Case XXXVII: Administration of the Last Sacraments to Children, over the Age of Six, in Danger of Death

Suffer the little children to come unto me and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God (Mark x, 14).

There can be no doubt that the parish priest, after the example of his Lord and Master, must in a special manner concern himself about children. Of an especial truth are the words: He who has a hold on youth, to him belongs the future. We may go farther and say: To him belongs also the present. For he who wins the children over to his sacred cause and arouses them for it, has in many cases also the parents; with and through the children he gains influence upon the family. A chief part of the priest’s effort must, therefore, be directed to the care of the children. But if the priest has to bestow special attention upon children in the normal state, it is befitting and right that he should do the same for those in sickness. How could he refuse his assistance to a child at the very moment when it needs him most? Why should he not make it his special concern to clear the way to heaven for a child? Let us inquire then what form this spiritual care should take in the case of dangerously sick children over the age of six years; what is to be said of the administration of the last Sacraments in such cases?

The Rit. Rom. (tit. V, ep. 4, n. 1) prescribes: The parish priest should exhort his parishioners to notify him whenever anyone in his parish happens to fall sick, especially if the illness should be more serious. This precept is quite general (aliquem). It has reference not only to those who have already been admitted to Confession and Holy Communion, but to all the faithful who have attained the use of reason, all those, therefore, capable of an actual sin, whether of modo perfecto or imperfecto, whether mortal or venial. This, however, can, according to the sententia communissima of theologians, not be doubted of children who have passed their sixth, or at most their seventh year, under generally normal conditions.

Such child may, therefore, receive Extreme Unction, and the priest is bound to administer it to him. Hence the Provincial Synod of Prague in 1860 proclaimed: The sacrament of extreme unction is to be administered to sick children when they have reached that age at which they could have sinned, although they have not yet received Communion. Since, however, this Sacrament is a Sacrament of the living, it must, as the rule, be preceded by the Sacrament of Penance, or at least by sacramental absolution.

In this sense the Provincial Synod of Cologne of the same year expresses itself: Since extreme unction is a sacrament of the living, sanctifying grace is ordinarily required in the recipient; hence, if it can be done, confession of sins should precede; if this can no longer be made in the proper manner, at least absolution. All the faithful who lie seriously ill, provided they were once possessed of reason so that they could have committed sins, are capable of this sacrament; hence even those younger in age, although they have not yet received their first Communion. The decrees of both these Provincial Synods have been approved by the Holy See; therefore they are not merely diocesan precepts but rather moral dogmatic decisions in concerning what should take place in the case of dangerously sick children capable of actual sin (children, therefore, above their sixth year). Attention should here be given also to the ecclesiastical regulations anent the reception of the Sacrament of Penance when in good health. The Conc. Later. IV says: Every faithful person of either sex, after reaching the years of discretion, shall faithfully confess all his sins at least once a year. Moreover the Catech. Rom. (De Poenit. 48) directs: Confession is enjoined upon a child at that time when he has the power to distinguish between good and evil and deceit can enter his mind. Though this is not to be applied to well children above their seventh year, it must be held that to children, in danger of death, it is certainly a priest’s sacred duty to administer this Sacrament. Children above their sixth, at any rate above their seventh, year may, therefore, receive both these Sacraments, if they are in danger of death, and the priest is obliged to administer them. As a matter of course general absolution can be given to them.

Objection should not be made here that these Sacraments when administered to such young children might be exposed to irreverence. It should rather be remembered that the Sacraments were instituted by Christ for us men and for our salvation. No doubt, with the duty of administering these Sacraments is joined the other of preparing young children as well as possible.

Even less valid is the objection that children at this age have, at most, venial sins upon their conscience, and that even these on account of imperfect knowledge are only to be viewed as incomplete. Even admitting this to be a fact, which it is probably not in all cases, in God’s sight even the least venial sin is by no means a trifling matter and it must be wiped out. Why then should not a priest come to the sick child’s assistance? Why should he not help to free the child from his small faults and open to him the door of heaven? And, in conclusion, can we not be mistaken in a child’s mental capacity? Even of young children it is often true: Malitia supplet aetatem. The case may even occur that such a child may have committed a mortal sin, or at least is capable of committing one. Therefore it would be inexcusable to refuse to a child these Sacraments. At all events a zealous priest ought, and should, even with not very bright children, choose the safer way and in danger of death administer these two Sacraments (conditionally if necessary). St. Alphonsus also holds so. To the question: Can this sacrament be conferred upon children concerning whose use of reason there is doubt? he replies:

The more probable opinion says that such children are to be anointed conditionally, because reverence for the sacrament is safeguarded by the condition, and, moreover, there is a just cause for administering it conditionally, lest the children be deprived of so salutary a fruit of this sacrament (S. ALPH., I. 6, n. 718).

Vicar Lebherz.