Posted on 10/15/2026 2:21:27 PM PDT by ebb tide
Editor’s Note: These two conversion stories have been taken (and edited) from the booklet, The Miraculous Medal, by the Militia Immaculata of Traditional Observance.
The Conversion of Claude Newman
Claude Newman, an African American man, was born in 1923 in Arkansas, but lived most of his life with his beloved grandmother, Ellen, in Mississippi. In 1939, she married a man named Sid Cook, who soon became abusive toward her – which deeply angered Claude. In 1940, Claude began working as a farmhand on a local plantation where Sid had been born and raised.
Sid and Ellen soon separated, but on December 19, 1942, being still very angry at Sid and egged on by a friend, Claude ambushed and shot Sid. He fled but was arrested the following month, sentenced for murder, and condemned to die in the electric chair. After an appeal to retry the case was rejected, he was rescheduled to be executed on January 20, 1944.
The majority of the following information comes from a tape recording of a radio show interview of Father O’Leary, who came to know Claude very well during his imprisonment.
While Claude was in jail awaiting execution, he shared a cell block with four other prisoners. One night, while the five men were sitting around talking, Claude noticed that one of them was wearing a medal around his neck. Curious, he asked the other prisoner what the medal was.
The young prisoner was a Catholic, but he apparently did not know much about the medal (or did not want to talk about it). Seemingly embarrassed, he appeared angry and suddenly took the medal off from around his own neck and threw it on the floor at Claude’s feet with a curse, telling him to “take the thing.” Claude picked up the medal, and after looking it over, he placed it around his own neck, although he had no idea whose image was on it; to him the medal was simply a trinket, but for some reason he felt attracted to it, and wanted to wear it.
During the night while sleeping on his cot, he was awakened with a touch upon his wrist. Awakening with a start, there stood ‘the most beautiful Woman that God ever created.’ At first, he was quite frightened, not knowing what to make of this extraordinarily beautiful, glowing Woman. The Lady calmed Claude down and said to him, “If you would like Me to be your Mother and you would like to be My child, send for a priest of the Catholic Church.” And then She disappeared. Excited, Claude immediately started to yell, “a ghost, a ghost,” and started screaming that he wanted a Catholic priest.
Father O’Leary was called the next morning. Upon arrival he went to see Claude, who told him what had happened the night before. Deeply impressed by the events, Claude, along with the other four prisoners, asked for religious instruction in the Catholic Faith.
The prisoners receive instruction in the Catholic Faith.
Father O’Leary returned the next day to begin instruction for the prisoners. It was then that he learned that Claude could neither read nor write. Claude told him that he had never been to school, and Father O’Leary soon discovered that his ignorance of religion was even more profound. He knew practically nothing about religion or the Christian Faith. He knew that there was a God, but he did not know that Jesus was God. And so, Claude began receiving instructions, and the other prisoners helped him with his studies.
After several weeks, Father O’Leary announced that he was going to teach them about the Sacrament of Confession. Claude then responded: “Oh, I know about that! The Lady told me that when we go to Confession, we are kneeling down not before a priest, but we’re kneeling down by the Cross of Her Son. And that when we are truly sorry for our sins, and we confess our sins, the Blood He shed flows down over us and washes us free from all sins.” Upon hearing this, Father O’Leary expressed great surprise. Claude asked to speak with him in private.
Once alone, Claude said to the priest, “She told me that if you doubted me or showed hesitancy, I was to remind you that lying in a ditch in Holland in 1940, you made a vow to Her which She’s still waiting for you to keep.” He then told Fr. O’Leary precisely what the vow was. Claude’s revelation absolutely convinced Father O’Leary that he was telling the truth about his visions of Our Lady. Father O’Leary’s vow was this: that if he survived that life-threatening situation, he would build a church in honor of Our Lady’s Immaculate Conception – which he ultimately did.
Claude told the other prisoners: “You should not be afraid to go to Confession. You’re really telling God your sins, not the priest.” He even noted: “You know, Confession is something like a telephone. We talk through the priest to God, and God talks back to us through the priest.”
About a week later, Father O’Leary was preparing to teach the class about the Blessed Sacrament. Claude indicated that the Lady had also taught him about the Eucharist, and he asked if he could tell the priest what She said. Father O’Leary agreed.
Claude related: “The Lady told me that in Communion, I will only see what looks like a piece of bread. But She told me that It is really and truly Her Son, and that He will be with me just as He was with Her before He was born in Bethlehem. She told me that I should spend my time like She did during Her lifetime with Him – in loving Him, adoring Him, thanking Him, praising Him, and asking Him for blessings. I shouldn’t be distracted or bothered by anybody else or anything else, but I should spend those few minutes in my thoughts alone with Him.”
As the weeks progressed, eventually they finished the catechism instructions, and Claude and the other prisoners were received into the Catholic Church on January 16, 1944. It was just four days before Claude was scheduled to be executed.
The sheriff, named Williamson, asked him: “Claude, you have the privilege of a last request. What do you want?” Because he was so excited that he was going to Heaven, his last request was to have a party with cakes and ice cream, and other prisoners included.
The warden consented and posted additional guards for the party. Afterwards, because Claude had requested it, they made a Holy Hour, praying especially for Claude and for all of their souls. Father O’Leary brought prayer books from the church, and they all prayed together the Stations of the Cross and made a Holy Hour without the Blessed Sacrament. Then the men were put back in their cells, and Father O’Leary and Claude prayed together as the clock ticked toward the scheduled time of Claude’s execution, at five minutes after midnight.
At ten minutes before midnight, Sheriff Williamson came running up the stairs, shouting: “Reprieve! Reprieve! The governor has given a two-week reprieve!” Claude had not been aware that the sheriff and the District Attorney were trying to get a stay of execution to save Claude’s life.
But when Claude found out, he started to cry. The priest and the sheriff assumed Claude’s reaction was one of joy because his life had been spared (at least for the moment). Instead, Claude said: “But you don’t understand! If you ever saw Her face, and looked into Her eyes, you wouldn’t want to live another day!” He then added, “What have I done wrong these past weeks that God would refuse me my going home?” Claude sobbed as one who was completely broken-hearted, but he eventually quieted down and asked: “Why Father? Why must I still remain here for two weeks?”
To console him, Father O’Leary suggested that Claude offer to God every moment of his being separated from Our Lady for the conversion of James Hughs, a white prisoner who hated Claude intensely. James had led a horribly immoral life, and like Claude he too was sentenced to be executed for murder. He was raised a Catholic, but now he was a reprobate and rejected God and all things Christian. Claude agreed to the priest’s advice; and during his two weeks’ reprieve, he generously offered his sacrifice and prayers for his fellow prisoner.
Claude was finally put to death two weeks later on February 4, 1944. His last words to Father O’Leary were: “Father, I will remember you. And whenever you have a request, ask me, and I will ask Her.”
Father O’Leary later stated: “I’ve never seen anyone go to his death as joyfully and happily. Even the official witnesses and the newspaper reporters were amazed. They said they couldn’t understand how anyone could take a seat in the electric chair beaming with happiness.”
Three months after Claude’s execution, on May 19, 1944, James Hughs – the one whom Claude had offered his sacrifice for – was to be executed. Father O’Leary said: “This man was the filthiest, most immoral person l had ever come across. His hatred for God and for everything spiritual defied description.” He would not allow a priest or any clergyman in his cell. Just before his execution, the county doctor pleaded with him to at least kneel down and pray the Our Father before the sheriff would come for him. The prisoner spat in the doctor’s face. When he was strapped into the electric chair, the sheriff said to him, “If you have something to say, say it now.” The condemned man started to blaspheme.
Suddenly, he stopped speaking, and his eyes became fixed on a corner of the room, and his face turned to one of absolute horror. Then he screamed in terror – a horrible scream that shocked everyone present. Turning to the sheriff, he cried, “Sheriff, get me a priest!” Father O’Leary was in the room since Mississippi law required a clergyman to be present at executions, but he had hidden himself behind some reporters because the condemned man had threatened to curse God if he saw a clergyman.
Father O’Leary immediately went to the condemned man. The room was cleared of everyone else, and the priest heard the man’s Confession. The man said he had been a Catholic but turned away from his religion when he was 18 because of his immoral life. He confessed all of his sins with deep repentance and intense fervor.
Upon returning to the room, the sheriff asked the condemned man, “Son, what changed your mind?” The prisoner responded that he had seen Claude standing in the corner, and behind him with one hand on each shoulder was a beautiful Lady. He said Claude told him: “I offered my death in union with Christ on the Cross for your salvation. She has obtained for you this gift of seeing your place in hell if you do not repent.” James added, “I saw my place in hell. That’s why I screamed.”
James Hughs was executed as scheduled, but he died reconciled to the Church. With the help of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Father O’Leary had taught Claude to unite himself with the suffering of Jesus by offering his own sufferings to Him, and Claude’s suffering helped to pay the price for James’ remarkable last-minute conversion and repentance. Therefore, we must never underestimate the value of our suffering joined with that of Jesus Christ’s, and also the power and loving intercession of Our Blessed Mother in Heaven.
Thanks.
Paise God for His great mercy. Amen.
I can't tell which is greater: your hatred of the Blessed Mother or your hatred of traditional Catholics.
Only cowards spam puerile keywords instead of publicly posting on religious threads like this.
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