Extreme Unction
29. Extreme Unction
1. Extreme unction is a sacrament which, through the anointing and prayer performed by a priest, gives forgiveness and grace to the soul, and sometimes confers health on the body of a person in danger of death from sickness, injury, or accident.
2. Extreme unction is a true sacrament instituted by Christ. And it is one sacrament, although it involves the anointing of the several senses.
3. Scripture does not give us the time nor the manner in which Christ instituted the sacrament of extreme unction. But the Church from earliest times has used this sacrament, and has recognized the fact that it is not within her power to abrogate it. And therefore it is certainly a sacrament instituted by the divine Founder of the Church.
4. Scripture speaks of extreme unction as a fact. In the Epistle of St. James (5:14) the matter of this sacrament is indicated as oil. This is olive oil, specially blessed, or consecrated as the usual term is, by a bishop for use in this sacrament. This oil is called oleum infirmo-rum or "oil of the sick."
5. It is right that oil should be consecrated for use in extreme unction, for in all sacraments the matter is blessed, and so is dedicated to a sacred use.
6. All sacraments which involve anointings-confirmation, holy order, extreme unction, and solemnly conferred baptism-require oil consecrated by a bishop.
7. The form of extreme unction consists of prescribed words which express and apply the matter as this sacrament is conferred.
8. The priest in administering extreme unction anoints the eyes, ears, nostrils, lips, hands, and feet of the sick person. At each anointing, he says, "Through this holy anointing and his most tender mercy, may the Lord forgive whatever thou has done amiss through . . . ," naming the pertinent sense or sense-function: sight; hearing; smell; taste and speech; touch; walking.
9. The prescribed form of extreme unction is suitable. It expresses: (a) the matter or sign: "this holy anointing"; (b) the cause of effectiveness in the sacrament: "may the Lord . . ."; (c) the actual effect of the sacrament: "forgive . . ."
30. The Effect of Extreme Unction
1. The chief effect of extreme unction is in the soul of the recipient, and is by way of bringing grace. Now, grace is not compatible with sin. Hence, if there be sin on the soul of the recipient, mortal or venial, extreme unction takes it away, provided the recipient does not block this effect by his own bad will. Further, extreme unction removes from the soul the remains of sin, that is, the weaknesses consequent upon sin, such as the readiness to relapse into it. Thus this sacrament achieves its main purpose, which is to fortify the soul, to strengthen it and hearten it for the stresses of its last earthly hours, so that it may face death and judgment with resolution and confidence.
2. Bodily healing is an effect of extreme unction when the good of the sick person's soul requires it. Otherwise, extreme unction has no curative effect upon the body.
3. The sacraments which give a person Christian existence (baptism), or set and equip him for a special sacred task and duty (confirmation, holy orders), imprint an indelible character upon the soul. Extreme unction is not one of these sacraments, and it therefore imprints no character.
31. The Minister of Extreme Unction
1. Since the remission of actual sins comes by extreme unction, and since the office of forgiving sins is proper to Christ's priesthood, no lay person can administer this sacrament.
2. Nor can a deacon administer it. Scripture says (James 5:14) with reference to extreme unction: "Is any man sick among you? Let him bring in the priests of the church . . ."
3. The conferring of extreme unction is not reserved to bishops; this sacrament is regularly conferred by any priest within the parish or district assigned to his care by competent ecclesiastical authority.
32. The Conferring of Extreme Unction
1. Extreme unction is a sacrament of spiritual healing and strengthening. This is signified by the bodily healing which sometimes accompanies its use, and may accompany it in any instance of its being administered. Hence, this sacrament is not for those who are in health, but for the sick. And Scripture indicates as much: "Is any man sick among you? Let him bring in the priests of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord" (James 5:14).
2. Extreme unction is not to be conferred in slight illnesses. It is a proximate preparation of the soul for death, and judgment, and heaven. Its name indicates the fact that it is to be administered in extremity; it is extreme unction. This sacrament is conferred upon a person seriously ill, not necessarily near to death, but suffering an illness that may prove fatal.
3. Extreme unction is sometimes conferred upon a person who has lapsed into unconsciousness. It is not refused to an unconscious patient whose previous life has indicated, at least implicitly, that he would wish to be fortified with the sacraments when he comes to die. Hence, extreme unction is not conferred upon lifelong imbeciles or insane persons; their previous life could contain no evidence of desire for this sacrament.
4. The sacrament of extreme unction requires, in the recipient, real devotion, actual or habitual. Hence, it is not given to infants, who have not come to the use of reason. Besides, a baptized child under the age of reason has neither sin nor remains of sin on his soul.
5. In administering extreme unction, the priest anoints, not the whole body, but special parts of the body, namely, those that serve a person constantly and directly in his daily life.
6. These parts are: eyes, ears, nostrils, lips, hands, and feet.
7. Deformity in a bodily member to be anointed is no bar to the anointing. Absence of members does not prevent the patient from receiving extreme unction.
33. Repeating of Extreme Unction
1. Extreme unction prepares a sick person to face his judgment. If a person who has received this sacrament recovers from his sickness, he must some day come again into danger of death. And he will need again the strengthening of soul afforded by extreme unction. Thus the sacrament of extreme unction can be received more than once.
2. But a person does not receive extreme unction more than once while he is in the same danger. He may receive it more than once in the same sickness, for a sickness may continue for a long time, with only now and again a period of real peril. A sick person, therefore, may receive extreme unction in each new danger. Indeed, it is the practice of the Church, in case of a person continuing in serious illness without showing much change, to permit the administering of extreme unction once a month. For, after a month of serious sickness with no marked improvement, a person may well be considered to be in a new danger, a more immediate peril of death.