 Following this he returned to his charges and studied music to cheer the afflicted children.He had been given an assistant but laboured through all his work until his death from nephritis on 14 January 1887 (he suffered this since 1 January); his superiors noted his frail constitution and moved him to easier assignments though Donders moved back to Batavia when he sensed his end was near to be with his patients.He was buried in Batavia but was relocated on 28 July 1900 in the Saint Peter and Paul Cathedral at Paramaribo which was consecrated in 1885 before his death.