It seems that
Confederate President, Jefferson Davis would have converted to the
Catholic Faith except for the lamentable example of Catholic priests
he witnessed during a visit to Spanish Cuba. Despite his reservations,
he wore faithfully a St. Benedict Medal and a Miraculous Medal (Catherine
Labours was still living). Laces over his shoulders held on his chest
and back the cloth panels of a French scapular. Someone had also given
him the brown scapular of the Discalced Carmelites. All of these he
wore in prison and preserved to the end of his life.
Meditation on
the Crucifixion was a major focus of Jefferson Davis. He carried a
worn and coverless 1861 edition of The Imitation of Christ, 360
pages, an 18th-century translation from the Latin by Richard Challoner,
the English Roman Catholic Bishop. Mrs. Eliza Violett, to whom he
gave his copy in 1879, wrote in it: “Mr. Davis told me he had used
this book continually during his imprisonment in Fortress Monroe.”
