The study introduces an effort to achieve salvation for criminals who were sentenced to death during the Baroque period. It is based on a probe into the instructions for the treatment of people sentenced to death written for Roman Catholic priests and published during the 17th century. The author follows the spiritual preparations for an execution in the context of the Baroque concept of ‘good death’, which formed the core of the ‘Ars Moriendi’ literature. The texts are treated as normative historical sources, which influenced the period practice, but also were marked by it.