EXTREME UNCTION.
Extreme Unction is a Sacrament in which the sick, by the anointing with
holy oil and the prayers of the Priests, receive spiritual succor and even
corporal strength when such is conducive to their salvation. This unction
is called _Extreme_, because it is usually the last of the holy unctions
administered by the Church.
The Apostle St. James clearly refers to this Sacrament and points out its
efficacy in the following words: “Is any man sick among 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.”(483)
Several of the ancient Fathers allude to this Sacrament. Origen (third
century) writes: “There is also a remission of sins through penitence,
when the sinner ... is not ashamed to declare his sin to the Priest of the
Lord, and to seek a remedy ... wherein that also is fulfilled which the
Apostle James saith: ‘_But if any be sick among you, let him call in the
Priests of the Church, and let them impose hands on him, anointing him
with oil in the name of the Lord_.’ ”(484)
St. Chrysostom (fourth century) says: “Not only when they (the Priests)
regenerate us, but they have also power to forgive sins committed
afterward; for he says: ‘Is any man sick among you; let him call in the
Priests of the Church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil
in the name of the Lord.’ ”(485)
Pope Innocent I. (fifth century), in a letter to a Bishop named Decentius,
after quoting the words of St. James, proceeds: “These words, there is no
doubt, ought to be understood of the faithful who are sick, who can be
anointed with the holy oil, which, having been prepared by a Bishop, may
be used, not only for Priests, but for all Christians.”(486)
The Sacramentary, or ancient Roman Ritual, revised by Pope St. Gregory in
the sixth century, prescribes the blessing of oil by the Bishop, and the
prayers to be recited in the anointing of the sick.
The venerable Bede of England, who lived in the eighth century, referring
to the words of St. James, writes: “The custom of the Church requires that
the sick be anointed by the Priests with consecrated oil and be sanctified
by the prayer which accompanies it.”(487)
The Greek Church, which separated from the Roman Catholic Church in the
ninth century, says in its profession of faith: “The seventh Sacrament is
Extreme Unction, prescribed by Christ; for, after He had begun to send His
disciples two and two (Mark vi. 7-13), they anointed and healed many,
which unction the Church has since maintained by pious usage, as we learn
from the Epistle of St. James: ‘Is any man sick among you,’_ etc._ The
fruits proper to this Sacrament, as St. James declares, are the remission
of sins, health of soul, strength—in fine, of body. But though it does not
always produce this last result, it always, at least, restores the soul to
a better state by the forgiveness of sins.” This is precisely the Catholic
teaching on this subject. All the other Oriental churches, some of which
separated from Rome in the fifth century, likewise enumerate Extreme
Unction among their Sacraments.
Such identity of doctrine proclaimed during so many ages by churches so
wide apart can have no other than an Apostolic origin.
The eminent Protestant Leibnitz makes this candid admission: “There is no
room for much discussion regarding the unction of the sick. It is
supported by the words of Scripture, the interpretation of the Church, in
which pious and Catholic men safely confide. Nor do I see what any one can
find reprehensible in that practice which the Church accepts.”(488)
Protestants, though professing to be guided by the Holy Scripture,
entirely disregard the admonition of St. James. Luther acted with more
consistency. Finding that the injunction of the Apostle was too plain to
be explained away by subtlety of words, he boldly rejected the entire
Epistle, which he contemptuously styled “a letter of straw.”(489)
It is sad to think that our separated brethren discard this consoling
instrument of grace, though pressed upon them by an Apostle of Jesus
Christ; for, surely, a spiritual medicine which diminishes the terrors of
death, comforts the dying Christian, fortifies the soul in its final
struggle, and purifies it for its passage from time to eternity, should be
gratefully and eagerly made use of, especially when prescribed by an
inspired Physician.