Converts: From Oscar Wilde to Muriel Spark, Why So Many Became Catholic in the 20th Century

by Melanie McDonagh

Why did Catholicism attract so many unlikely converts in Britain during the twentieth century?

The twentieth century is understood as an era of growing, inexorable secularism, yet in Britain between the 1890s and the 1960s there was a marked turn to Rome. In the first half of the century, Catholicism became an intellectual and spiritual fashion attracting more than half a million converts, including fascinating artists, writers, and thinkers. What drew these men and women to join the church, and what difference did conversion make to them?

Melanie McDonagh examines the lives of these notable converts from the perspective of their faith. For the Decadent circle of Aubrey Beardsley and Oscar Wilde—who converted on his deathbed—artists such as Gwen John and David Jones, the philosopher Elizabeth Anscombe, and novelists including G. K. Chesterton, Graham Greene, Evelyn Waugh, and Muriel Spark, Catholicism offered stability in increasingly febrile times. McDonagh explores their lives and influences, the reaction to their conversions, and the priests who initiated them into their faith.

Genres: Nonfiction, Religion

368 pages, Hardcover

Published January 6, 2026

Reviews

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

I took my time with this totally fascinating account about the rise of Catholicism in the early part of the 20th Century, particularly among notable names such as Oscar Wilde, Evelyn Waugh and Graham Greene, but also expected names like John Henry Newman and G. K. Chesterton. Only a few of these conversions were down to belief in God, others were for cultural or intellectual reasons or as a form of asceticism. I felt more depth could’ve been given to these reasonings, and maybe some degree of background knowledge is needed before approaching this book, as some explanations are left open ended for the reader to go searching for elsewhere.

[Fionnbharr Rodgers · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just going by the chapter on Wilde, who I know most about of anyone here, it makes some fairly outlandish statements (that Wilde was baptised both Catholic and Protestant- for which I’ve only ever found one source and I reckon could just be an allegation of crypto-Popery), there’s also a great glossing over of the difference in the political contexts between England and Ireland.