thanks for that cruel pain, endured for me with so much love and charity. I condole with thee in thy sufferings, and with thy most afflicted Mother. Deliver me from the pains of hell; grant me patience in the adversities of this life, and conformity in all things to thy blessed will. I offer to thee all my sufferings of body and soul, in satisfaction for my sins, which have so often deserved eternal torments. Pardon all my enemies, and all those who bear illwill against me. Grant patience to the sick, and restore them to health, and support with thy assisting grace all who are in their agony, that they may not perish. Our Father. Hail Mary. Glory, etc. LORD Jesus Christ! I humbly adore the most sacred wound of thy right hand. I thank thee for that cruel pain, endured for me with so much love and charity. I condole with thee in thy sufferings, and with thy most afflicted Mother. Grant me a firm and resolute will in all things relating to my salvation. Bless me with final perseverance in grace, that I may secure the enjoyment of that glory which was purchased at the price of thy most precious blood. Grant also, my Jesus, speedy peace and repose to the souls in purgatory, and daily advance towards perfection thy holy servants in this world, especially those who are of this congregation. Our Father. Hail Mary. Glory, etc. LORD Jesus Christ! I humbly adore the most sacred wound in thy blessed side. I thank thee for the immense love manifested towards us at the opening of thy inflamed heart. Grant me a pure and perfect charity; that, loving thee above all things, I may breathe my last breath in the purest sentiment of divine love. Protect thy holy Catholic Church; direct thy governing Vicar on earth, and all ecclesiastical orders and pious persons who are instrumental in bringing souls to their duty. Preserve in thy happy service all Christian kings and princes. Bring into the way of salvation all those who are gone astray, whether through malice or ignorance, and subject unto thy sweet yoke all infidels, heretics, and all the enemies of thy holy name. Our Father. Hail Mary. Glory, etc. LET US PRAY. those five wounds which our sins inflicted on thee, succour thy servants, whom thou hast redeemed with thy precious blood. Amen. Most merciful Redeemer! I humbly beseech thee, by those unspeakable torments, and the immense grief which thou wast pleased to suffer for me, especially when thy blessed soul was separated from thy body, that thou wilt secure my poor soul at the hour of its departure, and comfort me then, as thou didst the good thief, with the blessed assurance that I shall be with thee in paradise. Amen. Let us say thrice the Our Father and the Hail Mary, in memory of the three hours our dear Redeemer hung upon the cross, for the souls of the faithful departed of this congregation. Our Father, etc. Hail Mary, etc. Let us say once the Our Father and the are in the lamentable state of mortal sin. Mary, etc. Hail Mary, for such as Hail Let us likewise say once the Our Father and the Hail Mary, for the person in this congregation that is to die next, that he may be prepared, and depart happily fortified with the holy sacraments of the Church. Our Father, etc. Hail Mary, etc. Let us dispose ourselves, by acts of perfect contrition, and pure love of God. to receive worthily the benediction of our Lord and Saviour, in the adorable sacrament of the altar. M ERCIFUL Redeemer, and holy God of infinite patience! great is my confusion to appear in thy divine presence, having so frequently preferred contemptible creatures to thee, the omnipotent Creator of the universe. I utterly detest my presumption in sinning in thy most pure sight; I acknowledge myself a criminal, and I plead guilty at the bar of thy dread tribunal. Thou mightest have been glorified in thy justice, by striking me suddenly dead, and condemning me to eternal flames, for base indignities offered to thee; but thou wast pleased to be glorified in the high prerogative of thy mercy, in calling me back to repentance. I abhor all my crimes of thought, word, and deed; not only for the hope of reward, or fear of punishment, but for thy own sake, and because thou dost infinitely abominate them. O God of majesty and mercy! look upon those sacred marks in thy hands, feet and side, which thou still retainest in thy glorified body, to plead my pardon. By that tender love which induced thee to create, redeem, and sanctify me, unite the abyss of thy merits to the abyss of my misery; strengthen my weakness, confirm this my resolution of never offending thee more. O rather let me lose everything, with life itself, than lose thy favour by mortal sin. My heart was created for thee, and I love thee more than myself. Every aspiration of my life, especially the last, shall be a protestation of my pure and sincere love of thy Divine Majesty. Sweet Saviour of perishing mankind! who openest thy hand and fillest every creature with benediction, give me now such a blessing as thou didst bestow on thy beloved disciples when ascending in triumph from Mount Olivet, that I may live and die in this happy disposition. Amen. Litany for a Happy Death. LORD, have mercy on us. Christ, have mercy on us. Lord, have mercy on us. God the Father, who for our sake didst deliver up thy beloved Son to death, Have mercy on us. God the Son, who didst mercifully submit to the law of death, that we may thereby gain eternal life, Have mercy on us. Holy Spirit, the great comforter of dying Christians, O divine Jesus! when I shall be seized with my last illness, and warned to prepare for the approach of my Judge, When my eyes, darkened with the mist of death, shall fix their last dying looks on thy crucified image, When my pale and ghastly countenance shall fill others with compassion and terror, When my ears, about to close for ever to all human discourse, shall await the dreadful sound of thy irrevocable sentence, When my feet, unable to move, shall remind me that my earthly course is drawing to an end, When my imagination, disturbed with gloomy and frightful phantoms, shall fill my heart with deadly horror, When my soul, terrified at the view of my sins, and agonized with fear of thy rigorous justice, shall struggle with the angel of darkness, When my heart, weakened and overwhelmed with the pains of sickness, shall be seized with the last agonies of death, and violently assailed with the last efforts of Satan, Then, Merciful Jesus, have mercy on me. When my friends, assembled round me, shall compassionate my sufferings, and weep for my approaching dissolution, When all my senses shall fail, and this world for ever vanish from my view, When the symptoms of death shall appear, and the last tears shall trickle down my cheeks, When tortured by the pangs of death, and oppressed with lengthened agony, When the last heavy sighs of my heart shall press my soul to leave my body, When my soul, fluttering at my lips, shall be on the point of beholding her Almighty Judge, When my soul shall at length depart from this valley of tears, and leave my body pale, cold, and hideous, When I shall stand all alone before my Judge, and behold at one glance all the sins of my life, and all thy claims, O my God, on my love, When thou shalt pronounce that awful sentence, which no human power can revoke, and no human art elude, Then, Merciful Jesus, have mercy on me. V. Through thy painful agony and precious death, R. Deliver us, O Jesus! LET US PRAY. GOD, who hast condemned our bodies to death, but has given us immortal souls to enjoy thee eternally, and hast concealed from us the day and hour of our death, that we may always expect and prepare for our last hour, grant that a holy and penitential life may ensure for us the happiness of a tranquil death. O Divine Jesus! whose precious death should lighten our sorrows, I fervently conjure thee, by the bitterness thou didst endure on the |