On Extreme Unction

“Doctrine on the Sacrament of Extreme Unction.—It has seemed good to the holy Synod to add to the preceding doctrine on Penance the following matters concerning the Sacrament of Extreme Unction, which was regarded by the Fathers as the consummation not only of Penance but also of the whole Christian life, which ought to be a perpetual penance. First, therefore, concerning its institution, it declares and teaches that our most merciful Redeemer, who willed that provision be made at all times for His servants with salutary remedies against all the weapons of all their enemies, just as He prepared the greatest aids in the other sacraments, by which Christians might preserve themselves unharmed from every graver evil of the spirit while they lived, so also fortified the end of life by the Sacrament of Extreme Unction as by a most firm safeguard. For although our adversary seeks and seizes occasions throughout our whole life in order that he may devour our souls in any way possible, there is nevertheless no time when he exerts more vehemently all the powers of his cunning to destroy us utterly, and, if he can, to cast us down even from confidence in divine mercy, than when he perceives the end of life to be impending over us.

“Chapter 1. On the Institution of the Sacrament of Extreme Unction.—This sacred anointing of the sick was instituted as a true and proper Sacrament of the New Testament by Christ our Lord; it was indeed intimated in Mark, but was commended and promulgated to the faithful by James the Apostle and brother of the Lord: ‘Is anyone among you sick?’ he says. ‘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; and the prayer of faith shall save the sick man, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he be in sins, they shall be forgiven him.’ In these words, as the Church learned from Apostolic tradition received from hand to hand, he teaches the matter, form, proper minister, and effect of this salutary sacrament. For the Church understood that the matter is oil blessed by the bishop, since the anointing most aptly represents the grace of the Holy Spirit by which the soul of the sick person is invisibly anointed; and then that the form is those words: ‘Through this anointing,’ etc.

“Chapter 2. On the Effect of This Sacrament.—The reality and effect of this sacrament is explained in these words: ‘And the prayer of faith shall save the sick man, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he be in sins, they shall be forgiven him.’ For this reality is the grace of the Holy Spirit, whose anointing wipes away offenses, if any still remain to be expiated, and the remnants of sin; and it relieves and strengthens the soul of the sick person, exciting in him a great confidence in divine mercy, by which the sick person, being assisted, both bears the inconveniences and sufferings of illness more lightly and resists more easily the temptations of the devil who lies in wait for his heel; and sometimes obtains bodily health, when this will be expedient for the salvation of his soul.

“Chapter 3. On the Minister of This Sacrament and the Time at Which It Ought to Be Given.—Now, as regards the prescription concerning those who ought both to receive and to administer this sacrament, this too was handed down not obscurely “in the aforesaid words. For there it is also shown that the proper ministers of this sacrament are the priests of the Church; by that name in this passage are to be understood not those older in age or the leading persons among the people, but either bishops or priests rightly ordained by them through the imposition of the hands of the presbyterate. It is also declared that this anointing is to be applied to the sick, but especially to those who lie in such danger that they seem to be placed at the end of life; whence it is also called the sacrament of those departing. But if the sick should recover after receiving this anointing, they can again be assisted by the aid of this sacrament when they fall into another similar danger of life. Therefore, those are in no way to be heard who, contrary to so open and clear a statement of the Apostle James, teach that this anointing is either a human invention or a rite received from the Fathers, having neither a command of God nor a promise of grace; and those who assert that it has now ceased, as though it were to be referred only to the grace of healings in the primitive Church; and those who say that the rite and usage which the holy Roman Church observes in the administration of this sacrament is repugnant to the statement of the Apostle James and is therefore to be changed into another; and finally, those who affirm that this Extreme Unction can be contemned by the faithful without sin. For all these things most manifestly conflict with the clear words of so great an Apostle. Nor indeed does the Roman Church, the mother and teacher of all the others, observe anything in administering this anointing, as regards those things which constitute the substance of this sacrament, other than what blessed James prescribed. Nor indeed could contempt for so great a sacrament exist without an enormous crime and an injury to the Holy Spirit Himself.

“Canon 1. If anyone shall say that Extreme Unction is not truly and properly a sacrament instituted by Christ our Lord and promulgated by blessed James the Apostle, but is only a rite received from the Fathers or a human invention: let him be anathema.

“Canon 2. If anyone shall say that the sacred anointing of the sick neither confers grace, nor remits sins, nor relieves the sick, but has now ceased, as though in former times it were only the grace of healings: let him be anathema.

“Canon 3. If anyone shall say that the rite and usage of Extreme Unction which the holy Roman Church observes is repugnant to the statement of blessed James the Apostle and is therefore to be changed, and can be contemned by Christians without sin: let him be anathema.

“Canon 4. If anyone shall say that the priests of the Church whom blessed James exhorts to be brought in to anoint the sick person are not priests ordained by a bishop, but the older persons in age in any community, and that therefore a priest alone is not the proper minister of Extreme Unction: let him be anathema.”

“Can the Sacrament of Extreme Unction be validly administered with oil not consecrated by an episcopal blessing?”—Response. Negative. The Sacred Congregation of the Inquisition condemned the contrary doctrine as rash and proximate to error, 15 January 1655.

“In a case of necessity, can a parish priest, for the validity of the Sacrament of Extreme Unction, use oil blessed by himself?—Response. Negative, according to the decree of Thursday, in the presence of His Holiness, on 13 January 1611.” Holy Office, 14 September 1842.

“Oil blessed by a priest is matter altogether unsuitable for confecting the “Sacrament of Extreme Unction, and it cannot be validly used even in extreme necessity.” Holy Office, 15 May 1878.

“The anointing of the loins in Extreme Unction can never be omitted unless, in particular cases and with precautions employed, modesty cannot otherwise be sufficiently safeguarded.” Holy Office, 28 August 1889.

“Very feeble elderly persons and sick persons suffering from hectic fever or a similar illness, who are presumed likely to die before they can have the missionary present, can be anointed as though in their final illness, as the Sacred Congregation answered by rescript in the year 1801. Very often, however, in an assembly of the faithful, after Viaticum has been received and Mass has ended, elderly and sick persons of this kind, as well as certain others suffering more dangerously, are customarily anointed here. But when the garments of men are loosened and lifted in order to perform the anointing of the loins, many at once, especially women, blush and flee quickly because of the customs of the people. If, therefore, it shall seem good to the Sacred Congregation, may it deign, I beseech it, to obtain from Our Most Holy Lord that the anointing of the loins be omitted not only when the sick person cannot conveniently be moved, as the Roman Ritual prescribes, but also when Extreme Unction is administered in an assembly of the faithful.—Response. Affirmative, after consultation with His Holiness. His Holiness approved.” Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith, 21 September 1843.

“But as regards the anointing of the loins, which Your Excellency testifies has never been employed in this diocese in administering the Sacrament of Extreme Unction, and which you therefore request that the Roman Ritual permit to be omitted, it has seemed to the Sacred Congregation that no suppression or alteration whatsoever, whether in this or any other matter, ought to be introduced into the Ritual; rather, it willed that the latter be printed entire and faithfully, just as it was published by Paul V and revised and corrected by Benedict XIV. But if the anointing of the loins has hitherto been unaccustomed there, the Sacred Congregation declared that it would indeed bear patiently with it if the particular circumstances of that diocese prevent this anointing from being put into practice immediately and universally. At the same time, however, it expressed its most ardent desire that, through the care of Your Excellency and the teaching of the parish priests, the faithful be disposed gradually and imperceptibly to receive this special anointing also in the final agony, according to the prescriptions of the Roman Ritual.” Sacred Congregation of Rites, 14 August 1858, Utrecht.

“Besides the upper part of the feet, is the lower part also to be anointed in the Sacrament of Extreme Unction?—Response. Nothing is to be changed.” Sacred Congregation of Rites, 27 August 1836, Rennes, response to 1.

“The good pleasure of His Holiness is sought that, in Extreme Unction administered to women, the anointing of the feet be omitted.—It was answered on another occasion: The common custom of the Church is to be observed.” Qualifiers of the Holy Office, 1674; Father Navarrete, missionary in China. Cf. no. 433.

“Indeed, since Your Charity wished to consult concerning this matter as concerning the others, my son Celestine the deacon also added in his letter that Your Charity had set forth what is written in the epistle of the blessed Apostle James: ‘Is anyone among you sick? Let him bring in the priests, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer of faith shall save the sick man, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he be in sins, they shall be forgiven him.’ There is no doubt that this ought to be received or understood of the sick faithful, who can be anointed with the holy oil of chrism, “which, having been confected by a bishop, not only priests but all Christians may use for anointing in their own necessity or that of their own. But we see that this was superfluously added, so that doubt might be raised concerning a bishop, when it was said of priests, because bishops, being hindered by other occupations, cannot go to all the sick. But if a bishop either is able or judges someone worthy to be visited by him, he can without hesitation both bless and touch him with chrism, since it belongs to him to confect the chrism itself. For this cannot be poured upon penitents, because it is a kind of sacrament. For how is it thought that one kind can be granted to those to whom the other sacraments are denied?” Innocent I, from Letter 25 to Decentius, Bishop of Gubbio, chapter 8.

“We venerate the anointing of the sick with consecrated oil.” Profession of Faith prescribed to the Waldensians by Innocent III.

“Another sacrament is Extreme Unction, which according to the doctrine of blessed James is applied to the sick.” Profession of Faith of Michael Palaeologus.

“Upon inspection of the very words of the divine utterance, it is easily apparent that the Sacrament of Extreme Unction, even in a case of necessity—namely, in the absence of another priest—cannot be administered by a sick missionary to himself.” Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith, 23 March 1844.

“In this Diocese of Port Louis, where the usage of employing a silver stylus or little rod in the administration of Extreme Unction has prevailed, can this usage safely be continued?—Response. Negative, except in a case of necessity.” Sacred Congregation of Rites, 9 May 1857, Port Louis, response to 2.

“Priests exercising the care of souls, for their own convenience, keep the holy oil of the sick with them in their homes. In view of the custom, can they lawfully retain this practice?—Response. Negative, and let the Roman Ritual be observed, except, however, in a case of great distance from the church; in that case the Rubric concerning honorable, becoming, and safe custody is to be observed altogether, even in the home.” Sacred Congregation of Rites, 16 December 1826, Ghent, response to 3; 31 August 1872, Toledo, response to 5; 23 June 1892, Laon, response to 7.

The oil of Extreme Unction is not to be carried solemnly to the sick with a surplice and lanterns. Sacred Congregation of Rites, 28 January 1606, Bari.

“1. Is it lawful for priests to send sacred oils consecrated by a bishop through the Express, or through a certain mercantile company composed for the most part of non-Catholics and pagans, which receives various things for export?—2. Is it lawful to send those sacred oils to priests through laymen, in order to provide for the convenience of the priests themselves?—Response. To the first: It is not lawful.—To the second: If clerics are lacking, affirmative, provided that the fidelity of the laymen deputed for this is established.” Holy Office, 1 May 1901 and 14 January 1903; M. E., vol. 15, p. 245.

“Can the Sacrament of Extreme Unction be administered with a stole alone?—Response. Negative.” Sacred Congregation of Rites, 16 December 1826, Ghent, response to 2.

The recitation of the Penitential Psalms and the Litanies, prescribed in the Ambrosian Ritual for the administration of Extreme Unction, is not preceptive but counseled. Sacred Congregation of Rites, 20 June 1902; M. E., vol. 14, p. 351 ff.

“When an adult pagan, sufficiently instructed and rightly disposed, is baptized because he has fallen into a grave illness, must—indeed, can—the Sacrament of Extreme Unction be conferred upon him immediately after Baptism?—Response. Affirmative, with the form of the decree of the Holy Office of the year 1703 being observed.” Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith, 26 September 1821.

“Sometimes, when missionaries visit the Christians committed to them, they encounter a sick person suffering from hectic fever or a similar illness who, according to experience, will live for several more months, but will die within a year. It is asked whether, in such a case, the missionary can administer Viaticum and Extreme Unction to him, because when the truer occasion for receiving them is present, the missionary will not be able to be present because of the great distance and other circumstances preventing it.—Response. Affirmative.” Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith, 20 February 1801.

“Is Extreme Unction to be conferred upon dying adults whom we sometimes believe capable of Baptism, but not of the other sacraments?—Response. The Sacrament of Extreme Unction is not to be conferred upon a dying neophyte whom the missionary has judged capable of Baptism, unless he at least has some intention of receiving the sacred anointing ordained for the benefit of the soul at the time of death.” Holy Office, 1703 and 10 April 1861. Cf. no. 271; Canon 1158.