The Catechism of the Council of Trent/Part 2: Extreme Unction
ON THE SACRAMENT OF EXTREME UNCTION.
" IN all thy works," says Ecclesiasticus, " remember thy last end, and thou shalt never sin;" [1] words which convey to the subject the pastor a silent admonition, to omit no opportunity of exhorting the faithful to constant meditation on their last end. The sacrament of Extreme Unction, because inseparably associated with this awful recollection, should, it is obvious, form a subject of frequent instruction, not only inasmuch as it is eminently useful to develope the mysteries of salvation, but also because death, the inevitable doom of all men, when frequently recalled to the minds of the faithful, represses the licentiousness of depraved passion. Thus shall they be less appalled by the terrors of approaching dissolution, and will pour forth their gratitude in endless praises to God, whose goodness has not only opened to us the way to true life in the sacrament of Baptism, but has also instituted that of Extreme Unction, to afford us, when departing this mortal life, an easier access to heaven.
In order, therefore, to follow, in a great measure, the same order observed in the exposition of the other sacraments, we will first show that this sacrament is called " Extreme Unction," because amongst the other unctions prescribed by our Lord to his Church, this is the last to be administered. It was hence called by our predecessors in the faith, " the sacrament of the anointing of the sick," and also, " the sacrament of dying per sons," names which naturally lead the minds of the faithful to the remembrance of that last awful hour. [2]
That Extreme Unction is, strictly speaking, a sacrament, is first to be explained; and this the words of St. James, promulgating the law of this sacrament, clearly establish: " Is any man," says he, " sick amongst you? 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 shall save the sick man; and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he be in sins, they shall be forgiven him." [3] When the Apostle says: " if he be in sins, they shall be forgiven him," he ascribes to Extreme Unction, at once the nature and efficacy of a sacrament. That such has been at all times the doctrine of the Catholic Church, many Councils testify, and the Council of Trent denounces anathema against all who presume to teach or think otherwise. [4] Innocent III., also, recommends this sacrament with great earnestness to the attention of the faithful. [5] The pastor, therefore, will teach that extreme Unction is a true sacrament, and that, although administered with many unctions, performed each with a peculiar prayer, and under a peculiar form, it constitutes but one sacrament one, not by the inseparable continuity of its parts, but, like every thing composed of parts, by the perfection of the whole. As an edifice which consists of a great variety of parts, derives its perfection from one form, so is this sacrament, although composed of many and different things, but one sign, and its efficacy is that of one thing of which it is the sign.
The pastor will also teach what are the component parts of this Sacrament, its matter and form: these St. James does not omit, and each is replete with its own peculiar mysteries. [6] Its element, then, or matter, as defined by many Councils, particularly by the Council of Trent, consists of oil of olives, consecrated by episcopal hands. No other sort of oil can be the matter of this Sacrament; and this its matter is most significant of its efficacy. Oil is very efficacious in soothing bodily pain, and this Sacrament sooths and alleviates the pain and anguish of the soul. Oil also contributes to restore health and spirits, serves to give light, and refreshes fatigue; and these effects correspond with and are expressive of those produced, through the divine power, on the sick, by the administration of this Sacrament. These few words will suffice in explanation of the matter.
With regard to the form, it consists of the following words, which contain a solemn prayer, and are used at each anointing, according to the sense to which the unction is applied: " BY THIS HOLY UNCTION, AND THROUGH HIS GREAT MERCY, MAY GOD INDULGE THEE WHATEVER SINS THOU HAST COMMITTED BY SIGHT, SMELL, TOUCH, &c. &c." That this is the true form of this Sacrament, we learn from these words of St. James: " Let them pray over him, and the prayer of faith shall save the sick man;" [7] words which intimate that the form is to be applied by way of prayer, although the Apostle does not say of what particular words that prayer is to consist. But this form has been handed down to us by apostolic tradition, and is universally retained, as observed by the Church of Rome, the mother and mistress of all churches. Some, it is true, alter a few words, as when for " God indulge thee," they say, " God remit," or " spare," and sometimes, " heal whatever thou hast committed;" but the sense is evidently the same, and, of course, the form observed by all is strictly the same. Nor should it excite our surprise that, whilst the form of each of the other Sacraments either absolutely signifies what it expresses, such as, " I baptise thee," or " I sign thee with the sign of the cross," or is pronounced, as it were, by way of a command, as in administering Holy Orders, " Receive power," the form of Extreme Unction alone is expressed by way of prayer. The propriety of this difference will at once appear, if we reflect, that this Sacrament is administered not only for the health of the soul, but also for that of the body; and as it does not please Divine Providence, at all times, to restore health to the sick, the form consists of a prayer, by which we beg of the divine bounty that which is not a constant and uniform effect of the Sacrament.
In the administration of this Sacrament, peculiar rites are also used; but they consist principally of prayers, offered by the priest for the recovery of the sick person. There is no Sacrament the administration of which is accompanied with more numerous prayers; and with good reason, for then, in a special manner, the faithful require the assistance of pious prayers Not only the pastor, in the first place, but, also, all who may be present, should pour out their fervent aspirations to the throne of grace, in behalf of the sick person, earnestly recommending him, soul and body, to the divine mercy.
Having thus shown that Extreme Unction is to be numbered amongst the Sacraments, we infer, and the inference is just, that it owes its institution to our Lord Jesus Christ, and was subsequently made known and promulgated to the faithful, by the Apostle St. James. Our Lord himself, would, however, seem to have given some indication of it, when he sent his disciples, two and two, before him; for the Evangelist informs us that " going forth, they preached that all should do penance; and they cast out many devils, and anointed with oil many Note. who were sick, and healed them." [8] This anointing cannot be supposed to have been invented by the Apostles: it was commanded by our Lord. Nor did its efficacy arise from any natural virtue peculiar to oil; its efficacy is mystical, having been instituted to heal the maladies of the soul, rather than to cure the diseases of the body. This is the doctrine taught by the Fathers of the Church, by the Denises, the Ambroses, the Chrysostomes, by Gregory the Great; and Extreme Unction is to be recognised and venerated as one of the Sacraments of the Catholic Church.
But although instituted for the use of all, Extreme Unction is not to be administered indiscriminately to all. In the first place, it is not to be administered to persons in sound health, according to these words of St. James: " Is any one sick amongst you?" [9] and, as reason also proves, it was instituted as a remedy not only for the diseases of the soul, but also for those of the body: this can apply to the sick only, and therefore, this Sacrament is to be administered to those only, whose malady is such as to excite apprehensions of approaching dissolution. It is, however, a very grievous sin to defer the Holy Unction until, all hope of recovery now lost, life begins to ebb, and the sick person is fast verging into a state of insensibility. It is obvious that if administered whilst the mental faculties are yet unimpaired, whilst reason still exercises her dominion, and the mind is capable eliciting acts of faith, and of directing the will to sentiments of piety, the Sacrament must contribute to a more abundant participation of the graces which it imparts. This heavenly medicine, therefore, in itself at all times salutary, the pastor will be careful to apply, when its efficacy can be aided by the piety and devotion of the sick person. Extreme Unction, then, can be administered only to the sick, and not to per sons in health, although engaged in any thing however dangerous, such as a perilous voyage, or the fatal dangers of battle. It cannot be administered even to persons condemned to death, and already ordered for execution. Its participation is also denied to insane persons, and to children incapable of committing sin, who, therefore, do not require to be purified from its stains, and also to those who labour under the awful visitation of madness, unless they give indications, in their lucid intervals, of a disposition to piety, and express a desire to be anointed. To persons insane from their birth, this Sacrament is not to be administered; but if a sick person, whilst in the possession of his faculties, expressed a wish to receive Extreme Unction, and afterwards becomes delirious, he is to be anointed.
The Sacred Unction is to be applied not to the entire body, but to the organs of sense only to the eyes the organs of sight, to the ears of hearing, to the nostrils of smelling, to the mouth of taste and speech, to the hands of touch. The sense of touch, it is true, is diffused throughout the entire body, yet the hands are its peculiar seat. This manner of administering Extreme Unction is observed throughout the universal Church, and accords with the medicinal nature of this Sacrament. As in corporal disease, although it affects the entire body, yet the cure is applied to that part only which is the seat of the disease, so in spiritual malady, this Sacrament is applied not to the entire body, but to those members which are properly the organs of sense, and also to the loins, which are, as it were, the seat of concupiscence, and to the feet, by which we move from one place to another.
Here it is to be observed, that, during the same illness, and whilst the danger of dying continues the same, the sick person is to be anointed but once; should he, however, recover after he has been anointed, he may receive the aid of this Sacrament, as often as he shall have relapsed into the same danger. This Sacrament, therefore, is evidently to be numbered amongst those which may be repeated.
But as every obstacle which may impede its efficacy should be removed with the greatest care, and as nothing is more opposed to it than a state of mortal guilt, the pastor will follow the uniform practice of the Catholic Church, and not administer Extreme Unction, until the penitent has confessed and received. He will then earnestly exhort the sick person, to receive this Sacrament with the same sentiments of faith which animated the primitive Christians, who presented themselves to the Apostles to be healed by them. The health of the soul is to be the first object of the sick man's prayers, the second, that of the body, should it tend to his eternal interests. The faithful should be convinced, that the solemn and holy prayers, which are offered by the priest, not in his own name, but in that of the Church and of its divine Founder, are heard by Almighty God; and they cannot be too earnestly exhorted, to be careful to accompany the administration of the Sacrament, with all the sanctity and religious fervour that become that awful hour, when the dying Christian is about to engage in the last conflict, and the energies of the mind as well as of the body seem to be enfeebled.
With regard to the minister of Extreme Unction, this too we learn from St. James, when he says: " Let him bring in the priests:" [10] by the word "priests," as the Council of Trent has defined, [11] he does not mean elders or persons advanced in years, or of elevated rank, but priests duly ordained by bishops with the imposition of hands. The administration of this Sacrament, therefore, is committed to priests, not however to every priest, in accordance with the decree of the Church; but to the proper priest, who has jurisdiction, or to another authorized by him. In this, as in the other Sacraments, it is also to be distinctly recollected, that the priest is the representative of Jesus Christ and of his Church.
The advantages, which flow from this Sacrament, are also to be explained more minutely, that if the sick are influenced by no other consideration, they may, at least, yield to this, for we are disposed to measure every thing by its utility. The pastor, therefore, will teach, that the grace of this Sacrament remits sins, especially lighter offences, or, as they are commonly called, venial sins. Its primary object is not to remit mortal sins. For this the Sacrament of penance was instituted, as was that of baptism for the remission of original sin. Another advantage arising from Extreme Unction is, that it removes the languor and infirmity entailed by sin, with all its other inconveniences. The time most seasonable for the application of this cure is, when we are visited by some severe malady, which threatens to prove fatal; for nature dreads no earthly visitation so much as death, and this dread is considerably augmented by the recollection of our past sins, particularly if the mind is harrowed up by the poignant reproaches of conscience; as it is written: " They shall come with fear at the thought of their sins, and their iniquities shall stand against them to convict them." [12] A source of alarm still more distressing is the awful reflection, that, in a few moments, we shall stand before the judgment-seat of God, whose justice will award that sentence, which our lives may have deserved. The terror inspired by these considerations frequently agitates the soul with the most awful apprehensions; and to calm this terror nothing can be so efficacious as the Sacrament of Extreme Unction. It quiets our fear, illumines the gloom in which the soul is enveloped, fills it with pious and holy joy, and enables us to wait with cheerfulness the coming of the Lord, prepared to yield up all that we have received from his bounty, whenever he is pleased to summon us from this world of wo. Another, and the most important advantage derived from Extreme Unction, is, that it fortifies us against the violent assaults of Satan. The enemy of mankind never ceases to seek our ruin: but to complete our destruction, and, if possible, deprive us of all hope of mercy, he more than ever increases his efforts, when he sees us approach our last end. This Sacrament, therefore, arms and strengthens the faithful against the violence of his assaults, and enables them to fight resolutely and successfully against him. Tranquillized and encouraged by the hope of the divine mercy, the soul bears up with fortitude against every difficulty, experiences an alleviation of the burden of sickness, and eludes with greater ease, the artifice and cunning of the enemy, who lies in wait for her. Finally, the recovery of health, if advantageous to the sick person, is another effect of this Sacrament. However, should this effect not follow, it arises not from any defect in the Sacrament, but from weak ness of faith on the part of him by whom it is received, or of him by whom it is administered; for the Evangelist informs us, that our Lord wrought not many miracles amongst his country men, because of their incredulity. [13] It may, however, be proper to observe, that Christianity, now that it has taken deep root in the minds of men, stands less in need of the aid of such miracles in our days, than in the early ages of the Church. Nevertheless, our faith is here to be strongly excited, and what ever it may please God in his wisdom to do with regard to the health of the body, the faithful should be animated with an as sured hope of receiving from it spiritual health and strength, and of experiencing, at the hour of their dissolution, the truth of these consoling words: " Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord." [14]
We have thus briefly explained the sacrament of Extreme Unction. If the heads of the matter be developed by the pastor more at large, with the diligence which their importance demands, the faithful, no doubt, will derive from their exposition abundant fruit of piety.
- ↑ Eccles. vii. 40.
- ↑ Vid. Hugon. de Sacr. part. 15. c. 2. Pet. Dam. serm. 1. de dedicat. Eccles.
- ↑ James v. 14.
- ↑ Sess. 43. de Extreni. Unc. c. 1. et can. 3.
- ↑ Innoc. ep. 1. ad Decent, c. 8. et citatur dist. 95. c. illud superfluum: .ter Conc. Cabilon. c. 48 Wormacience c. 72. Constan. et Floren.
- ↑ James v. 14.
- ↑ James v. 11. 15.
- ↑ Mark vi. 12, 13.
- ↑ James v. 14
- ↑ James v. 14.
- ↑ Sess. 14, c. 3.
- ↑ Wisdom iv. 20
- ↑ Matt. xiii. 58.
- ↑ Apoc. xiv. 13.