§ 119. EXTREME UNCTION, ORDINATION, MARRIAGE. 743
Scripture than that men have the right of immediate access to Christ, who said, " Him that cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out," and what more repugnant to its plain teach ings than to make confession to a priest and the priest's ab solution conditions of receiving pardon !
The superstitious, practical extravagances, which grew out of this most unbiblical penitential theory of the Middle Ages, are reported in the pages of the popular writers of the age, such as Csesar of Heisterbach and De Voragine, who ex press no dissent as they relate the morbid tales. Here are two of them as told by De Voragine which are to be taken as samples of a large body of similar literature. A bishop, by celebrating thirty masses, helped out of purgatory a poor soul who was frozen in a block of ice. In the second case, a woman who had neglected, before dying, to make a confes sion to the priest, was raised from her bier by the prayer of St. Francis d'Assisi. She went and confessed to the priest and then had the satisfaction of lying down in peace and dying over again.1
§ 119. Extreme Unction, Ordination, and Marriage.
EXTREME UNCTION, — unctio infirmorum, — the fifth in the list of the sacraments, is administered to those who are in peril of death, and is supposed to be referred to by James 5 : 14. " Is any among you sick ? let him call for the elders of the church ; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord." The earlier view, represented by Hugo of St. Victor, Peter the Lombard, and also by Bonaventura, was that the sacrament is of Apostolic institution. Thomas Aquinas traced it directly to Christ. Many things, he said, were spoken by Christ to the Apostles which are not contained in the Gospels.2 Thomas was followed by Duns Scotus and the council of Trent. The effect of the sacra ment is to remit venial sins and the remainders of sin left after penance, and to heal the body. It may be repeated. Extreme unction as well as the eucharist is to be denied to
1 Legenda aurea, under All Souls and Francis d'Assisi. Temple Classics ed., VI. 113, V. 231. 2 Supplem., XXIX. 3, Migne, IV. 1027.
744 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1049-1294.
children on the ground that their bodily diseases are not caused by sin.1 Some councils restricted it to those over fourteen.2 The element used is oil, consecrated by the bishop, and it is to be touched to the eyes, ears, nostrils, lips, hands, feet, and loins.
ORDINATION conveys sacramental grace to seven orders of the ministry : presbyters, deacons, subdeacons, acolytes, exorcists, lectors, and ostiarii or door-keepers. These seven correspond to the seven graces of the Spirit mentioned in 1 Cor. 12. The first three orders were instituted by Christ ; the last four by the Church.3 The bishops do not constitute a distinct order, but are of the order of the priesthood. The episcopate is an office, a function ; and as Peter Lombardus and Thomas Aquinas say again and again, it is not an order. Consecration to it has no sacramental character. The Schoolmen do not fail to insist upon the superior dignity of the bishop, but sacramental grace is exhibited in its highest form in empowering the priest to celebrate the mass. For the sake of " fulness " there are placed above the priesthood, the episcopate, patriarchate, and papacy.4
1 Th. Aq., Supplem., XXXII. 4, Migne, IV. 1038; Bonaventura, BreviL, VI. 11, Peltier's ed., VII. 326. 2 Cologne, 1279 ; Lambeth, 1330, etc.
3 P. Lombardus, Sent., IV. XXIV. 9 ; Hugo of St. Victor, De sacr., II. 2, 5 ; Th. Aq., Supplem., XXX VII. 2, Migne, IV. 1056; Bonavent., BreviL, VI. 12.
4 Per modum complementi superponitur episcopates, etc., Bonavent., BreviL, VI. 12. P. Lombardus, Sent., XXIV. 9, Migne, p. 904, speaks of a fourfold rank of bishops, viz. patriarchs, archbishops, metropolitans, and bishops. These, he says, are not orders but " the names of dignities and offices." The teaching of Duns Scotus is uncertain. In one place he asserts the episcopate must be a distinct order, the eighth, because the bishop alone can administer several of the sacraments. See Seeberg, p. 441. On the other hand, he quotes Jerome to show that the episcopate was in stituted by the Church and is not a matter of divine law. See Schwane, p. 684. It is still unsettled by canon law whether the episcopate is a separate order or not. See Friedberg, Kirchenrecht, p. 150. The council of Trent did not formally decide the question, though it speaks of the hierarchy of bishops, priests, and deacons. See Schaff, Creeds, II. 186 sqq. Innocent III. placed the subdeacon among the major orders. Friedberg, p. 150. Ac cording to Philip Hergenrother, Kathol. Kirchenrecht, pp. 208 sq., the epis copate is at the present time universally regarded in the Rom. Cath. Church as a distinct clerical order.