Litany for a Good Death
From The Mission Book, 1857 Tools
Source
| Printed in | The Mission Book |
|---|---|
| Imprint | New York, Edward Dunigan & Brother (James B. Kirker), 371 Broadway, 1857 |
| Scan | the Internet Archive copy |
| Approval | Approbation signed '+ JOHN, Archbishop of New York', dated 'New York, September 8th, 185_'. Text: 'The "Mission Book" has received the commendation of many distinguished Prelates in Europe ... We cheerfully permit its publication.' Not labelled imprimatur or nihil obstat. |
| Transcription | Transcribed from the scan of the 1857 edition. |
| Rights | Public domain in the United States. |
- Prayers for
- a happy death, mercy
Limbourg brothers, The Procession of St. Gregory, Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry, 1411–1416. Musée Condé, Chantilly.
LORD, have mercy on us.
Christ, have mercy on us.
Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ, hear 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 Ghost, great comforter of the dying Christian, have mercy on us.
have mercy on us.
O divine Jesus! when I shall be seized with my last illness, and warned to prepare for the approach of my Judge, then, merciful Jesus, have mercy on me.
then, merciful Jesus, have mercy on me.
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 forever 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,
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 forever vanish from my view,
When the symptoms of death shall appear, and the last tear shall trickle down my cheeks,
Then, merciful Jesus, have mercy on me.
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.
PRAYER.
O GOD, who hast condemned us all to die, but concealed the moment and the hour of death; grant, that passing all the days of my life in justice and holiness, I may merit to breathe my last in the peace of a good conscience, and die in thy love: through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
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