Theological Outlines • by • Francis J. Hall

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September 20, 2005

Ch. XXIX. Q. 157. What is Unction of the Sick?

UNCTION of the Sick is the Sacrament by which special and healing grace is imparted to those whose lives are endangered by bodily disease.1

2. The rite of Unction, as set forth in First Prayer Book of Edward VI, is as follows:

"If the sick person desire to be anointed, then shall the Priest anoint him upon the forehead or breast only, making the sign of the Cross, saying thus":

"As with this visible oil thy body outwardly is anointed : so our heavenly Father, Almighty God, grant of His infinite goodness, that thy soul inwardly may be anointed with the Holy Ghost, Who is the Spirit of all strength, comfort, relief, and gladness: and vouchsafe for His great mercy (if it be His blessed will) to restore unto thee thy bodily health, and strength, to serve Him; and send thee release of all thy pains, troubles, and diseases, both in body and mind. And howsoever His goodness (by His Divine and unsearchable providence) shall dispose of thee : we His unworthy ministers and servants, humbly beseech the eternal Majesty to do with thee according to the multitude of His innumerable mercies, and to pardon thee all thy sins and offences, committed by all thy bodily senses, passions, and carnal affections : Who also vouchsafe mercifully to grant unto thee ghostly strength, by His Holy Spirit, to withstand and overcome all temptations and assaults of thine adversary, that in no wise he prevail against thee, but that thou mayest have perfect victory and triumph against the devil, sin, and death, through Christ our Lord: Who by His death hath overcome the prince of death, and with the Father and the Holy Ghost evermore liveth and reigneth God, world without end. Amen."

3. The Minister must be in the Order of Priests at least. A Deacon or layman cannot act.2

4. The effect of this Sacrament is both bodily and spiritual, (a.) It alleviates the pains of sickness; and, if God so will, restores the sick person to bodily health, otherwise enabling him to endure the agony and spiritual perils of death without loss of grace: (b.) It remedies all spiritual imbecility contracted through past sin, and destroys such sin as remains in the soul. These benefits are, of course, dependent upon faith and repentance.3

5. To postpone the use of this Sacrament to the point of death is a departure from primitive practice and teaching. It may have arisen partly from the same superstitious feeling which causes sick people who are in no peril of death to shrink from having the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar brought to them, for fear that it may prove to be their viaticum. The Latin phrase, extrema unctio, does not mean unction in extremis, but the last unction in the Sacramental order of unctions practiced among the Latins. Therefore, this Sacrament may be repeated, not only in different sicknesses, but also when the same illness is long continued.4

6. The neglect of this rite in the Anglican Communion is most deplorable; but that Communion has never repudiated it, and its use may be revived lawfully.5

Posted by Trevor at September 20, 2005 01:19 PM

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