Tradition
St. Gregory the Great
Dialogues
The Fourth Book › Chapter Forty-six: Of a Certain Holy Man That Was Afraid When He Came to Die.
Chapter Forty-six: of a certain holy man that was afraid when he came to die.
GREGORY. It is even so, Peter, as you say. And yet sometime the only fear of death doth purge the souls of just men from their smaller sins, as you and I have often heard of a certain holy man that was very much afraid when he came to die: and yet, after he was dead, appeared to his disciples in a white stole, reporting to them in what excellent manner he was received, when he departed out of this world.
Source: Dialogues (Tertullian.org)