St. Victor (Z>e Sacram.jidei lib. ii, p. xv). Peter Lom- bardus assigned to it, in the series of the seven sacra- ments which he is the first to mention, the fifth place {Sentent. lib. iv, diet. 23). The scholastics, and, in par- ticular, Thomas Aquinas, completed the scientific de- velopment of this doctrine, and the shape given to it by Thomas received the sanction of the Councils of Florence and of Trent.
The canons of Trent on this subject are : " Canon 1. If any shall say that extreme unction is not truly and properly a sacrament, instituted by our Lord Jesus Christ, and declared by the blessed apostle James, but only a rite received from the fathers, or a human inven- tion, let him be accursed. Can. 2. If any shall say that the holj' anointing of the sick does not confer grace, nor remit sins, nor relieve the sick, but that it has ceased, as if it were formerly only the grace of healing, let him be accursed. Can. 3. If any shall say that the i ite and usage of extreme unction, which the holy Roman Church observes, is contrary to the sentence of the bless- ed apostle James, and therefore should be changed, and may be despised by Christians without sin, let him be accursed. Can. 4. If any shall say that the presbyters of the Church, whom St. James directs to be called for the anointing of the sick, are not priests ordained by the bishops, but elders in age in any community, and that therefore the priest is not the onlj' proper minis- ter of extreme unction, let him be accursed" (Concil. Trident, sess. xiv, c. i sq.). The authority for this sacrament is stated by the Council (same session, c. i) as follows: "This sacred unction of tlie sick was in- stituted as a true and proper sacrament of the New Testament by Christ Jesus our Lord, being first inti- mated by Mark (vi, 13), and afterwards recommended and published to the faithful by James the apostle, brother of our Lord. 'Is any man,' saith he, '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' (Jas. v, 14, 15). In which words, as the Church has learned by apostolical tradition, handed down from age to age, he teaches the matter, form, proper minis- ter, and effect of this salutary sacrament. For the Church understands the matter of the sacrament to be the oil, blessed b}' the bishop ; the unction most fitly representing the grace of the Holj' Spirit, wherewith the soul of the sick man is invisibly anointed. The form is contained in the words of administration."
The ceremony must be performed bj' a priest. The oil must be olive oil consecrated by a bishop. " No other sort of oil can be the matter of this sacrament ; and this its matter is most significant of its eflficacy. Oil is very efficacious in soothing bodily pain, and this sacrament soothes 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 bv the administration of this sacrament" {Cate- chism of Trent, Baltimore, 8vo, p. 20G). The form of the ceremony is as fallows : The priest, having dipped the thumb of his right hand in the holy oil, proceeds to mark tlie organs of the five senses of the jiatient witli the sign of the cross ; and after each application he wipes the part with a ball of cotton, for which pur- pose he brings with him seven balls already prepared. The order observed is this : the right eye is first anoint- ed, then the left eye, the ears, and after them the nos- trils (not the tip of the nose) are attended to in the same order, then tlie lips ; after which the palms of the hands and soles of the feet receive the touch of the consecrated unguent. Men are also anointed in the reins, but this is dispensed with in the case of women. At each application the priest says, ^'' Per htnc sarram unctionem, et suam piissimam misericordiam indulgeat
EXTREME UNCTION"
426
EYE
tihi Deus guicquid peccdsti, per visum," or ^^audiium," '■'■ olf actum,''' ^' ffustum," "e< tacium," as the case may be — "May God, liy this holj' anointing, and by his most pious mercy, pardon j'ou the sins tliat you have committed bj' the ej-es," "ears," "nose," "taste," and "touclr." "Tlie anointing being ended, the priest rubs those of his fingers wliich liave touched the oil ■with small pieces of bread, and then washes his hands. The crumbs of bread and the water are next thrown into the fire ; and the pieces of cotton employed in the ceremonj' are carried into the church and l>urned, the ashes of which must be thrown into the sacrariian." As to the persons to whom extreme unction is to be ad- ministered, the Catechism (J. c.) limits it "to those whose malady is such as to excite apprehensions of approaching dissolution. It is, bowever, a verj' griev- ous sin to defer the boh'' unction until, all hope of re- cover}' now lost, life begins to ebb, and the sick person is f;ist verging into insensibilit}^" . . . "Extreme unc- tion, then, can be administered only to the sick, and not to persons in health, although engaged in any- thing however dangerous, such as a perilous voyage, or the fatal dangers of battle. It cannot be adminis- tered even to persons condemned to death, and already ordered for execution. Its participation is also denied to insane persons, and to children incapable of com- mitting sin, who, therefore, do not require to be puri- fied from its stains, and also to those who labor under the awful visitation of madness, unless they give indi- cations in their lucid intervals of a disposition to pietj', and express a desire to be anointed. To persons in- sane from their birth this sacrament is not to be ad- ministered ; but if a sick person, while in the posses- sion of his faculties, expressed a wish to receive ex- treme unction, and afterwards becomes delirious, he is to be anointed." . . . "The pastor will follow the imi- form practice of the Catholic Church, and not admin- ister extreme unction until the penitent has confessed and received the Eucharist."