Richelieu had in vain questioned the physicians as to how long he had to live.

One, only, dared to go beyond commonplace hopes.

"Monsignor," he said, "in twenty-four hours you will be dead or cured." "That is the way to speak!" said the cardinal; and he sent for the priest of St.Eustache, his parish.

As they were bringing into his chamber the Holy Eucharist, he stretched out his hand, and, "There," said he, "is my Judge before whom I shall soon appear; I pray him with all my heart to condemn me if I have ever had any other aim than the welfare of religion and of the state." The priest would have omitted certain customary questions, but, "Treat me as the commonest of Christians," said the cardinal.

And when he was asked to pardon his enemies, "I never had any but those of the state," answered the dying man.
The cardinal's family surrounded his bed; and the attendance was numerous.