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The paper examines how the church in colonial Peru dealt with the concept of dying and death as part of its efforts at Christianizing the indigenous population. For this purpose a Quechua text which forms part of the 1584/85 Lima Council "Doctrina Christiana y Catecismo," the "Ayuda a bien morir," the "help for dying well," is analyzed as to its contents as well as linguistic forms and concepts used by the missionaries in their translation. The article finishes with a brief look at modern Andean concepts of dying, death, and afterlife which shows that some indigenous and Christian beliefs have merged over the centuries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]