R. Offering it in the sight of the Most High.

V. Lord, have mercy on us.
R. Christ, have mercy on us.
V. Lord, have mercy on us.
Our Father.

V. And lead us not into temptation.

R. But deliver us from evil.

V. Eternal rest give unto [him or her], O Lord.

K. And let perpetual light shine upon [him or her].

V. From the gate of hell.

R. Deliver [his or her] soul, O Lord.
V. May [he or she] rest in peace.
R. Amen.

V. O Lord, hear my prayer.

R. And let my cry come unto thee.

Let us pray.

To thee, O Lord, we commend the soul of thy servant N., that, being dead to the world, [he or she] may live to thee; and the sins [he or she] hath committed, through the frailty of [his or her] mortal nature, do thou, in thy most merciful goodness, forgive and wash away. Amen.

The body is then decently laid out, and a light placed before it. A small Crucifix is put into the hands of the deceased, or the hands are themselves placed crosswise, while the body is sprinkled with holy water.

PRAYERS FOR

Deliverance from Unprepared
Death.

HEAR us, O God of our salvation,

and issue not the decree for the completion of our days before thou forgivest us our sins; and because penance avails not in hell, and there is no amendment in the pit, therefore we humbly pray and beseech thee here on earth, that giving us time to pray for pardon, thou wouldst give us also forgiveness of our sins: through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

2 Take away, merciful Lord, all errors from thy faithful people : avert from them the sudden destruction of the wasting pestilence; and those whose wanderings thou dost justly chastise, do thou mercifully pity when corrected: through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Antiphon.

3 Sin no longer, O my soul; think upon the sudden change from sin to endless torments. There, in hell, penance is not accepted, and tears

+

profit not. Turn then, whilst thou hast time; cry out and say, Have mercy upon me, O my God.

Antiphon.

4 In the midst of life we are in death; but to whom can we look to be our helper, save thee, O Lord, who art justly angry with us because of our sins? O holy God, holy and strong, holy and merciful Saviour, deliver us not over to a bitter death.

5 V. Lest, overtaken by the day of death, we seek time for penance, and be unable to find it.

R. Hearken, O Lord, and have mercy on us; for we have sinned against thee.

6 We beseech thee, Almighty God, receive in thy fatherly pity thy people who flee unto thee from thy anger; that those who fear to be chastised by the rod of thy majesty through unprepared death, may be made worthy to rejoice in thy pardon: through our Lord Jesus Christ, &c.

7 We beseech thee, Almighty God, graciously incline thy ear to the assembly of thy Church, and let thy mercy to us anticipate thy anger; for if thou shouldst mark

iniquities, there shall no creature be able to stand before thee: but in that same admirable charity whereby thou didst create us, pardon us sinners, and destroy not the work of thy own hands in an unprepared death: through our Lord Jesus Christ, &c.

8 Hear our prayers, O Lord, and enter not into judgment with thy servants; for, knowing that there is no justice in us on which we can dare to presume, we acknowledge no other fount of mercy whereby we can be washed from our sins, delivered from our infirmities, and especially from unprepared death, but only thou, O God: through Jesus Christ our Lord, &c.

9 O God, before whom every heart trembles, and every conscience is awed, show forth thy mercy upon us thy suppliants, that we, who trust not in the excellence of our own merit, may never experience thy judgments by an unprepared death, but may receive thy pardon: through our Lord Jesus Christ, &c.

Prayer.

MOST merciful Lord Jesus, by thy agony and bloody sweat, and

by thy death, deliver me, I beseech

thee, from sudden and unprovided death. O most gentle Lord Jesus, by thy cruel and ignominious scourging and crowning with thorns, by thy cross and bitter passion, and by thy own great goodness, I humbly pray thee, let me not die unprepared, and pass from this life without the holy sacraments. Jesus, my best beloved, my Lord! by all thy travails and all thy sorrows, by thy precious blood, and by thy most holy wounds, and by those last words spoken by thee upon the cross-"My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" and again, "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit"-most ardently I pray thee, free me from unprepared death. Thy hands, O my Redeemer, have wholly made and formed me; oh! suffer not death to take me unawares; grant me, I beseech thee, time for penance; vouchsafe me a happy passage in thy grace, that in the world to come I may love thee with my whole heart, and praise and bless thee for ever and ever. Amen.

Then say five Pater Nosters and five Ave Marias in memory of the passion of our Lord Jesus Christ, and three Ave Marias to the Blessed Virgin, Mother of Sorrows.