his wife, Mary Sargent, daughter of John Sargent, into the Catholic Church.

Upon his conversion, he wrote Reasons for Submitting to the Catholic Church: a Farewell Letter to his Parishioners (1851). The Catholic Defence Association was founded in Ireland the same year, and in 1852, Wilberforce became Secretary, living in Ireland for two or three years. As Secretary of the Catholic Defence Association he engaged in a correspondence