137. On the Matter and Form of Extreme Unction

1. Iacobus, a sick man, after the anointing of the hands and before the anointing of the feet and loins, seemed to all those standing by already to have breathed forth his spirit. Hence Ioannes the priest abstained from completing the two aforesaid anointings. But after a quarter of an hour he noticed that the sick man was still living. Hence with great anxiety he asks: what must he do?

R. Since all the essential anointings had already been duly performed, nothing seems to have to be repeated, not even under condition; nor does anything seem to have to be added. D'Annibale 420; I. M. 864, 868.

2. Augustinus, a parish priest, administering extreme unction in a case of urgent necessity, since he did not have the Ritual before his hands, used this form, which then occurred to his memory: I anoint thee with holy oil, that through His mercy God may pardon thee, etc. - Is it valid?

R. St. Alphonsus, l. 6, n. 711, dub. 3, says: "Bonacina, etc., deny it. But Suarez, Laymann, Filliucci, Henriquez, Reginaldus, and the others more commonly apud the Salmanticenses, affirm more probably, although they say that the matter is uncertain. The reason is that by these words the substance of the form is already expressed." - I. M. 865.