Title XV: On Sacred Anointing

Latin source headnote: The Church of the Greeks ought in ordinations and consecrations to observe the anointings that the Roman Church observes; moreover, when a bishop is consecrated, he is anointed with chrism on the head and hands; if this has been omitted, it is to be supplied by three bishops. § 5. It treats of the anointing of kings and of the differences in anointing between kings and pontiffs. Pan. § 6. It treats of the anointing of all Christians. § 7. It treats of the anointing with chrism after baptism, which is called confirmation. § 8. It treats of the consecration of an altar. Abbas.

Innocent III.

When our venerable brother the Bishop of Barcar came to the Apostolic See, who had not received sacred anointing in his consecration because among you pontiffs are not accustomed to be anointed when they are consecrated, we commanded that what had been lacking in him be supplied in him, causing his head and hands to be smeared with sacred chrism according to ecclesiastical custom by our venerable brother John, Bishop of Albano, with two bishops assisting him.

For the catholic Church holds this not only from divine precept but also from the example of the Apostles. Indeed, in Exodus it is read that the Lord commanded Moses to anoint Aaron and his sons so that they might discharge the priesthood. And Pope Anacletus, Greek by nation, who was ordained priest by blessed Peter and afterwards succeeded Clement in the office of the apostolate, hands down in his ordinance that bishops are to be anointed after the custom of the Apostles and Moses, because all sanctification consists in the Holy Spirit, whose invisible power is mingled with sacred chrism. Hence:

§ 1. We will you to know that there are two kinds of anointing: the exterior, which is material and visible, and the interior, which is spiritual and invisible. By the exterior the body is visibly anointed; by the interior the heart is invisibly anointed. Concerning the first, the Apostle James says: “Is anyone among you infirm? 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 will save the infirm man.” Concerning the second, the Apostle John says: “Let the anointing that you received from him remain in you, and you have no need that anyone teach you, but as his anointing teaches you concerning all things.” The visible and exterior anointing is a sign of the interior and invisible anointing. But the invisible and interior anointing is not only a sign but also a sacrament, because, if worthily received, it without doubt either effects or increases what it signifies.

§ 2. To furnish the exterior and visible anointing, however, the oil that is called the oil of catechumens or of the infirm is blessed, and chrism, which by mystical reason is made from oil and balsam, is prepared. For by oil the brightness of conscience is signified, according to what is read: “The prudent virgins received oil in their vessels with their lamps”; but by balsam the fragrance of reputation is expressed, on account of which it is said: “Like fragrant balsam, I gave forth an odor.”

§ 3. Therefore, a bishop ought to be anointed with this chrism not so much in body as in heart, so that inwardly he may have brightness of conscience toward God and outwardly have the fragrance of reputation toward his neighbor. Concerning the brightness of conscience the Apostle says: “Our glory is this, the testimony of our conscience,” for “all the glory of the king's daughter is within.” Concerning the fragrance of reputation the same Apostle says: “We are the good fragrance of Christ in every place, and to some we are the fragrance of life unto life, to others the fragrance of death unto death.” For a bishop ought to have good testimony both from those who are within and from those who are without, so that curtain may draw curtain, and the one who hears may say: come.

§ 4. With this ointment the head and hands of a bishop are consecrated. For by the head the mind is understood, according to this: “Anoint your head and wash your face.” By the hands works are understood, according to this: “My hands dripped myrrh.” Therefore, the hand is anointed with the oil of piety so that the bishop may work good toward all, but especially toward the household of faith. The head, however, is anointed with the balsam of charity so that the bishop may love God with his whole heart, whole mind, and whole soul, and his neighbor as himself. The head is anointed because of authority and dignity, and the hands because of ministry and office.

The head is anointed so that it may be shown that he represents the person of him concerning whom it is said through the Prophet: “Like the ointment upon his head that descended upon the beard, the beard of Aaron.” For the head of man is Christ; the head of Christ is God, who says concerning himself: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me; because he anointed me, he sent me to evangelize the poor.” The hands of a bishop are anointed so that it may be shown that he receives the power of blessing and consecrating. Hence, when the consecrator anoints them, he says: “Deign, Lord, to consecrate and sanctify these hands through this sacred anointing and through our blessing, so that whatever they consecrate may be consecrated, and whatever they bless may be blessed in the name of the Lord.”

§ 5. Hence, in the Old Testament not only a priest but also a king and a prophet was anointed, as in the Book of Kings the Lord commanded Elijah: “Go and return to your house through the desert to Damascus, and when you have arrived there, you shall anoint Hazael king over Syria, and you shall anoint Jehu son of Nimshi king over Israel. Moreover, you shall anoint Elisha son of Shaphat, who is from Abel-meholah, as prophet in your place.”

But when Jesus of Nazareth—whom God anointed with the Holy Spirit, as is read in the Acts of the Apostles—was anointed with the oil of gladness above his fellows, he who according to the Apostle is the head of the Church, which is his body, the anointing of a prince was transferred from the head [namely] to the arm, so that thereafter a prince is anointed not on the head but on the arm, or on the shoulder, or on the upper arm, in which princely power is fittingly signified, according to what is read: “Princely power was placed upon his shoulder, etc.” To signify this also, Samuel caused the upper arm to be placed before Saul, to whom he had given a place at the head before those who had been invited. But the sacramental anointing was preserved on the head of a pontiff because in the pontifical office he represents the person of the head. There is a difference, moreover, between the anointing of a pontiff and that of a prince, because the head of a pontiff is consecrated with chrism, while the arm of a prince is smeared with oil, so that it may be shown how great the difference is between the authority of a pontiff and the power of a prince.

§ 6. But because Christ made us in his blood a kingdom and priests for our God, on account of which the Apostle Peter says, “You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood,” therefore in the New Testament not only kings and priests are anointed, but also all Christians: twice before baptism, namely with blessed oil, first on the breast and then between the shoulder blades; and twice after baptism, namely with sacred chrism, first on the crown of the head and finally on the forehead.

For the one to be baptized is anointed on the breast so that through the gift of the Holy Spirit he may cast away error and ignorance and receive the right faith, because the just man lives by faith. The one to be baptized is anointed between the shoulder blades so that through the grace of the Holy Spirit he may cast off negligence and torpor and exercise good works, because faith without works is dead, so that through the sacrament of faith there may be purity of thoughts in the breast and through the exercise of work there may be strength for labors on the shoulders, in order that faith may work through love according to the Apostle.

But the baptized person is anointed on the crown of the head so that he may be prepared to render an account of the faith to everyone who asks, because by the head the mind is understood, according to what is read: “The eyes of the wise man are in his head,” of which the higher part is reason and the lower is sensuality. Hence, by the crown, which is the higher part of the head, reason, which is the higher part of the mind, is well understood. The baptized person is anointed on the forehead so that he may freely confess what he believes, because “with the heart one believes unto justice, but with the mouth confession is made unto salvation,” mindful of what the Lord says: “Whoever confesses me before men, I also will confess him before my Father.”

Therefore, before baptism he is anointed with blessed oil, and after baptism with sacred chrism, because chrism belongs to a Christian alone. For Christ is said from chrism, or rather chrism is said from Christ—not according to the form of the name but according to the account of faith. Christians, however, are said from Christ, as though the anointed were derived from the Anointed One, so that all may run together into the fragrance of that ointment whose name is oil poured forth.

§ 7. By chrismation of the forehead the imposition of hands is signified, which by another name is called confirmation, because through it the Holy Spirit is given for increase and strength. Hence, although a simple priest or presbyter may furnish the other anointings, only the high priest—that is, a bishop—ought to confer this one, because it is read concerning the Apostles alone, whose vicars bishops are, that through the imposition of hands they gave the Holy Spirit, as the reading from the Acts of the Apostles makes manifest: “When,” it says, “the Apostles who were at Jerusalem had heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them; and when they had come, they prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit. For he had not yet come upon any of them, but they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus; then they laid hands upon them, and they received the Holy Spirit.”

His coming is signified through the ministry of anointing, because the dove in which the Holy Spirit descended upon Christ in baptism, returning in the evening during the flood, brought back a branch of flourishing olive, whose sacrament David the Prophet, foreknowing it, proclaimed that the face would be gladdened with oil.

§ 8. Furthermore, according to ecclesiastical custom, an anointing is performed when an altar is consecrated, when a temple is dedicated, and when a chalice is blessed, not only from the mandate of divine law but also from the example of blessed Sylvester, who, when he consecrated an altar, anointed it throughout with chrism. For the Lord commanded Moses to make the oil of anointing, from which he should anoint the tabernacle of testimony and the ark of the covenant, and the table with its vessels. Concerning these anointings also, if perhaps you should doubt, when we have been consulted by you, we will instruct your fraternity more fully. Nevertheless, the sacrament of anointing effects and figures another thing both in the New Testament and in the Old; hence the Church does not Judaize when she celebrates the sacrament of anointing, as the ancients falsely claim, who know neither the scriptures nor the power of God.

§ 9. We therefore admonish your fraternity and exhort it more attentively, commanding [you] by apostolic writings that, at the mandate of our beloved son the cardinal-priest of the title of the Holy Cross, legate of the Apostolic See, you too receive sacred anointing, lest anything be lacking to you for the fullness of the sacrament. Thus, when you have been smeared with sacred chrism, you shall likewise anoint your archbishops and bishops, and through them cause the hands of priests to be anointed with blessed oil, so that hereafter in ordaining priests and consecrating bishops you observe and cause to be observed the custom that the Apostolic See observes, which, by the Lord's disposition, is the mother and teacher of all the faithful.

Moreover, through the aforesaid cardinal we send you the pontifical ornaments: stockings and sandals, amice and alb, girdle and subcinctorium, stole and maniple, tunicle and dalmatic, gloves and ring, chasuble and mitre. But we had previously sent the pallium through our beloved son John, our chaplain. And although the Roman Pontiff does not use a pastoral staff, both because of history and also because of a mystical reason, which the same cardinal, as he received it from us, will be able to teach, nevertheless you will be able to use it after the likeness of other pontiffs. [Given at Anagni, on the sixth day before the Kalends of March, in the seventh year of our pontificate, 1204.]

Textual note: In section 8 the Latin Library-derived working transcription contained a base64-like corruption in place of requisiti, fraternitatem tuam plenius instruemus. Verum tamen. The reading printed here and translated above has been restored from the Friedberg-derived reference text. Three stray ñ characters separating portions of the source headnote were likewise removed.