Holy Death of Saint Vincent

There are two things one usually dreads at the hour of death: the sins of one's past life, and the necessity of appearing before the Divine Justice. We often see people who laugh, both at death, and at those who prepare themselves for it by good works. But these same men, when the hour of death comes, at the moment when there is no more pretence, and when things are called by their right name, these same men feel the pangs of remorse for the good they have neglected and the evil they have done. We see then these unfortunate mortals giving way to vain agitations, to paroxysms of fury, and sometimes to despair. For these men, death is the worst of evils.

It is not thus with virtuous souls. As they approach the end of their life one sees ever increasing in them the desire of going to be united to the God Whom they have loved and served. If sometimes, by the permission of God, even virtuous souls are seized with fear and terror at the thought that they must present themselves at His dread tribunal. Our Lord Himself comes to their aid, comforts them, inspires them with courage, confidence and resignation; their death is precious in the Eyes of the Lord: "Pretiosa in conspectu Domini mors sanctorum ejus."

Saint Vincent had nothing to fear; on the contrary, he had everything to hope for. He found himself at the end of his days with a life that had been passed in innocence and in the practice of the most sublime virtues. He was at the end of his strength, but he had expended it all in works of charity, in hospitals, in prisons, in preaching, confessing and catechising. He could say what Saint Peter said to His Divine Master: "Lord, behold we have given up all things, what then shall be our reward?"

Perceiving that the day was approaching, Saint Vincent spoke of death with humility, and expressed the desire of going soon to see His God. Sometimes he said to his own brethren: "In a few days' time the corpse of this old sinner will be laid under the ground, reduced to dust, and you will trample it under foot." At other times, reflecting on the number of his years, he repeated: "Lord, I am living too long; I am not improving, and my sins are multiplying in proportion as I advance in years."

His whole life was a continual preparation for death; nevertheless in his latter years he prepared himself with still greater fervour for that great journey.

He made Retreats, prayed, and asked for prayers. In each one of his thoughts, words and actions he sought only his soul, God, and Eternity. He was ripe for Heaven.

He fell into an uneasiness which would not permit him to sleep either night or day. Judging this state to be a forerunner of death, he said in a jesting way: "It is the brother waiting for the sister." Being quite unable to celebrate Holy Mass, he heard one every day and received Holy Communion, and this until the eve of his death. On that day, after having finished his ordinary exercises of piety, he was in such a state of exhaustion that he had to be carried from the Oratory to his room, where he fell into a kind of lethargy which was a foreboding that the supreme moment was close at hand. The doctor, after examining him, declared that there was no longer any remedy or hope. He said good-bye to Saint Vincent, who, with a smile upon his lips, spoke to him a few words of gratitude, without, however, being able to finish them.

One of the oldest of his priests asked his blessing for himself and for all the members of the Company, present and absent. Saint Vincent made an effort to raise his head a little and pronounce the words of blessing, but, having pronounced part of them distinctly, his strength failed him, and he said the rest in a whisper. In the evening he received Extreme Unction; and he passed the whole night in a sweet, peaceful and continual application of his mind to God. The Assistants, perceiving he had a certain attraction for these words of the Psalmist, "Oh God, come to my aid; make haste, O Lord, to help me", frequently repeated the first part of the versicle for him, and he hastened to respond: "Domine ad adjuvandum me festina."

An ecclesiastic begged him to give his blessing for himself and to all the ecclesiastics of the Conference, so that none of them might ever stray from the path in which he had directed them. Saint Vincent, with a sentiment of deep humility, answered: "God, Who has begun the good work, will know how to preserve it." Then, a little later, all full of heavenly thoughts, without a sound being heard, with his usual serenity of expression and the tranquillity of a man who is taking a sweet rest, he slept in the Lord. He died in Paris in the eighty-fourth year of his age, on September 27th, 1660.

As the news of his death spread one heard these words repeated everywhere: "The Saint is dead." The orphans wept for him, and the widows also: all the poor cried out in tears, "He is dead, our Father, our refuge, our support." Priests, prelates, knights, princes and members of Parliament, but above all, the members of his Community were for the time inconsolable. But the sobs of grief gave way to the most consoling thought: in losing a support on this earth they had acquired a protector in Heaven.

Such is the death of the just: loved by God and by man; regretted on earth and glorified in Heaven. The just man dies; that is to say, he quits the fatigues of this earth to go and reign for ever with God and the Saints in Heaven. We must not lose sight of the fact that at the hour of death we reap the fruit of the good we have done during life. He who has done good awaits a happy death, the beginning of eternal Bliss, but woe to him who does not prepare for it, for "a man shall reap only that which he has sown".

Practice - Time is only given us that we may prepare to die well. Let us therefore prepare ourselves tomorrow, or as soon as possible, to make a good Confession and Holy Communion, as if they were to be the last of our life.

- text taken from Virtue and Christian Refinement According to the Spirit of Saint Vincent de Paul, by Saint John Bosco