Chapter XI.
On the integrity of extreme unction.
Concerning the Sacrament of extreme unction, this must be held in summary: that it is the Sacrament of those departing from this life, preparing and disposing them for perfect health; it avails also for the removal of venial sins and for the recovery of present health, if it be expedient for the sick person.
For the integrity of this Sacrament there is required simple but consecrated oil, the vocal expression of prayers, and the anointing of the sick person on seven determinate parts, namely on the eyes, ears, nostrils, lips, hands, feet, and loins. — Nor ought this Sacrament to be given except to adults who request it, when the danger of death is imminent, and this by the hand and ministry of a priest.
From which it is gathered that between this Sacrament and confirmation there is a sevenfold difference, namely in efficacy, matter, form, recipient, giver, place, and time.
The reason for understanding the aforesaid is this: because our restorative principle, namely the incarnate Word, restores us insofar as He is the mediator of God and men, the man Christ Jesus: and insofar as He is Jesus, He has the power to save; but insofar as He is Christ, the Anointed, He has the power to channel the grace of anointing to others: hence it belongs to Him in His Sacraments to bestow upon His members a saving anointing. Since, moreover, the soul, in order to be perfectly healed, needs a threefold kind of health, namely for the vigor of action, for the sweetness of contemplation, and for the happiness of comprehension: and the first belongs to those entering into the battle line of the Church, the second to those presiding in the same, whose office it is to instruct others, and the third to those departing from the same through death: hence it is that the Lord instituted not only a sacramental anointing in confirmation, but also a middle one in the pontifical order and a last one, when the danger of death is imminent.
Since therefore "the end imposes necessity upon those things which are ordered to the end"; hence it is that according to the requirement of this end, this Sacrament ought to operate, and ought also to be constituted, received, and dispensed. — First, therefore, because the operation of this Sacrament ought to be regulated by its end: and its end is that it was introduced for attaining the salvation of perpetual happiness more easily and readily; and this is accomplished through devotion lifting upward and through the unburdening from venial faults and other consequences which press downward: hence it is that this Sacrament has efficacy both for arousing devotion and for remitting venial sins and for more easily removing the dross of sins. And because for many of the sick it is still expedient to live for the accumulation of their merits: hence it is that this Sacrament, both by invigorating the soul in good and by unburdening it from evil, frequently also alleviates from disease. And this is what blessed James says, that the prayer of faith shall save the sick person, and if he be in sins, they shall be forgiven him.
Again, because the institution of this Sacrament must be according to the exigency of its end; and this end is the acquisition of spiritual salvation through the remission of sins; and this salvation regards the health and purity of the interior conscience, according to which that heavenly Judge judges: hence it is that in this Sacrament there must be simple and consecrated oil, because it designates sanctity and purity in the dwelling-place of conscience.
But because mortal man does not have power over that salvation: hence it is that the prayer and vocal form is expressed through a deprecatory word for obtaining the gift of grace. - And since the soul contracts spiritual infirmities in the body according to the four governing powers of the body itself, namely the sensitive, interpretive, generative, and locomotive; hence it is that the members serving these powers are to be anointed. Since therefore there are five members serving the five senses, namely the eyes for sight, the ears for hearing, the nostrils for smell, the hands for touch, and the mouth for taste and also for another power, namely the interpretive, and the feet serve locomotion, and the loins serve generation - because it is unworthy and shameful for the genitals to be touched and even named - hence it is that the anointing must be performed in the seven aforementioned places, so that man may be disposed through this Sacrament to the fullness of health through the deletion of all venial sin.
Finally, because the reception of this Sacrament depends on its end: and the end is a swifter passage to heaven through the laying aside of the burden of venial sins and the turning of the mind to God: therefore it ought not to be given except to adults, who sin venially: nor to any except those who ask, who are raised upward by devotion; nor to any except those placed in danger and as it were in passage to another state.
And because this Sacrament belongs to those in peril: and yet it has sacred matter, namely consecrated oil: hence it is that to avoid danger it must commonly be entrusted to priests, and on account of the consecration of the oil it is not to be handled except by consecrated hands.
From the variation of end in confirmation and extreme unction, therefore, there arises a diversity in efficacy, in matter and in form, in place and in time, in the recipient and in the one administering: in efficacy, because that Sacrament disposes one to struggle more effectively, this one to fly forth more swiftly: in matter, because that one consists in oil mixed with balsam, but this one in pure oil: in form, because that one is in the indicative mode, but this one in the deprecatory mode: in place, because that one is on the forehead, but this one on multiple parts: in time, because that one is in health, but this one in sickness; in the recipient, because that one is given not only to adults but also to children, but this one only to adults: in the one giving, because that one is given by bishops, but this one by any priests whatsoever. And all this diversity proceeds from the end, because, as has been made clear, diversity in proximate ends introduces diversity in those things which are finally ordered to those ends.