Obituary: Fr Conrad Pepler

IT IS worth recording that among the many people from all walks of life to whom Conrad Pepler extended his friendship and guidance was the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein, writes Fiona Hunt.

As Father Conrad told Wittgenstein's biographer Ray Monk, the philosopher in the final months of his life wanted to talk to a priest and discuss in general terms 'God and the soul'. Although it is doubtful whether at that stage Wittgenstein was intending to return to the Catholic faith, Father Conrad as a friend was at his deathbed in 1951, to recite the office for the dying and grant conditional absolution.