Ancient, Curious, and Famous WillsHarris, Virgil M. (Virgil McClure)
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Ancient, Curious, and Famous Wills
Harris, Virgil M. (Virgil McClure)
Wills
“‘Desiring to dispose of my property now that, by the grace of God, I
find myself sane in mind and body, using the faculties which I have as
Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church, with this document, by me written and
subscribed, I make herewith my last will and testament. Before
everything else I recommend my poor soul to the infinite mercy of God,
trusting that through the intercession of the Most Holy Immaculate Mary,
and of my patron saints, St. Peter, St. Paul, St. James, and St. Louis,
He may grant me remission of my sins, and make me worthy of the eternal
glory of Paradise. I forbid the dissecting or embalming of my body after
death in any way or for whatsoever motive, and order that it be interred
in the burying-place of my chapel in the Church of Sta. Agata alia
Suburra, near my good mother.
“‘The funeral shall be made according to custom in the church which it
shall please the Holy Father to appoint. During the eight days following
my death I order that a hundred masses a day be celebrated, with the
alms of thirty sous for each mass.
“‘A part of these masses shall be caused to be celebrated by the
Mendicant Friars. I humbly beg the Holy Father to accept the respectful
offering I make him of the crucifix standing on my writing-table, having
the cross inlaid with lapis-lazuli, and at the base the kneeling
Magdalene, within the centre of said base a bas-relief, representing the
Addolorata, and other ornaments in silver. I pray him to accept with
paternal goodness this object as a homage from the most devoted and
faithful of his subjects, who dies tranquil in the conscience of never
having failed in duty towards his sacred person, and the conviction of
having always with all earnestness and honesty served him in the true
interests of the Church and of the State. Before proceeding to dispose
of my private fortune, I declare that I do not possess any other capital
beyond that which came from the heritage of my excellent father, or
which I have been able to acquire through the means left me by him. I
protest, therefore, against all the calumnies which on that and on any
other account whatsoever have been in so many ways circulated through
the world, before God who is to judge me, and before Him I forgive from
my heart all those who have tried to do me evil.
“‘If, in doing my duty, I may have caused displeasure to anyone, I have
the conscience of never having had even the intention of injuring anyone
whomsoever. I direct my heirs to consign to the persons whom I have
thought it my duty to remember some memoranda which I shall leave
written in a sealed paper by me subscribed.
“‘I leave to the Hospital of Santo Spirito, for one time only,
twenty-five francs, and other twenty-five francs to the Holy Places of
Jerusalem.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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