The Sacrament of Extreme Unction

The Sacrament of Extreme Unction.—As Confirmation perfects Baptism by bringing to maturity the new life of grace, so Extreme Unction perfects Penance by strengthening against the spiritual debility that remains after sin itself has been wiped away. Confirmation makes ready for the battle of life, Extreme Unction assists during the struggle of death. The fifth Sacrament is defined: “A Sacrament of the New Law in which through the anointing with oil and the prayer of the priest adult persons who are in danger of death receive health of soul, and also at times health of body.”

(a) The remote matter or element of the Sacrament is oil (James, v, 14, 15). For validity it is required that this be olive oil, blessed by a bishop or by a priest having special papal delegation, with the special blessing for the oil of the sick (O. I.); for lawfulness, sub gravi that it be oil blessed the previous Holy Thursday (Canon 734), sub levi at least that it be blessed by the bishop of the diocese, or, in case of vacancy, by the neighboring bishop. In necessity the old oils may be lawfully used, while chrism and the oil of the catechumens may be used as doubtful matter. Unblessed oils and oils blessed by an unauthorized priest do not suffice for validity.

(b) The proximate matter is the anointing of the sick man with blessed oil. In urgent necessity it suffices to anoint one sense, or rather the forehead; in other cases the various senses should be anointed in the order given in the Ritual. Each anointing of a double sense should begin with the right organ (e.g., the right eye) and should be given with the right thumb in the form of a cross. If one organ is missing (e.g., a hand amputated), the anointing should be made, if possible, near to its place (e.g., on the wrist); if there is danger of contagion, the anointing may be made by means of an instrument, such as a brush or small stick. The anointing of the reins should always be omitted and the anointing of the feet may be omitted for any good reason, such as inconvenience to the dying person.

(c) The form of the Sacrament is the prayer used by the priest. In the Latin Church the ordinary form is contained in the words: “Per istam sanctam unctionem, etc. By this holy anointing and His most tender mercy may the Lord forgive thee whatever sin thou hast committed by sight (by hearing, by smell, by taste and speech, by touch, by thy steps). Amen.” The extraordinary rite for use when there is not time to give all the anointings is bestowed on the forehead in the words: “Per istam sanctam unctionem et suam piissimam misericordiam indulgeat tibi Dominus quidquid deliquisti. Amen.” The essential words of the form are: “Per istam unctionem indulgeat tibi Dominus quidquid deliquisti,” because they express the intercession and the effect of the rite. It would probably be a grave sin to omit the reference to the senses in the ordinary form, as that seems to be a notable part of the form; but it would be a light sin, apart from contempt or scandal, to omit an unimportant word such as “Amen.” If there is doubt about the recipient’s capacity (i.e., whether he has reached the use of reason, whether he is in danger of death, whether he is already dead, whether he is impenitent and unwilling to receive the Sacrament), the form should be conditional. The condition should be “si es capax,” not “si es dispositus,” even in the last-mentioned case. For the Sacrament is given validly even to one who is not well disposed (i.e., who lacks repentance) and there is thus the possibility, when validity is not made dependent on the condition of good disposition, that sacramental fruitfulness will follow later when impenitence, the obstacle to the Sacrament’s activity, shall have been removed.

(d) The recipient of the Sacrament is a Catholic who after attaining the use of reason has come into the danger of death through sickness or old age. No one is capable of receiving this Sacrament unless he is baptized, for Baptism is the gateway of the Sacraments (2671); unless he has reached the use of reason, for the Sacrament is a remedy against personal sin and supposes that the recipient can or formerly could distinguish between right and wrong; unless he is in danger of death through the infirmity of disease or of decrepitude, for St. James teaches that the anointing is for those who are enfeebled by illness dangerous unto death. Hence Extreme Unction cannot be administered validly to the unbaptized, to young children who have not come to the use of reason, to the perpetually insane, to those who are sick but not in danger of death, to those who are in danger of death but not sick (e.g., a strong man going to the gallows or to battle). But the Sacrament may be administered to children who have not yet made their first confession, if they are capable of sin, and to the insane who once had the use of reason. The danger of death need not be immediate, and hence Extreme Unction may be given when the disease is mortal but the patient will last for several months or even a year, as in tuberculosis. Illness includes not only chronic sickness, but also fatal disorders caused by wounds, accidents, poison. The rule about the old is that those who have reached sixty years and show some signs of approaching death, such as great feebleness or fainting spells, even though they have no special malady, may be anointed; for their old age itself is a disease.

(e) The minister of Extreme Unction is the priest, since St. James directs that the presbyters (i.e., the priests) of the Church be called to anoint the sick. Extreme Unction, unlike Penance, is not exercised in the form of a judicial process, and hence the power of Orders suffices for its valid administration, and any priest, even one who lacks jurisdiction, gives it validly. But for lawful administration church law prescribes that the minister regularly be the ecclesiastical superior or spiritual director (i.e., the pastor for his parish, the head of a clerical religious institute for his house, the parish-priest or chaplain for a lay religious body, the confessor for nuns), and that the minister extraordinarily (i.e., in necessity) be any other priest who has permission, or reasonably presumed permission.

(f) The effects of Extreme Unction are per se an increase of sanctifying grace, since this is a Sacrament of the Living; per accidens (i.e., when the recipient is not in the state of grace, but is in good faith and has attrition) the forgiveness of sins and first grace. Extreme Unction produces first grace more surely than does absolution, if the penitent is unconscious, since it does not call for any external manifestation of contrition; hence the importance of anointing those who are dying but unconscious. The special benefit of Extreme Unction is immediate preparation of the soul for entrance to heaven, though restoration of the health of the body is sometimes vouchsafed when this is for the spiritual good of the sick person. Venial sins and the remains of past sins (i.e., the debility left by them) are removed and the soul is strengthened with confidence as to things past and future and with peace and resignation as to present suffering. Since the Sacrament is given for the period of danger of death, it cannot be repeated during the same danger; but should the patient recover and relapse into a distinct danger through the same or another sickness, there arises a new need and the Sacrament may then be repeated.