Our navigation bar is loading . . .

 


 

Jesus Christ Saves Ministries

Helping San Diego, California and beyond since 1997.  




 

JCSM's Top 1000 Christian Sites - Free Traffic Sharing Service!


Do you need volunteer, community service, work, military or court hours?

Click here and add this page to your favorites!

Return to the JCSM Study Center!

Encyclopedia Britannica



EXTREME UNCTION

This article appears in Volume V10, Page 90 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: EUD-FAT
EXTREME UNCTION , a sacrament of the Roman Catholic Church. In James v. 14 it is ordained that, if any believer is sick, he shall
call
  for the elders of the church; and they shall pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the, Lord; and the prayer of faith. shall save him that is sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, it shall be forgiven him.
Origen reprobated medical art on the ground that the
prescription
  here cited is enough; modern faith-healers and Peculiar People have followed in his
wake
 . The Catholic Church has more wisely left physicians in. possession, and elevated the anointing of the sick into a sacrament to be used only in cases of mortal sickness, and even then not to the exclusion of the healing art.
It has been general since the 9th century. The council of Florence A.D. 1439 thus defined it:
" The fifth sacrament is extreme unction. Its matter is olive oil, blessed by a bishop. It shall not be given except to a sick person whose death is apprehended. He shall be anointed in the following places: the eyes, ears, nostrils, mouth, hands, feet, reins. The form of the sacrament: is this: Through this anointing of thee and through its most pious mercy, be forgiven all thy sins of sight, &c.
and so in respect of the other organs. A priest can administer this sacrament. But its effect is to make whole the mind, and, so far as it is expedient, the
body
  as well."
This sacrament supplements that of
penance
  (viz. remission of post-baptismal sin) in the sense that any guilt unconfessed or left over after normal penances imposed by confessors is purged thereby. It was discussed in the 12th century whether this sacrament is indelible like baptism, or whether it can be repeated; and the latter view, that of Peter Lombard, prevailed.
It was a ' popular
opinion
  in' the middle ages that extreme unction extinguishes all ties and links with this world, so that he who has received it must, if he recovers, renounce the eating of flesh and matrimonial relations. A few peasants of Lombardy still believe that one who has received extreme unction ought to be left to die, and that sick people may be starved to death through the withholding of food on superstitious grounds. Such opinions, combated by bishops and councils, were due to the influence of the consolamentum of the Cathars (q.v.). In both sacraments the death-bed baptism of an earlier age seems to survive, and they both fulfil a deep-seated need of the human
to anoint the dead.
In the Roman Church the bishop blesses the oil of the sick used in extreme unctions on Holy Thursday at the Chrismal Mass,' using the following prayer of the sacramentaries of Gelasius and Hadrian:
" Send forth, we pray Thee, 0 Lord, Thy holy spirit, the Paraclete from Heaven, into this fatness of oil, which Thou hast deigned to produce from the green
wood
  for refreshment of mind and
body
 ; and through Thy holy benediction may it be for all that anoint, taste,
touch
 , a protection of mind and body, of soul and spirit, unto the easing away of all pain, all weakness, all sickness of mind and body; wherefore Thou hast anointed priest, kings and prophets and' martyrs with thy chrism, perfected by Thee, 0 Lord, blessed and abiding in our bowels in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ."
See L. Duchesne, Origines du Culte Chretien (Paris, 1898).
(F. C. C.)
' The oil left over from the year before is burnt.
spirit.
Some Gnostics sprinkled the heads of the dying with oil and water to render them invisible to the powers of darkness; but in the
East
  generally, where the need to compete with the Cathar sacrament of Consolatio was less acutely felt, extreme unction is unknown. The Latinizing Armenians adopted it from Rome in the crusading epoch. At an earlier date, however, it was usual


End of Article: EXTREME UNCTION


If you wish, you can link directly to this article.
<a href="http://jcsm.org/StudyCenter/Encyclopedia/EUD_FAT/EXTREME_UNCTION.html">
EXTREME UNCTION
</a>


(Previous)
EXTRADOS (extra, outside, Fr. dos, back)
(Next)
EYBESCHUTZ, JONATHAN (1690-1764)



 
 


JCSM was founded in 1997 and exists to help the community and bring people into a life-changing and productive relationship with Jesus Christ. JCSM offers over 200,000 free web pages, including its weekly inspirational emails that were sent continuously for over a decade.

Jesus Christ Saves Ministries
P.O. Box 9297
San Diego, CA  92169
1-888-887-0417 or Email

JCSM is a 501(c)(3), non-profit organization. Copyright © 1997-2012.
 

 

Sponsored Advertisements

Online First Aid and CPR Certification  .  DHA Solutions  .  PB Happy Hour Specials  .  Improvising Made Easy For Guitar and Bass  .  The Skeptic's Annotated Bible: Corrected and Explained  .  Home Equity Loans  .  First Aid and CPR Online  .  San Diego Music Lessons  .  10,000 Wise Quotes and Spiritual Sayings  .  Blow Up Your Site (For Free!)  .  San Diego DUI Lawyers  .  Jason Gastrich  .  Jordan Faith Gastrich  .  Divorce Secrets Revealed  .  Post Your Ad Link Free  .  San Diego Soccer Training  .  JCSM  .  Download Sermons  .  Custom Religious Banners, Build A Sign  .  Christian Singles Dating  .  Christian T-Shirts  .  Healing Christian Prayer  .  Bumper Authority  .  Personalized Blogs and Email  .  San Diego Haircuts  .  The Do the Math Diet  .  Stop Twitter Spam  .  Christian Conservative Work at Home Network  .  The Website of the Lord