Gerontius is a dying man, who on his death bed in his final moments prays to Jesus and Mary for protection and receives the last sacraments. Gerontius isn’t confident with where he’s going in the afterlife and acknowledges he could be going to hell. Gerontius's friends pray to God, listing all the figures from the Bible who were provided with similar passages into Heaven. At the end of the phase a priest intones the "Proficiscere" and bids Gerontius to go forth to the inexpressible joys that await him.