Extreme Unction Downgraded to the Anointing of the Sick
The profound transformation of the meaning of the sacrament of Extreme Unction, extrema unctio in the Tridentine ritual, into the sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick, unctio infirmorum in the 1972 ordo, as a result of the liturgical reform of Vatican II, has not provoked much discussion or controversy. It has, however, been of great interest to historians/sociologists, or at least to two of them: François-André Isambert[1], who has spoken of the “death of Extreme Unction”, and Guillaume Cuchet[2]. The latter noted: “Among the seven Catholic sacraments, Extreme Unction is a ‘minor’ sacrament in terms of its place in sacramental theology and seminary teaching, where it was usually an appendix to the course on Penance. […] It is undoubtedly the one that underwent the most radical reform with Vatican II: it underwent a change of name, of ‘matter’, of ‘form’, of ‘subject’ (to use the technical vocabulary of sacramental theology), but also of its place in the series of ‘last sacraments’, and finally, to a large extent, its meaning. It can be said to have been reinvented by the conciliar reform without (the fact is worth emphasizing) this reinvention giving rise to controversies comparable to those engendered by the reform of the Mass, Solemn Communion, or even Baptism and Marriage, which were already less polemical.”[3]
Extreme Unction
Traditional theology textbooks and catechisms explained that this sacrament is “the last anointing performed on the sick person in danger and at the last moments of his life,” which “removes the last remnants of sin forgiven by penance[4].”
This sacrament is linked to the passage from the epistle of Saint James, 5:14-15: “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.” The Council of Trent commented on this text, saying that the effect of the sacrament “is the grace of the Holy Spirit, whose anointing wipes away sins, if there be any still to be expiated, and the remains of sin, and relieves, and strengthens the soul of the sick person [can. 2] by exciting in him great confidence in divine mercy, supported by which the sick person bears more lightly the miseries and pains of his illness, and resists more easily the temptations of the evil spirit who ‘lies in wait for his heel’ (Gn 3,15), and sometimes attains bodily health, when it is expedient for the salvation of the soul.” (Dz 1696).
In principle, it is a sacrament “of the living”, in the sense that it must be received in a state of grace and is, when possible, preceded by Confession. Its purpose is to eliminate the penalties for sins already forgiven, and even the mortal sins themselves when the moribund person no longer has the strength to confess them but is animated by at least imperfect contrition. Preachers and catechists used to insist that the families and friends of the sick person should call the priest as soon as possible, and not wait until he had lost consciousness.
The matter of the traditional sacrament is a series of anointings with olive oil, blessed by the bishop (if necessary by the priest), known as the oil of the sick, one of the three holy oils blessed on Holy Thursday (holy chrism, oil of the catechumens and oil of the infirm). In the Latin Church, the form is the prayer made by the priest as he applies the ointments: “By this holy anointing and by His most tender mercy may the Lord forgive you all the evil you have done through the power of sight [hearing, smell, taste and speech, touch], through the ability to walk. Amen.”
The subject of the sacrament is any baptized adult, normally in a state of grace, who is so seriously ill that he appears to have reached the end of his life, so this sacrament “is also called the sacrament of the dying, sacramentum exeutium,” says the Council of Trent (Dz 1698).
The Council of Trent specified that the sacrament applied præsertim, especially to the dying. Theological doctrine concluded that the illness must in any case be so serious as to be life-threatening, as sanctioned by canon 940 § 1 of the 1917 Code of Canon Law: “Extreme unction is not to be extended except to the faithful who, having obtained the use of reason, come into danger of death from infirmity or old age.” This explains why extreme unction cannot be repeated during the same illness (§ 2). In cases of doubt, it was to be administered under condition (canon 941).
The Roman ritual provided for the sacraments of Confession, Communion and Viaticum (“Receive, brother (sister), the Viaticum of the Body of our Lord Jesus Christ; and my He keep you from the malignant foe, and bring you to life everlasting. Amen.”), and finally the sacrament of Extreme Unction. After this, the magnificent ceremony of the soul’s commendation could begin: “Go forth, O Christian soul, from this world, in the name of God the Father Almighty, who created thee; in the name of Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, who suffered for thee; in the name of the Holy Spirit, who was poured forth upon thee; in the name of the glorious and ever blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God; in the name of St. Joseph, chaste Spouse of the same Virgin; in the name of the Angels and Archangels; etc.” And then: “I commend you to the Lord, who is the Lord, who will protect you from the malignant foe, and lead you to eternal life.” And then: “I commend you, dear Brother (Sister), to the almighty God, and consign you to the care of Him, whose creature you are, that, when you shall have paid the debt of all mankind by death, you may return to thy Maker, Who formed you from the dust of the earth. When, therefore, your soul shall depart from your body, may the resplendent multitude of the angels meet you.” And again: “Receive, Lord, Thy servant (handmaid) into the place of salvation, which he (she) hopes to obtain through Thy mercy.”
The Conciliar Reform
A thesis by Abbé Antoine Chavasse, defended in 1938, the first volume of which was published in 1942 (the second, containing notes, was not published), Étude sur l’onction des infirmes dans l’Église latine du IIIe au XIe siècle: Du IIIe siècle à la réforme carolingienne[5], skillfully explained that it was during the Carolingian era that the sacrament, from being primarily a rite for the healing of the sick – as the orations preserved in the Tridentine ritual attest[6] – became a substitute or complement to penance applied to the dying. At the time, any serious illness could easily become fatal.
One of the most important interventions aimed at changing the meaning of this sacrament, in the manner of a return to the sources based on Antoine Chavasse’s thesis, was that of the Belgian Benedictine Bernard Botte, one of the great figures of the Liturgical Movement, in an article in La Maison-Dieu on the “Anointing of the Sick”[7]. In it, he called for the name “Extreme Unction” to be abandoned in favor of the “Anointing of the Sick”, and for it to be conferred on the sick rather than the dying, citing the example of the Eastern Churches. He called for a change in the order in which the sacraments were given: Confession, Anointing of the Sick and Communion, in the form of Viaticum if it was felt that this would be the last. The Viaticum was, in his view, the true sacrament of the journey to eternity.
The conciliar constitution on the liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilium, promulgated in 1963, in its nos. 73-75, consecrated the shift requested by Bernard Botte. It indicated that the term “Anointing of the Sick” was preferable to that of “Extreme Unction”, that the sacrament was not only for those who have reached the last extremity, but concerned the faithful “who begin, incipit, to be in danger of death”; that anointing was henceforth placed between Confession and the reception of Viaticum.
The Ordo unctionis infirmorum was published in 1972, while its French translation and adaptation, Sacrements pour les malades. Pastorale et célébrations, was published in 1977[8] [and its English translation and adaption, Pastoral Care of the Sick: Rites of Anointing and Viaticum, in 1983]. As for the subjects of the sacrament, Paul VI, in the apostolic constitution promulgating it, specified, with reference to Sacrosanctum Concilium, that they were “the dangerously ill”. In line with the Council’s indications, the ritual itself modified the order of the sacraments conferred, with the Viaticum, when given, following the anointing.
Paul VI also decided to modify the matter and form of the sacrament:
- The matter became modifiable by the fact that a vegetable oil other than olive oil (usually blessed by the priest before application) could be blessed. The same was true for other holy oils, notably holy chrism, the matter of Confirmation, for which an oil other than olive oil could be used. The reason given was that olive oil was sometimes, or in certain regions, difficult to find. This went against immemorial usage, and against the reasons given in the Summa Theologica, IIIa q 72, a 2, ad 3, concerning the holy chrism of Confirmation: “These properties of oil, by reason of which it symbolizes the Holy Ghost, are to be found in olive oil rather than in any other oil. In fact, the olive-tree itself, through being an evergreen, signifies the refreshing and merciful operation of the Holy Ghost. Moreover, this oil is called oil properly [oleum], and is very much in use, wherever it is to be had. And whatever other liquid is so called, derives its name from its likeness to this oil: nor are the latter commonly used, unless it be to supply the want of olive oil. Therefore it is that this oil alone is used for this and certain other sacraments.”
In addition, anointings were now only performed on the head and hands, which removed the symbolism of recalling sins committed through the senses and bodily activity.
- The form became unique, even if there were two anointings: “Through this holy anointing may the Lord in his love and mercy help you with the grace of the Holy Spirit. May the Lord who frees you from sin, save you, and raise you up. Amen.” Instead of: “By this holy anointing and by His most tender mercy may the Lord forgive you all the evil you have done through the power of sight [hearing, smell, taste and speech, touch], through the ability to walk. Amen.” The reason for the change was to stick more closely to the words of St. James. The essential change is that it is asked that the subject be liberated (liberatum) from sin rather than absolved (indulgeat d’indulgeo, to remit sins in Christian Latin), no doubt to better mark the difference with Penance, but with this shift from sin being an offense against God, to sin being the alienation of man’s freedom.
As for the prayers for the soul’s recommendation, while some were inspired by traditional prayers, they no longer contained the allusions to the devil and hell that the latter had contained: “Mayest thou be a stranger to all who are condemned to darkness, chastised with flames and punished with torments. May God command thy wicked enemy, with all his evil spirits, to depart from thee. At thy reproach, encircled by Angels, may the infernal spirits tremble and retire into the horrid confusion of eternal night. May God arise, and put His enemies to flight. May all who hate Him fly before His face, let them; let them vanish like smoke; or as wax before the fire, so let sinners perish in the sight of God. But as to the just, let them rejoice and be happy in His presence. May all the demons of Hell be filled with confusion and shame, and let no evil spirit dare to stop thy course to Heaven.”
Satan, notes Guillaume Cuchet, has been “fully repressed by the conciliar reform,” having disappeared from baptism along with exorcisms, “as if the devil, at the same time that his kingdom (hell) was discreetly taken away from him, had thus become the victim of a creeping demythologizing operation that dare not speak its name[9].”
A Community Celebration for the Elderly
Pastorally, the old-fashioned, individual Anointing of the Sick has become rare, either because families no longer call the priest to the bedside, or because the priest himself refuses to give the sacrament to comatose patients.
However, it is above all the multiplication of community ceremonies for the Anointing of the Sick, in places of pilgrimage, especially in Lourdes, and sometimes annually in parishes and retirement homes, that has marked the disappearance of what the Extreme Unction of yesteryear represented. The Anointing of the Sick has become a celebration for the elderly. From a rite accompanying the dying to help them be saved, the sacrament has largely become a means of spiritual comfort.
Such is always the case with liturgical reform, in which the “return to the sources” aspect of rites is combined with a devaluation of their meaning. In fact, the transformation of this sacrament has gone hand in hand with a general de-dramatizing of death, which is medicalized and relegated to hospitals. “The new ritual of the Anointing of the Sick is part of a movement to de-ritualize, even desacralize death as an essential mutation,” writes François-André Isambert[10]. Death has become a taboo in Western societies. “We could say,” to quote Guillaume Cuchet one last time, “that the de-dramatizing of Christian death and the silence on the Four Last Things are the Catholic version of this new taboo, the Church having broken with its old discourse on death because contemporary men and women were no longer in a position to bear it, or because it had already ceased making sense to them for some time[11].”
Yet wasn’t it a final act of charity for the dying man to hear those words of recommendation for his soul: “Go forth, O Christian soul, from this world, in the name of God the Father Almighty, who created thee; in the name of Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, who suffered for thee; in the name of the Holy Spirit, who was poured forth upon thee”?
Fr. Claude Barthe
[1] François-André Isambert, « Les transformations du rituel catholique des mourants », in Archives de sciences sociales des religions, dossier « La sociologie de la mort », t. 39, 1975, pp. 89-100.
[2] Guillaume Cuchet, « De l’‘extrême-onction’ au ‘sacrement des malades’: fin de vie, réforme liturgique conciliaire et transformations rituelles dans la seconde moitié du XXe siècle », Revue d’histoire de l’Eglise de France, janvier-juin 2020, pp. 117-139.
[3] « De l’‘extrême-onction’ au ‘sacrement des malades’ », loc. cit. p. 118.
[4] Auguste-Alexis Goupil, Les Sacrements, Librairie Goupil, t. 3, 1937, p. 78.
[5] Librairie du Sacré-Cœur, Lyon.
[6] Translated in the Rituale parvum ad usum diœcesium gallicæ linguæ (Tours, 1956), they had and still have the immense pastoral advantage of enabling the sick to understand that Extreme Unction is the very opposite of a death sentence.
[7] October 1948, pp. 91-107.
[8] Chalet-Tardy.
[9] « De l’‘extrême-onction’ au ‘sacrement des malades’ », loc. cit. p. 132.
[10] « Les transformations du rituel catholique des mourants », loc. cit. p. 100.
[11] « De l’‘extrême-onction’ au ‘sacrement des malades’ », loc. cit. p. 138.