Scholion. On the Special Character of Extreme Unction

Extreme Unction is primarily a sacrament of the living, secondarily a sacrament of the dead (St. Alphonsus, VI, 731). I said:

I. Extreme Unction is primarily a sacrament of the living, that is, in itself and primarily it is ordered to second grace, or to the increase of grace. For 1. St. James and the Council of Trent set forth first grace as an effect of Extreme Unction only conditionally; by this it is suggested that the said sacrament is not primarily ordered to that effect; this being posited, it remains that we say that it is primarily ordered to second grace, that is, to the increase of grace. 2. If Extreme Unction were primarily ordered to conferring grace, and not to the increase of grace, the sacrament of Penance would not be, for all those who have fallen after Baptism, a necessary means of salvation to be employed in fact or in desire. It would be sufficient for the sick to have recourse to Extreme Unction. The Roman Catechism teaches the same: "For this sacrament was not instituted in the first place for the remission of graver crimes, but Baptism alone and Penance by their own power effect this."¹

II. Extreme Unction is secondarily a sacrament of the dead, that is, also in itself, but only secondarily, it is ordered to first grace. I said in itself; for St. James² and Trent,³ whose words are cited in the note, because they expressly state that sins are remitted through Extreme Unction, seem to suggest that the said sacrament by its nature is ordered also to that effect. There is added the fact that the form of the sacrament also expresses the remission of sins, indeed expresses that alone. I said only secondarily; this follows from the things by which we proved that Extreme Unction is primarily ordered to second grace. Therefore this sacrament differs from the other sacraments of the living, which confer first grace only accidentally.

Corollary I. But if you ask further what, with respect to the remission of mortal sins, those words "in itself, but secondarily" imply when Extreme Unction is being discussed, and what those words "accidentally" imply when the other sacraments of the living are being treated, it must be said thus: If someone constituted in mortal sin receives a sacrament of the living, Christ in Extreme Unction intends to infuse sanctifying grace in order to remit sin; while in the other sacraments of the living He intends to infuse sanctifying grace for another end proper to each sacrament.

Corollary II. As to the mode by which Extreme Unction remits sins, it must be said that mortal sins are remitted directly; concerning venial sins, it is disputed whether they are remitted directly or indirectly (p. 210).

¹ Part 2, c. 6, q. 14.

² "If," he says, "he be in sins, they shall be forgiven him" (James 5:15).

³ "It wipes away offenses, if there are any to be expiated, and the remains of sin" (Session 14, cap. 2).