One of two friends died suddenly. As the remaining friend lay one night sleepless in bed, his dead friend appeared to him and asked him to give him his support so that he could withstand the pain to which he was being subjected.
“What type of pain must you endure?” asked the friend.
“If I were to tell you continuously for a day and a night,” replied his dead friend, “I could not adequately describe the pain that I suffer. I once unjustly tore the cloak from a poor man, and this cloak lies upon me with the weight of a mountain. I am also surrounded by blazing flames of fire.”
“Can you in some way be freed from this torture?” asked the friend.
“One could free me by requiems,” came the answer.
His living friend then names a number of priests, asking if one of them should read the masses for him. But the dead friend remained silent because each of the named priests was burdened with sin, and] the prayers have no strength when the heart isn’t pure. Finally, the friend named an old, pious priest who pleased the dead friend.
“Be assured that this cleric will read the mass for you,” said the friend.
“So that you keep remember your promise,” said the dead friend, “I will leave a reminder.” He then held the living friend’s arm and leg, who felt no pain, but from then on one could see the exposed bones. “Starting today, you will live only two years,” added the dead friend, who then told him the day of his death.
With that, the dead friend disappeared, but the living friend had the promised masses read and then concerned himself with improving his own life. He made a pilgrimage to the Holy Grave to pay penance for his sins, and when the promised day of his death came, he died a blessed death.