Just as one can live a virtuous, spiritual, and fulfilling life, he or she can also experience a happy death, says Fr. Basil Cole, OP, professor of Moral and Spiritual Theology at the Dominican House of Studies.
Mount Saint Mary College recently presented a talk by Fr. Cole titled “Ethical and Spiritual Considerations in Caring for the Dying,” cohosted by the Mount’s Catholic and Dominican Institute and the School of Nursing.
During his talk, Fr. Cole referenced the Christian medieval text, Ars moriendi (The Art of Dying), which describes the values that can help individuals die a happy death: “If they follow the insights of this book,” he noted, “it can help people die virtuously and make it an act of self-gift to God.”
Ars moriendi draws upon centuries of experience and wisdom to provide a compass for navigating the process of passing away.
“Its message is refreshingly simple: The inevitability of death, the need to prepare for one’s own eventual death, and the importance of support from loved ones and community as death approaches,” Fr. Cole explained.
Although written 600 years ago by a member of the Dominican Order, the principles of Ars moriendi can be applied to modern life. As a person reaches the end of their life, their families and the patient themselves face challenges in the process, noted Fr. Cole: “Everyone feels the stain of suffering and dying.”
Everyone, including healthcare workers.
“If it was simply a matter of treating medical problems and symptoms, it would be easy,” Fr. Cole said. “Instead, the challenge is to address multiple levels of suffering – physical, psychological, and spiritual, without letting the heavy medications blur all three into one.”
And so, one can aid the dying by addressing all three of these kinds of suffering. Addressing the spiritual needs of the patient through prayer, said Fr. Cole, can also help to alleviate the stress on the patient, their family, and even healthcare workers.
Fr. Cole is a Dominican friar of the Western Province and was ordained to the priesthood in 1966. He finished his theological studies at Le Saulchoir in Etiolles, France earning lectorate and licentiate degrees in 1968. He later earned a doctorate in Sacred Theology from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome (the Angelicum). Fr. Cole was an invited professor at the Angelicum from 1985-1997. Since 1998, he has taught Moral, Spiritual, and Dogmatic Theology at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington D.C.
A prolific author, Fr. Cole has written several books, including Music and Morals, co-authored with Paul Connor, OP, and Christian Totality: Theology of Consecrated Life, which was also published in French, Polish, and Hungarian. He has written for publications like The Priest, Homiletic and Pastoral Review, Faith and Reason, Catholic Bioethics Quarterly, Angelicum, and Nova et Vetera. He has also been a longtime collaborator for Germain Grisez’s four volume series of moral theology, The Way of the Lord Jesus.
Directed by Charles Zola, assistant to the President for Mission Integration and associate professor of Philosophy, the Catholic and Dominican Institute promotes the Mount’s heritage of St. Dominic, advances the Dominican charism of study and service, provides a forum for discussion of contemporary ethical issues, and enhances Catholic and Jewish dialogue. The institute welcomes persons of varied faiths and acknowledges different religious traditions as essential to the college’s intellectual and spiritual life.