Anointing of the Sick
The sacrament by which the sick — and especially those in danger of death — receive the grace of the Holy Spirit, strength against temptation, forgiveness of sin, and, if it serves their spiritual good, bodily healing.
Oil of the Sick — pure olive (or other plant) oil, blessed by the bishop on Holy Thursday — anointed on the forehead and the hands.
A bishop or priest. Deacons and the lay faithful may not administer this sacrament.
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.
Per istam sanctam unctionem et suam piissimam misericordiam, adiuvet te Dominus gratia Spiritus Sancti, ut a peccatis liberatum te salvet atque propitius allevet.
Any baptized Catholic who has reached the age of reason and is in danger of death from sickness, old age, or before a major surgery. The sacrament may be received more than once — whenever a serious illness returns or worsens.
- ✦A particular gift of the Holy Spirit to strengthen the sick person in body and soul
- ✦Union with the Passion of Christ, sanctifying the suffering
- ✦Forgiveness of sins (when the penitent cannot obtain it through Confession)
- ✦Restoration of health, if it is conducive to the salvation of the soul
- ✦Preparation for the passage to eternal life
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.
Of all the sacraments, the Anointing of the Sick has the clearest scriptural witness for its specific form in the Letter of James (5:14–15). The early Christian community continued the practice: bishops blessed oil and priests anointed the seriously ill, who in many cases recovered. This is what the Council of Trent in 1551 confirmed as a true and proper sacrament instituted by Christ.
From the early Middle Ages through the 20th century, the sacrament came to be called 'Extreme Unction' — the 'last anointing' — because it was customarily reserved for those in immediate danger of death. The Second Vatican Council, in Sacrosanctum Concilium (1963), restored the original broader sense: the sacrament is for all who are seriously ill or in advanced age, not only for those at death's door.
The Anointing is one of the sacraments of the dying when joined with the Sacrament of Penance (received earlier if possible) and the reception of the Eucharist as Viaticum — the 'food for the journey' to eternity.