Svetlana Alliluyeva

Svetlana as an adult, and with her father as a teenager.

The daughter of Josef Stalin died as a devoted Catholic. Her father was raised in the Orthodox Russian church and his parents even wanted him to become a priest, but eventually he ended up denying God and Christianity. During her young life, she was close to her father, who loved her dearly. After he died, Svetlana became interested in Christianity. She changed her last name from Stalin (meaning steel) to Allilyeva, her mother’s name (which means Hallelujah.) She eventually left Russia for America and was baptized as a Catholic in December 1982, becoming devoted to the Eucharist and attended Mass daily, even going to confession often. She died in 2011 in a nursing home in Wisconsin. Unlike her father, who died a desperate death, she died a happy person, knowing that Jesus and Mary would welcome her into heaven with open arms.