Each November, when the dark nights lengthen and trees become bare skeletons, we especially pray for the souls of those who have gone before us in death. This is also a fitting time of year to remember and consider the certainty of our own mortality. How did Jesus and his holy ones face the end of their lives? Their dying words can both instruct and inspire us:
“Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.”
—Our Lord Jesus Christ, c. 33 AD
“Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. Lord, do not hold this sin against them.”
—St. Stephen, martyr, c. 34 AD
“Glory to God for all things!”
—St. John Chrysostom, 407 AD
“Your will be done. Come, Lord Jesus!”
—St. Augustine, 430 AD
“May God forgive you, brother.”
—St. Wenceslaus, martyr, 935 AD
“I have loved justice and hated iniquity. Therefore I die in exile.”
—Pope St. Gregory VII, 1085 AD
“If all the swords in England were pointed against my head, your threats would not move me. I am ready to die for my Lord, that in my blood the Church may obtain liberty and peace.”
—St. Thomas Becket, martyr, 1170 AD
“When you see that I am brought to my last moments, place me naked upon the ground just as you saw me the day before yesterday; and let me lie there after I am dead for the length of time it takes one to walk a mile unhurriedly.”
—St. Francis of Assisi, 1226 AD
“Be assured that he who shall always walk faithfully in God’s presence, always ready to give him an account of all his actions, shall never be separated from him by consenting to sin.”
—St. Thomas Aquinas, 1274 AD
“Leave the doors open, so that everyone may enter and see how a pope dies.”
—Bl. Pope Urban V, 1370 AD
“Into your hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit.”
—St. Bridget of Sweden, 1373 AD
“Blood! Blood! Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.”
—St. Catherine of Siena, 1380 AD
“Jesus, Jesus, Jesus!”
—St. Joan of Arc, martyr, 1431 AD
“I die the king’s good servant, but God’s first.”
—St. Thomas More, martyr, 1535 AD
“O, my God!”
—St. Ignatius of Loyola, 1556 AD
“After all I die as a child of the Church. My Lord, it is time to move on. Well then, may your will be done. O my Lord and my spouse, the hour that I have longed for has come. It is time for us to meet one another.”
—St. Teresa of Avila, 1582 AD
“Jesus, I love you.”
—St. Kateri Tekakwitha, 1680 AD
“In all things I adore the will of God in my regard.”
—St. Jean Baptiste de la Salle, 1719 AD
“Be children of the Church.”
—St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, 1821 AD
“My immortal life is on the point of beginning. Become Christians if you wish to be happy after death, because God has eternal chastisements in store for those who have refused to know Him.”
—St. Andrew Kim Taegon, martyr, 1846 AD
“Holy Mary, pray for me, a poor sinner.”
—St. Bernadette Soubirous, 1879 AD
“I have reached the point of not being able to suffer any more, because all suffering is sweet to me. My God, I love you.”
—St. Therese of Lisieux, 1897 AD
“To restore all things in Christ.”
—Pope St. Pius X, 1914 AD
“Long live Christ the King!”
—Bl. Miguel Pro, S.J., martyr, 1927 AD
“Jesus. Maria.”
—St. Pio of Pietrelcina, 1968 AD
“Jesus, I love you. Jesus, I love you.”
—Bl. Mother Teresa of Calcutta, 1997 AD
“Let me go to the house of the Father.”
—St. John Paul the Great, 2005 AD
What do you want to be your dying words?
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