Treatise VIII. On The Sacrament Of Extreme Unction

568. Preliminary matters. Just as Confirmation is a certain complement of Baptism, so Extreme Unction is, as it were, the consummation of Penance. In Confirmation a baptized man is strengthened for strenuously defending the faith; in Extreme Unction, however, a man now about to depart from this world is strengthened for victoriously carrying through the final combat. St. Bonaventure beautifully and concisely institutes a comparison between Confirmation and Extreme Unction, saying:¹ "From the variation of the end in Confirmation and Extreme Unction there arises diversity ... in efficacy, because the former sacrament disposes one to struggle better, the latter to fly away more swiftly; in matter, because the former is in oil mixed with balsam, the latter, however, in pure oil; in form, because the former is in the indicative, the latter, however, in the deprecative; in place, because the former is on the forehead, the latter, however, on several parts; in time, because the former is in health, the latter, however, in sickness; in the recipient, because the former is not only for adults but also for children, the latter, however, only for adults; in the giver, because the former is from bishops, the latter, however, from any priests."

Besides the authors cited above in the first treatise, cf. Ignatius Schmitz, De effectibus sacramenti extremae unctionis, Freiburg im Breisgau, 1893; J. Kern, De sacramento extremae unctionis, Ratisbon, 1907; M. Heimbucher, Die heilige Ölung, Ratisbon, 1888.

We shall treat: 1. the notion and existence of Extreme Unction; 2. its matter and form; 3. its effects; 4. its subject; 5. its minister.

¹ Breviloquium, 6, 11.