On such a declaration from Lady
Burton, I did that which a minister of God ought to do, and decided
to administer to the dying man the last comforts of our holy religion.
As it seemed to me that there was not much time to lose, I wished
to administer the Extreme Unction by means of one single anointing on
the forehead, as is done in urgent cases; but Lady Burton said that
death was not so imminent; therefore she begged me to carry out the
prescribed ceremony of Extreme Unction.
"This completed, together with the other customary prayers for the
dying, I took my departure. I returned to the house of the Provost,
Dr. Sust, and laid everything before him, and he said I had done
quite right.
"In a certificate of death drawn up by the Visitatore dei Morti,[6]
Inspector Corani, in the register, under the head of religion, is written
'Catholic.' The funeral also was conducted according to the rites of the
Catholic Church. I am convinced that Sir Richard Burton really became
a Catholic, but that outwardly he did not wish this to be known, having
regard to his position as a Consul to a Government of the Evangelical
persuasion; and I have built up the hope that the innumerable prayers
for her husband's conversion and good works of his pious wife Lady
Burton will have been heeded by that Lord who said unto us, 'Pray,
and your prayers shall be answered,' and that his soul will now have
been received by the good God, together with that of the saintly lady
his wife.
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