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Passage 1: On 6 December, 1273, he laid
aside his pen and would write no more. That day he experienced an unusually
long ecstasy during Mass; what was revealed to him we can only surmise from
his reply to Father Reginald, who urged him to continue his writings: "I can
do no more. Such secrets have been revealed to me that all I have written
now appears to be of little value" (modica, Prümmer, op. cit., p. 43). The
"Summa theologica" had been completed only as far as the ninetieth question
of the third part (De partibus poenitentiae).
Passage 2: The end was near; extreme
unction was administered. When the Sacred Viaticum was brought into the room
he pronounced the following act of faith:
If in this world there be any knowledge of
this sacrament stronger than that of faith, I wish now to use it in
affirming that I firmly believe and know as certain that Jesus Christ, True
God and True Man, Son of God and Son of the Virgin Mary, is in this
Sacrament . . . I receive Thee, the price of my redemption, for Whose love I
have watched, studied, and laboured. Thee have I preached; Thee have I
taught. Never have I said anything against Thee: if anything was not well
said, that is to be attributed to my ignorance. Neither do I wish to be
obstinate in my opinions, but if I have written anything erroneous
concerning this sacrament or other matters, I submit all to the judgment and
correction of the Holy Roman Church, in whose obedience I now pass from this
life.
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