The Prized Convert

A Life of Orestes Brownson in Five Parts: Part Two

Part One: The Forgotten Transcendentalist

Premonitions of Conversion

“Take care how you examine the Catholic Church, unless you are willing to become a Catholic, for Catholic doctrines are logical.” Daniel Webster

Although Brownson hadn’t given any serious thought about Catholicism until the 1840s, it would be wrong to suppose that he hadn’t made any progress toward the Church earlier. Throughout his life, little things had nudged him toward Rome.

When he was twelve, for instance, he found himself confused about religion, so he consulted a devout and respected Congregationalist neighbor. Brownson told the elderly woman that he was inclining toward Methodism. She told him not to join the Methodists because they were too new. Rather, he must join a church “that began with Christ and his Apostles and has continued to subsist the same without change of doctrine or worship down to our own times.” Brownson said these words, by a sincere Congregationalist, prevented him in later years from “ever being a genuine, hearty Protestant.”[i]