Now that the precepts of the art of dying well have been set forth, this one thing seems to remain: that we briefly explain what benefit there is in the art of dying well. The matter is easy, and yet of the greatest moment: for he who dies well dies happily. And it is not in just any manner that he who dies well dies happily, nor in just any manner unhappily that he who dies badly dies. But he who dies well passes from a mortal and miserable life to a life eternal and in every respect most blessed; and, contrariwise, he who dies badly passes from a life that seems long and happy to a life most full of every labor and pain, and one that will find no end of labor — so that it should rather be called eternal death than life: for the reprobate shall be dead, yet delivered over to every labor and pain.
That the matter stands so, the holy Scriptures openly teach us. Of those who die well, St. John speaks in the Apocalypse, saying: I heard a voice from heaven saying to me: Write: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord. From henceforth now, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors; for their works follow them (Rev. 14). Among the writers there are not wanting those who think this sentence pertains to martyrs alone; but the more common and truer explanation teaches that the words of St. John pertain to all the saints who die devoutly in Christ. Certainly St. Bernard, in a certain letter entitled On the Maccabees, speaks thus: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord — not only they who die for the Lord; the Confessors, too, are indeed blessed. Two things, then, seem to me to make death precious: the life and the cause — but the cause more than the life. That death, moreover, will be most precious which both the cause commends and the life (Epist. 98). So much for him. To this is added that the Church, which is the best interpreter of the Scriptures, orders a lesson from this passage of the Apocalypse to be read in the Mass for all the dead. St. John says, therefore: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord — that is, blessed are all those who, when they die, are found in the Lord; that is, are found joined to the Lord by true charity, as living members of the Head, which is Christ. So St. Luke wrote of St. Stephen dying: He fell asleep in the Lord (Acts 7) — that is, united to the Lord as a member to the head.
But why those who die in the Lord are blessed, St. John explains, saying: From henceforth now, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors (Rev. 14). For the Holy Spirit openly declares that in the death of the saints an end is put to all laborious works, and everlasting rest is begun; and not only do all labors cease, but a most happy life is begun, full of every kind of delight — because their works follow them. For good and meritorious works of all consolation and delight — not temporal but eternal — do not remain on earth, but follow the holy laborers into heaven, according to that word of the Prophet: He hath distributed, he hath given to the poor: his justice remaineth for ever and ever (Ps. 111). The riches of the holy man are indeed left behind on earth, or rather are consumed on earth; but the justice, the liberality, the mercy by which earthly riches were shared with the poor remain for ever and ever; nor do they only remain, but they make most rich the man who distributes perishing wealth to the needy upon the earth. And not only do works of liberality follow them, but also works of wisdom, works of faith, works of hope, works of charity, works of the fear of the Lord, works of temperance, works of fortitude, works of chastity, works of religion — in short, all good works — follow them, and win for them most ample and everlasting rewards. Truly, then, most happy is he who dies well, since he gains both rest from his labors and the sum of all good things for eternity. To this most true testimony of Scripture are added the visitations of the saints, who are wont to be present with pious men at their death, so as to console them and assist them in their departure from the body, and to put to flight the demons, which at that very hour are wont to strike terror — a thing that is no small part of the happiness of those who die piously.
I could recount very many stories at this point, but I shall be content with the examples found in the Dialogues of St. Gregory (Bk. IV of the Dialogues, ch. 11). In the fourth book, then, the blessed Gregory himself speaks thus of Ursinus the priest: « Ursinus the priest, when he was near death, began with great joy to cry out, saying: Welcome, my lords! that you should deign to come to so lowly a servant — I come, I come, I give thanks. And when he kept repeating this, those who stood around him asked to whom he was speaking. To whom he, wondering, answered: Do you not see the holy Apostles assembled here? Do you not behold blessed Peter and blessed Paul, the foremost of the Apostles? And turning again to them, he said: Behold, I come; behold, I come. And amid these words he gave up his soul. And that he had truly seen the holy Apostles, he showed by following them. As often happens to the just, at their death they see visions of the saints who have gone before them, lest they should dread the penal sentence of their own death; but while the company of the heavenly citizens is shown to their mind, they are loosed from the bond of their flesh without the travail of pain and fear. »
The same St. Gregory relates in the same book, in the following chapter, that to Probus, bishop of the church of Rieti, as he lay dying, there came St. Juvenal and St. Eleutherius, martyrs, with a great splendor, and that soon the venerable Probus, loosed from the flesh, departed to heaven with those who had come to him. The same author relates, in the following chapter, that to St. Galla, a handmaid of God, sick and near death, St. Peter appeared and signified to her that all her sins had been forgiven her, so that she might depart from the world in security. In the following chapter, that at the death of Servulus the paralytic there were songs of Angels in heaven, and a wondrous odor was poured forth. In the following chapter he relates of Romula, a handmaid of God, that a great number of holy souls came to her from heaven with an inestimable brightness of light and a fragrance of sweetest odor. In the next chapter he relates of his aunt Tarsilla that she first saw appearing to her the blessed Pontiff Felix, her kinsman, who said: Come, for in this mansion of light I receive you; then, soon seized with fever and brought to her last hour, she expired with her gaze fixed upon Him; and that so great a fragrance of odor was left in that place, that the very sweetness showed that the Author of sweetness had been there. In the following chapter the same author writes that to the little girl Musa the Blessed Virgin, the Mother of God, appeared with a choir of virgins, and led her, as she died, with her to the kingdom of heaven. Finally, in the following chapter he writes that as Stephen, the man of God, lay dying, holy Angels were seen.
We have, then, on the testimony of St. Gregory, that pious men and women departing this life are wont to be attended not only by Angels, but also by Martyrs already departed, or by the princes of the Apostles, or by the Queen of heaven herself, or finally by Christ Himself, the King of eternal glory. But how great is this felicity, how great the glory, how great the joy of heart of those who have learned to live well and to die happily — only they can declare, to whom it is given to experience such great benefits of God.