SECTION 6 



EXTREME UNCTION 



i. Subject of the Sacrament. — The Sac- 

 rament of Extreme Unction (extrema unctio) 

 was instituted for the corporal as well as spirit- 

 ual well-being of the sick. One of its spe- 

 cial effects is to confer upon the dying the grace 

 of a happy death. While it is essential for the 

 validity of this Sacrament that the recipient be 

 seriously ill or, as the technical phrase runs, in 

 periculo mortis, 1 it is altogether immaterial 

 whether this condition be due to disease or 

 to old age. 2 Hence the sacra infirmorum unctio 

 may not be administered to persons who are ex- 



l Jas. V, 14-15. — Cfr. the Deere- rant, curatione indigcant: idcirco iis 

 turn pro Armenis of Eugene IV: etiam, qui adeo periculose aegrotart 

 "Hoc sacramentum nisi infirmo, de videntur, ut, ne supremus Mis vitae 

 cuius morte timetur, darinon debet." dies instet, metuendum sit, hoc sa- 

 (Denzinger-Bannwart, n. 595). — cramentum praeberi debet." 

 The Council of Trent says (Sess. 2 RU. Rom., tit. 5, c. 1, n. 5: 

 XIV, De Extr. Unct., c. 3) : "De- "Debet hoc sacramentum infirmis 

 claratur etiam, esse hanc unctionem praeberi, qui quum ad usum rationis 

 infirmis adhibendam, Mis vero prae- pervenerint, tarn graviter laborant, ut 

 sertim, qui tarn periculose decum- mortis periculum imminere video- 

 bunt, ut in exitu vitae constituti vi- tur, et iis, qui prae senio deficiunt et 

 dcantur, unde et sacramentum ex- in diem videntur morituri, etiam sine 

 euntium nuncupatur." — Cfr. Cat. alia infirmitate." — "Senectus est 

 Rom., P. II, c. 6, qu. 9: "Quum morbus," was a received axiom 

 igitur Mi tantum, qui morbo labo- among the Scholastics. 



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