On Tue, 25 Nov 2008 16:33:45 -0500 Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com>
writes:
> God, I hope this doesn't happen to me....
> ___________________________________
The atheist philosopher George Santayana spent his last years, living at the Convent of the Blue Nuns of the Little Company of Mary on the Celian Hill in Rome, where he was cared for by the sisters there. It is said that when he was dying, he informed his friends that there might be reports following his death that he had undergone a deathbed conversion, but that any such reports shouldn't be taken very seriously.
In the case of Gramsci, I think it is quite possible that he had taken final sacraments and all that jazz that Catholics are supposed to do whey are about to kick off this mortal coil. But I suspect that by then, he was, if conscious at all, just barely so, and probably not at all cognizant of what was going on at that point. The Catholic Church, especially in those days was not shy about pushing such things to people on their deathbeds, on the supposition that no matter how far gone they might appear to be, they might still be sufficiently aware to make a last moment conversion.
Jim F. ____________________________________________________________ Click to consolidate debt and lower month expenses. http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL2141/fc/PnY6rw2PBHKeTc0d9HRANMVkLRFJX8YmoyDVL1YCzWXAPpOz78cPj/