BEFORE GIVING THE LAST BENEDICTION.

You have, dear Brother (or dear Child), by the goodness of God, already received all the holy Sacraments, ordained to strengthen your soul with the grace of God in your illness, and to arm you for your last conflict in your journey to eternity. However, that nothing may be wanting that can be serviceable to your soul, I will now impart to you, by virtue of the faculty I have received from the Holy See, the Apostolical Benediction of his Holiness, together with a plenary indulgence, for the full discharge of whatever temporal punishment may remain due from you, that might otherwise retard your entrance into heaven. Our Lord Jesus Christ gave to Saint Peter the keys of the kingdom of heaven (Matt. xvi.), and told him that whatsoever he should bind on earth should be bound in heaven and whatsoever he should loose on earth should be loosed in heaven.

By this power, derived from Saint Peter to his Successors, and which has by them been communicated to me, I will now proceed to grant you this indulgence. But you, also, on your part, must endeavour to concur, and by a hearty act of contrition, renounce and detest, both in effect and affection, all your sins, both known and unknown, mortal and venial: and accept with patience and resignation what you

may have yet to suffer: offer up all your pains, and your death, in union with the sufferings and death of your Redeemer, in satisfaction for your sins.

Wherefore, now raise your heart to heaven by a lively faith in your Saviour Jesus Christ who died for you, and with an entire confidence in His mercy and goodness, offer your whole soul to Him, to love Him for all eternity: beg His pardon from the bottom of your heart, for all your sins: accept of the penance of death, as due to them: and trust in His divine mercy that He will now release you from all your sins, and the punishment due to them, and that, at the hour of your death, He will receive you into the mansions of eternal bliss. Amen.

THE RECOMMENDATION OF A
DEPARTING SOUL.

Lord, have mercy on him (or her).

Christ, have mercy on him.

Lord, have mercy on him.

Holy Mary, pray for him (or her).

All ye holy Angels and Archangels, pray for

him (or her).

ly Abel, pray for him (or her).

All ye choirs of the Just,

Holy Abraham,

St. John the Baptist,
St. Joseph,

All ye holy Patriarchs and Prophets,

St. Peter,

St. Paul,

St. Andrew,

St. John,

All ye holy Apostles and Evangelists,
All ye holy Disciples of our Lord,
All ye holy Innocents,

St. Stephen,

St. Lawrence,

All ye holy Martyrs,

St. Sylvester,

St. Gregory,

St. Augustine,

All ye holy Bishops and Confessors,

St. Benedict,

St. Francis,

All ye holy Monks and Hermits,

St. Mary Magdalen,

St. Lucy,

All ye holy Virgins and Widows,

All ye men and women, Saints of God, intercede for him (or her).

Be merciful to him, O God. Spare him, O Lord.

Be merciful unto him. Deliver him (or her) O Lord.

Be merciful unto him,

From thy wrath,

From the danger of eternal death,
From an evil death,

From the pains of hell,

From all evil,

From the power of the devil,

By thy Nativity,

By thy Cross

and Passion,

By thy Death and Burial,

By thy glorious Resurrection,
By thy wonderful Ascension,

By the grace of the Holy Ghost the
Comforter,

In the day of Judgment,

We sinners, beseech thee to hear us.

Deliver him (or her), O Lord.

That thou spare him, we beseech thee to hear us.
Lord, have mercy on him.
Christ, have mercy on him.
Lord, have mercy on him.

Go forth, O Christian soul, out of this world, in the name of God the Father Almighty, who created thee; in the name of Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God, who suffered for thee; in the name of the Holy Ghost, who sanctified thee; in the name of the angels, archangels, thrones, and dominations, cherubim and Seraphim; in the name of the patriarchs and prophets, of the holy apostles and evangelists, of the holy rtyrs, confessors, monks and hermits, of holy virgins, and of all the saints of God;

may thy place be this day in peace, and thy abode in holy Sion. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

O merciful and gracious God, O God, who according to the multitude of thy mercies blottest out the sins of such as repent, and graciously remittest the guilt of their past offences, mercifully regard this thy servant N., and grant him a full discharge from all his sins, who with a contrite heart most earnestly begs it of thee. Renew, O merciful Father, whatever has been vitiated in him, by human frailty, or by the frauds and deceits of the enemy: and associate him as a member of redemption to the unity of the body of the church. Have compassion, O Lord, on his sighs, have compassion on his tears; and admit him, who has no hope but in thy mercy, to the sacrament of thy reconciliation. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

I commend thee, dear Brother, to the Alnighty God, and consign thee to the care of Him, whose creature thou art, that, when thou shalt have paid the debt of all mankind by death, thou mayest return to thy Maker, who formed thee from the dust of the earth. When, therefore, thy soul shall depart from thy body, may the resplendent multitude of the angels meet thee: may the court of the apostles receive thee: may the triumphant army of glorious martyrs come out to welcome thee: may the splendid company of confessors