Angelica vestis, in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...

and

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

an antiquity, was a monastic garment that laymen wore a little before their death, that they might have the benefit of the

prayer Prayer is an invocation or act that seeks to activate a rapport with an object of worship through deliberate communication. In the narrow sense, the term refers to an act of supplication or intercession directed towards a deity or a deifie ...

s of the monks. It was from them called ''Angelical'', because they were called Angeli, who by these prayers ''animæ saluti succurrebant''. Thus, where we read the phrase ''ad succurrendum'' in old books, it must be understood of one who had put on the garment, and was at the point of death. This customs persists today in

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

and

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

, where people, of quality especially, take care, when they feel their death coming, of having themselves clothed in the garment of some religious order, such as those of

Saint Dominic Saint Dominic ( es, Santo Domingo; 8 August 1170 – 6 August 1221), also known as Dominic de Guzmán (), was a Castilian Catholic priest, mystic, the founder of the Dominican Order and is the patron saint of astronomers and natural scienti ...

or Saint Francis, with which they are exposed in public or buried.

References

* * Death customs Christianity and death {{death-stub