the execution and its message ration was to prepare the condemned for salvation as well as death.231 The possible contradiction between these two goals is of importance in this study. In Lutheran churches, the story of the penitent criminal at Golgotha was fundamental to the pastoral care of the condemned. Giving Absolution and communion was not theologically controversial.232 Fromthe Lutheran environment in Germany Christoph Timotheus Seidel recorded that communion generally was given on the day before the execution.233 In contrast to some later theologians, he also said the priest should ask about the firmness of the condemned’s criminal confession and her faith in Christ. Then the priest should absolve the condemned, assuring her of the mercy of God and the certainty of salvation.234 In the Rituals for the church in Sweden of 1614 and 1693, the priest, on arriving at the execution site, could console the condemned and say that, like the penitent thief, she today would go to paradise, before reading a compilation of Luke 23:32, 22:37, and 23:39-43. This was an echo of the Ritual of 1529 written by the Swedish reformer Olaus Petri, with 1614 somewhat shortened from 1529 and 1693 somewhat shortened from 1614.235 In 1789, preparations began for a new Ritual, which came into use in 1811.236 Early in the process, when opinions were primarily solicited from cathedral chapters, the rituals for preparing and accompanying the con231 See e g Brandt 1985 p 59 sqq, see also Radbruch 1950 p 158 sq, 1686 års kyrkolag 1936 17:9, p57. 232 Brandt 1985 p 62 sqq. 233 Seidel 1749 p 325. 234 Seidel 1749 p 328 sq.”Wenn man mit dem Delinquenten zu der Stätte des Gerichts kommt, so fraget man ihn nochmals, ob er bey seinem Geständnisse wegen der begangenen bösen That, als auch bey seinem Glauben auf das Verdienst Christi beständig bleiben, und darauf sterben wolle. Man ertheilet ihm darauf nochmals die Absolution, und versichert ihn, daß er in einem solchen Zustande gewiß einen gnädigen Gott finden, und die ewige Seligkeit ererben werde. Man segnet ihn darauf ein, ermahnet ihn, den letzen Seufzer zu GOtt zu thun, befiehlt ihn der Treue GOttes, und überläst ihn darauf den Händen der Gerechtigkeit.” 235 Hand-Bok 1772 p 187 sqq, Handbook 1614 fol 79 sqq, Olavus Petri 1915 p 362 sq. 236 On the process see Helander 1934 and Rehnberg 1966 p 110 sqq, 159 sqq, 475 sqq. Specific on the rituals and instructions concerning the preparation of the condemned see also Bergman 1996 p 115 sqq. 81
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