Last Rites / Anointing of the Sick
Oil, confession, and final Communion at the threshold of death
Last Rites minister to the seriously ill or dying through anointing with blessed oil, confession, and a final Communion called viaticum. The Letter of James commends anointing the sick, and Pope Innocent I addressed the practice in a letter of 416. Catholics and Orthodox, who call it Holy Unction, both keep it as a sacrament. Most Protestants reject it as a sacrament, though some retain prayer and anointing for the sick.
Key passages(13)
Each passage is tagged by what it does with the idea: explains it, applies it in practice, redefines it with a new meaning, or challenges it. Relevance shows how directly the passage is about this idea.
The First Ecumenical Council: The First Council of Nice · The Ecumenical Councils
Canon XIII. Concerning the departing, the ancient canonical law is still to be maintained, to wit, that, if any man be at the point of death, he must not be deprived of the last and most indispensabl
Tap to expand
The Church History of Eusebius · Eusebius of Caesarea
Chapter XLIV.—Dionysius’ Account of Serapion. 1. To this same Fabius, who seemed to lean somewhat toward this schism, See above, chap. 39, note 7. This epistle, as we may gather from the descriptio
Tap to expand
Book Fourth. of the Holy Catholic Church · John Calvin
21. Even were it granted that this precept of unction, which has nothing to do with the present age, were perfectly adapted to it, they in extremis. If they have a present cure in their sacrament, wit
Tap to expand
The Epistles of Cyprian. · Cyprian
Epistle XII. To the Clergy, Concerning the Lapsed and Catechumens, that They Should Not Be Left Without Superintendence. Argument.—The Burden of This Letter, as of the Succeeding One, is Found Below
Tap to expand
Treatise on the Sacraments (qq[60]-90) · Thomas Aquinas
Reply to Objection 5: That this sacrament ought to enter into the mouth of a Christian before any other food must not be understood absolutely of all time, otherwise he who had once eaten or drunk cou
Tap to expand
Treatise on the Sacraments (qq[60]-90) · Thomas Aquinas
Objection 4: Further, the taking of water or medicine, or of any other food or drink in very slight quantity, or of the remains of food continuing in the mouth, neither breaks the Church's fast, nor t
Tap to expand
The Ecclesiastical History of Socrates Scholasticus · Socrates Scholasticus
Chapter XXXIX.—The Emperor falls sick and dies. A year having passed, the Emperor Constantine having just entered the sixty-fifth year of his age, was taken with a sickness; he therefore left Constan
Tap to expand
Is any among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the assembly, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord,
Tap to expand
The Life of Constantine with Orations of Constantine and Eusebius · Eusebius of Caesarea
It is also worthy of record that about the time of which I am at present writing, the emperor, having heard of an insurrection of some barbarians in the East, observed that the conquest of this enemy
Tap to expand
Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament · Augustine of Hippo
10. You will soon see, Beloved, what we ought to do, and when; only I would we may not be slow to practise it. Attend and see: “If thy brother sin against thee, rebuke him between him and thee alone.”
Tap to expand
Treatise on the Sacraments (qq[60]-90) · Thomas Aquinas
What is kept, those at rest." Others, however, say that the part put into the chalice denotes those still living in this world. while the part kept outside the chalice denotes those fully blessed bot
Tap to expand
: or the Sin of Theft and Injustice · Jonathan Edwards
An exhortation to honesty. Under this use, I shall confine myself to two particulars, many other things having been already spoken to. 1. I shall hence take occasion to exhort parents to restrain th
Tap to expand
The Instructions of Commodianus. · Commodianus
LXXI.—To Visit the Sick. If thy brother should be weak—I speak of the poor man—do not empty-handed visit such an one as he lies ill. Do good under God; pay your obedience by your money. Thence he sha
Tap to expand