Article — Konings, Theologia Moralis
ARTICLE IV: ON THE MANNER OF MINISTERING THE EUCHARIST TO THE SICK
1298. The Roman Ritual Establishes The Following. - I. Let the Pastor admonish that the sick person's room be cleansed, and in it a table be prepared covered with a clean cloth, on which the Most Holy Sacrament may decently be set down. Let two candles at least be prepared, two small vessels, one with wine, the other with water, so that either may serve the priest for washing the fingers, and the sick person for swallowing the Sacred Host after Communion (therefore it suffices to prepare either one); besides, a clean linen is to be placed before the breast of the communicant. Often a vessel of holy water is added, as often as it is not accustomed to be carried with the Most Holy Sacrament.
II. The Eucharist must be carried from the Church to the private homes of the sick with decent habit, a clean veil placed over it, manifestly and honorably, with all reverence, always with light and with a little bell being continually rung before it. But the priest, vested in surplice and stole, and first having placed from both shoulders a becoming oblong veil, should receive with both hands the vessel with the Most Holy Sacrament, to be carried before the breast, and then should go under the baldachin, or umbrella, if it can be had, and proceed with uncovered head. But in going he says the Miserere and other Psalms, and in returning Praise the Lord from the heavens, and other Psalms and Hymns, but these are only of counsel.
III. The priest, entering the room of the sick person, says: Peace be to this house, Resp.: And to all dwelling in it. Then he adores the Most Holy Sacrament placed upon the table; he sprinkles the sick person and the room with holy water, saying: Thou shalt sprinkle me, etc., and the other prayers placed in the Roman Ritual. Afterwards, the sick person having been questioned and exhorted, he gives the Most Holy Eucharist in the usual manner. But if there is question of Viaticum, he does not say: The Body of the Lord, etc.; but: Receive, brother, the viaticum of the Body of Our Lord Jesus Christ, etc., as in the Ritual. (y) p. 401.
IV. When death is imminent, most of the prayers, or even all, are omitted. The priest, with fingers washed, and the prayers completed, if particles remain, blesses the sick person with the ciborium, saying nothing. From the Roman Ritual the ablutions must be given to the sick person, but if he is unwilling or unable to take them, they are cast into the fire in the sick person's own house, or, which is more fitting, into the Sacrarium. (x) p. 401. - The priest, having returned to the Church, with the ciborium placed upon the altar, recites the versicle and prayer concerning the Most Holy Sacrament, and with the Sacrament makes the Sign of the Cross over the people, saying nothing.
Appendix annotation (phi), to n. 1298. III. p. 52. col. 2. "If," says De Herdt, Prax. Rit. Rom., p. 80, "the Most Holy Sacrament is to be administered at the same time to several sick persons in the same place, whether as Viaticum or from devotion, as can happen rather often in hospitals and in contagious diseases, then the antiphon Asperges me is said only once, and meanwhile the sick are sprinkled; likewise the verse Adjutorium, the prayer Exaudi, the Confiteor, Misereatur, Indulgentiam, and Ecce Agnus Dei are recited once, just as these also are said only once in church, however many there are to be communicated; then, under the respective form, Holy Communion is given to each sick person; and finally the prayer Domine sancte is recited once, and the blessing is given once." It is said: in the same place; for the things said do not hold if the sick are separated by intervals of places, even of the same house, in such a way that, precisely by reason of the interval, by no external sense can they - I do not say perceive - but be able to perceive the prayers and actions of the minister, and according to the common estimation of men the minister would not be judged to be acting with them. The case would be if different sick persons were lying in different stories of the same building, or even in the same story indeed, but in rooms so separated from one another that one could in no way be judged joined with the other. Thus Past.-Bl. für Nord Amer., 12th year, p. 22. 23. > Notes to appendix annotation - note sequence 8. > > 1 In the plural: vestri, vestrorum, etc. | 2 fratribus, etc., in place of fratri. Appendix annotation (chi), to n. 1298. IV. p. 52. col. 2. To give the ablutions is not the office of the priest, but of the sick person or of another. - To avoid the difficulty joined with throwing the ablutions into the fire or into the sacrarium of the church, the following seems to be an easy method of washing the fingers: the purificator is placed beside the little vessel of water; the thumb and index finger of the right hand are held over the purificator beside the same little vessel; with the fingers of the left hand water is sprinkled upon the index finger and thumb of the right hand, as much as is sufficient to wash them, and then the index finger and thumb are immediately wiped with the purificator. If this method is observed, nothing is to be cared about the remaining water or wine left in the little vessel. See Baruffaldus, tit. 26. n. 186. De Herdt, Pr. Rit., p. 75.
1299. Questions. - Query 1° Can the Eucharist be carried to the sick at night?
Resp. Negatively. For this is expressly prohibited, except in a case of necessity. For thus the Roman Ritual: "But at night this Sacrament must not be carried, unless necessity urges." But when necessity urges, it is to be carried at any hour of the night; but without noise and sound of the little bell. But the cited words of the Ritual do not regard Communities which reserve the Most Holy Eucharist in a domestic Chapel, because the danger of irreverence, on account of which the law was passed, is then absent.
Query 2° Can the Eucharist be carried to the sick secretly?
Resp. Negatively, generally speaking. It is established from the Roman Ritual, where it is said: "This Holy Sacrament must be carried manifestly and honorably." Nevertheless some circumstances are excepted, e.g. places of heretics, where it cannot be carried manifestly. Likewise sometimes even in Catholic places, if otherwise Holy Viaticum (but not Communion from devotion2) cannot be carried to the sick person without some inconvenience, for example because impious relatives absolutely do not wish any religious ceremony to be celebrated in their house, although they tolerate that the priest approach the sick person. Nevertheless this must not be done without license of the Bishop, where he can be consulted.
Query 3° Can a priest, when necessity urges, minister Viaticum without any sacred vestment?
Resp. Affirmatively. The reason is because it is not to be presumed that the Church, which is so benign a mother, wished those rites to be observed in the administration of Viaticum with detriment to the dying. For the Sacraments have been instituted primarily for the salvation of souls.2
Query 4° When necessity urges, in carrying Viaticum is it lawful to run?
Resp. Affirmatively, probably. The reason is because urgent necessity of carrying Viaticum to one dying can excuse from greater decency in walking.3
Query 5° Is it lawful in time of plague to offer the Eucharist by some instrument, for instance in a spoon, on a paten, or in another clean vessel?
Resp. Affirmatively, not improbably, because so great a necessity seems to excuse from the customary rite of the Church.4
Query 6° Is it lawful to carry the Eucharist with the head covered on the way?
Resp. Negatively, on account of the reverence due to the Sacrament, except nevertheless in the singular case of necessity - of a brief infirmity, not however a lasting one - and provided that another priest cannot be had. - Likewise if a legitimate custom on account of a most grave cause, e.g. on account of excessively cold air, prevails somewhere. Therefore in carrying the Most Holy Sacrament to the sick, whether this is done by day or by night, neither on the pretext of any infirmity nor on any other pretext can the biretta or even a small cap be used.1
Wherefore a priest laboring under a cold or another infirmity must abstain from carrying the Most Holy Sacrament, or commit that office to another, or nevertheless proceed with uncovered head, unless the use of the little cap has been granted to him.2 Yet the use of the little cap is not granted with so much difficulty on a journey; with more difficulty within a city or town. According to several, the Bishop can grant license of carrying a little cap on a journey; but the faculty of using a little cap through a city or town is of Apostolic right.3 The Holy See granted a dispensation from that law for the diocese of Cologne, especially in winter weather, on 3 Nov. 1862. - St. Alphonsus has this: "Pasqual probably says that the Bishop can dispense that Viaticum be carried with a little cap on the head, when one must proceed far and through villages."4
Query 7° Can a priest carry the Holy Eucharist riding on a horse?
Resp. Affirmatively, if it must be carried to a sick person far distant, or through a difficult road, or if there is danger in delay. But the horse must be gentle, so that danger of falling and irreverence is absent. But it is never lawful to give the pyx to be carried by a layman, however much the priest may be tired; but then he must carry it in a burse hung from the neck. It is established from the Roman Ritual on the Eucharist, and also from a decision of the Sacred Congregation of Rites. And beforehand, "that Viaticum, on account of distance of places, difficulty of journeys, roughness of roads, can be carried by the Pastor while riding," the Sacred Congregation of Rites "grants," nevertheless with the consent of the Bishop.6
Query 8° Can the Eucharist be carried several times to the sick who are not fasting, or by way of Viaticum?
Resp. Affirmatively, and not only if a new danger of death recurs, but also if the same one perseveres. - Thus the common and true sentence, says St. Alphonsus.7 It is confirmed by the authority of Benedict XIV, who, in the work On the Synod,8 testifies that no Theologian of any name denies this sentence; and he adds,1 "The Bishop should suggest to Pastors that Viaticum can and ought to be administered again and a third time in the same infirmity, especially if the sick person requests it; and, if he wishes, he should decree a penalty against Pastors who decline to carry the Eucharist again and a third time to sick persons devoutly asking, under false pretexts." But Communion in this case, according to Scavini,2 is to be given with the usual formula: May the Body of Our Lord Jesus Christ preserve, etc. "Likewise in this case," says de Herdt,3 "Have mercy and Indulgence are said in the plural: your, your sins."
Query 9° Can the Eucharist be carried frequently to the bedridden?
Resp. Affirmatively, of itself. Nevertheless this depends on the circumstances, namely on their particular disposition and necessity. Indeed, not improbably, "a sick person accustomed to communicate more often from devotion" will be able "already on another day immediately after Viaticum ... to receive Communion not fasting. And Pal. and Arm. and Dic. apud Croix admit this on individual days, and Tamb. thinks it probable."4 The Pastor must, as far as it is in him, exhort the sick to frequent Communion. - Gousset.5
Query 10° What must a priest do if, coming to a sick person with the Most Holy Sacrament, and hearing his Confession, he finds him indisposed?
Resp. First of all the confessor must labor, as best he can, to bring the penitent to better fruit. If the matter does not succeed, and e.g. the sick person does not promise either to break off the proximate occasion of sin, or to make a grave and certainly owed restitution, he surely cannot be absolved. But what of Communion? The penitent must be earnestly induced that, the Confession having been completed, he declare publicly that he does not yet wish to receive the Holy Eucharist. But if he gives this declaration, the difficulty now vanishes; for it is clear that the Eucharist is not to be ministered to him. But if he refuses to declare this, and wishes to communicate, the Eucharist must be ministered to him, although he is indisposed, or an agreement must be made with him that you say over him "The Body of Our Lord Jesus Christ," etc., without offering the Body.6