fear of the Lord), consider a horrible sinner like Wittgenstein, who was given the grace to call for a Friar on his deathbed and likely saved his soul (God is the final Judge, but have hope in His Mercy).