Category: Death
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“The Recommendation”
Richard Crashaw (1613–49) These houres, and that which hovers o’re my End,Into thy hands, and hart, lord, I commend. Take Both to Thine Account, that I and mineIn that Hour, and in these, may be all thine. That as I dedicate my devoutest BreathTo make a kind of Life for my lord’s Death, So from…
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Pascal, Selections from the Pensées
About the Author: Blaise Pascal was born in Clermont, France, in 1623 to a devout Catholic family. Though his father and sister dabbled in Jansenism, Pascal himself had something of a mystical experience at the age of thirty-one, which prompted something of a “conversion.” T.S. Elliot describes him as “one of the greatest physicists and…
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The Death of Corrupt Clergymen
About the Author: Thomas of Cantimpré (1201 – 1272) was pushed into the Church because a hermit told his father that unless one of his sons became a priest, the father would spend a very long time in purgatory. But Thomas took to the priestly life, becoming a noted preacher and theologian and writing several…
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The Martyrdom of Polycarp
About the Author: This letter from the Church at Smyrna is the earliest story of martyrdom not counting the New Testament. The original author is unknown, though our text includes the names of several men who copied the original letter. It tells the story of Polycarp, the 86 year old bishop of Smyrna, and of…
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The Dance of Death by John Lydgate
About the Author: In the early 14th century, the bubonic plague, the Black Death as it was called, swept through Europe, killing as much as half the population. Europeans suddenly had a sense of the presence of death among them, always ready to snatch them away. A French poet expressed this as the Danse Macabre, the Dance…
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St. Thomas More
About the Author: Long before his own martyrdom, the great humanist thinker Saint Thomas More (1478 – 1535) was enjoying great worldly success at the court of King Henry VIII. But shortly after he was made a knight, in 1522, More wrote his short book On The Four Last Things. More commends those who look on…
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John 11: 17-27
17 Now when Jesus came, he found that Laz′arus had already been in the tomb four days. 18 Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off, 19 and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother. 20 When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary…
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The Apostolic Blessing at the Point of Death
About the Author: Fr. Matthew Hardesty is a priest of the Archdiocese of Louisville, KY. He earned Sacred Theology Bachelors and Master of Divinity degrees from St. Mary’s Seminary & University in Baltimore, MD in 2011. He has held the positions of Assistant to the Vicar for Priests, founding Chaplain of the Archdiocese’s Courage Chapter,…
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Justin Martyr on why Christians don’t kill themselves if they think Death is not to be feared
About the Author: St. Justin Martyr is one of the principal witnesses to the beliefs and practices of Christians in the second century. Justin was a Platonist philosopher from Palestine who wrote two apologies, that is, defences of the faith. The first apology was addressed to the Roman Emperor himself, Antoninus Pius, and the second…
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Stewarding Death on the Homestead
About the Author: Mark Kutolowski lives with his wife and three children at Metanoia of Vermont, a lay Catholic homestead guided by the spirituality of Saint Benedict. metanoiavt.com “Thank you, Dimitri, for the gift of your life.” I speak the words softly to the 90 pound lamb I’m holding. I have him up on his…