Bob Hope (1903-2003)

Today also marks the death of Bob Hope, who converted to Catholicism (largely through the influence of his wife Dolores) several years before his death. Before his death, the Hopes funded the building of a new chapel at the National Shrine in Washington, D.C. The name of the chapel? Our Lady of Hope! In 1994 the Washington Post announced:

A new chapel donated by Bob Hope and his wife, Dolores, will be consecrated tomorrow at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. The chapel was given in memory of Hope’s mother, Avis Townes Hope, and honors Our Lady of Hope of Pontmain, France. Devotion to Our Lady of Hope began with four children in Pontmain who saw an apparition of the Virgin Mary in January 1871, as Prussian troops approached the town. They said she told them, “Pray, my children. God will soon grant your request.”