Synopsis "Devotion of the Bona Mors: or the Art of Dying Happily"
VARIOUS offices of devotion, designed to honour our Lord's passion and to obtain the grace of a good death, had been often performed in the Gesu at Rome, from the earliest times of the Society of Jesus; and in 1648 a congregation or association for this same holy object was established by the General, Father Vincent Caraffa. Alexander VII. favoured this institution, and encouraged it by several indulgences; innocent XII. in 1697, and Clement XI. in 1706, approved and confirmed it in the chapels or the Society of Jesus in England. In 1729 Benedict XIII., by an apostolic letter dated September 23d, estab1ished a primary or parent Congregation in the Church of the Gesu at Rome, with the title of Our Lord Jesus Christ Expiring on the Cross, and of the Afflicted Mother, the Ever Blessed Virgin Mary. Commonly called the Congregation of the Bona Mors. He enriched this Congregation with many indulgences, and empowered the Generals of the Society of Jesus to establiah branch congregations, with the same privileges and indulgences, in the church of any house of the same Society throughout the world. Pius VII. confirmed this grant by a rescript, dated February 6th, 1821; and Leo XIII., by a special rescript, dated January 22d, 1827, still further authorised the Generals of the Society of Jesus to establish branch congregation., not only in churches of their own order, but al80 in any other churches whatever.
