Irish freedom fighter Padraig Pearse was executed on the 3rd of May 1916. These were his final words to his mother after receiving Communion:
'I just received Holy Communion. I am happy, except for the great grief of parting from you. This is the death I should have asked if God had given me the choice of all deaths—to die a soldier’s death for Ireland and for freedom.
We have done right. People will say hard things of us now, but later on will praise us. Do not grieve for all this, but think of it as a sacrifice which God asked of me and of you. Good-bye again, dear mother. May God bless you for your great love for me and for your great faith, and may He remember all you have so bravely suffered. I hope soon to see papa, and in a little while we shall be all together again. I have not words to tell you of my love for you and how my heart yearns to you all
I will call to you in my heart at the last moment.
Your son,
Pat'