two died a few days after. Beatrice, hearing the noise, asked the
executioner if her mother had died well, and, being replied that she
had, she knelt before the crucifix, and spoke thus: "Be thou
everlastingly thanked, O my most gracious Saviour, since, by the good
death of my mother, thou hast given me assurance of thy mercy towards
me." Then, rising, she courageously and devoutly walked towards the
scaffold, repeating by the way several prayers with so much fervour of
spirit that all who heard her shed tears of compassion. Ascending the
scaffold, while she arranged herself, she also turned her eyes to
Heaven, and thus prayed: "Most beloved Jesus, who, relinquishing thy
divinity, becamest a man, and didst through love purge my sinful soul
also of its original sin with thy precious blood; deign, I beseech thee,
to accept that which I am about to shed, at thy most merciful tribunal,
as a penalty which may cancel my many crimes, and spare me a part of
that punishment justly due to me." Then she placed her head under the
axe, which, at one blow, was divided from her body as she was repeating
the second verse of the psalm _De profundis_, at the words _fiant aures
tuae_. The blow gave a violent motion to her body, and discomposed her
dress. The executioner raised the head to the view of the people; and
in placing it in the coffin placed underneath, the cord by which it was
suspended slipped from its hold, and the head fell to the ground,
shedding a great deal of blood, which was wiped up with water and
sponges.... The bodies of Lucretia and Beatrice were left at the end of
the bridge until the evening, illuminated by two torches, and surrounded
by so great a concourse of people that it was impossible to cross the
bridge. An hour after dark, the body of Beatrice was placed in a coffin,
covered by a black velvet pall richly adorned with gold: garlands of
flowers were placed, one at her head, and another at her feet; and the
body was strewed with flowers. It was accompanied to the church of S.
Peter in Montorio by the Brotherhood of the Order of Mercy, and followed
by many Franciscan monks, with great pomp and innumerable torches. She
was there buried before the high altar, after the customary ceremony had
been performed. By reason of the distance of the church from the bridge,
it was four hours after dark before the ceremony was finished.
Afterwards, the body of Lucretia, accompanied in the same manner, was
carried to the chur