The last Sacrament is the sacred Anointing, which can bring great consolation to the sick man, if its power is understood and the Sacrament itself is received at the proper time. There are two effects of this Sacrament, as we said in the preceding chapter: bodily health, and the remission of sins. We shall speak briefly of each effect. Of the first, St. James speaks thus: 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. (James 5) This is surely a clear and certain promise. Now that the sick so rarely recover in our time after receiving this Anointing has two reasons. The first is that in our time this Sacrament is administered to the sick later than it ought to be; for miracles are not to be expected through this Sacrament — and it would be a miracle indeed if one who is breathing his last were to recover on the spot. But if this Sacrament were conferred on the sick while the danger of death is not yet desperate, it would produce the effect of health, which would follow not in a moment but in due time; and this is the reason why Extreme Unction is not conferred on those who are put to death by the executioner for crimes committed — for they cannot be freed from the danger of death except by a most manifest miracle. The second reason is that it is not always expedient for the sick man to be delivered from his illness, but it is expedient rather that he die; and the prayer of the Church, such as that which is poured forth in this Anointing, does not ask absolutely for the sick man's health, but only if it be profitable for his eternal salvation that he should recover at that time.
The other effect of this Sacrament is the remission of sins. For so speaks St. James: And if he be in sins, they shall be forgiven him. (James 5) But since the remission of original sin belongs properly to Baptism, and the remission of actual sin belongs both to Baptism — if adults are baptized — and to the Sacrament of Penance, theologians therefore teach that the sins remitted in the Sacrament of Extreme Unction are the remains of sins. Now there are two kinds of such remains. For sometimes "the remains of sins" means the mortal or venial sins themselves which were committed after the Sacrament of Penance had already been received and were not afterwards made known to a confessor — either from ignorance, because the penitent did not know that they were mortal sins; or from forgetfulness, because they did not come to mind — and for that reason the sick man did not seek a confessor to whom he might confess them. These remains of sins, therefore, the sacred Anointing blots out. And of this kind of sin St. James says: If he be in sins, they shall be forgiven him. Which the Council of Florence and the Council of Trent (session 14, chapter 2) also teach clearly enough.
Another kind of remains is a certain dread and dullness, or sadness and gloom, which come over the sick; and to this refers that promise of St. James: And the Lord shall raise him up. For this Sacrament gladdens the sick when they attend to the divine promises that are expressed in this venerable Sacrament; and for this reason it ought not to be deferred to that final moment when the sick man hears nothing or understands nothing.
How great the benefit of this Sacrament is can be understood from the very form of its words. For five places of the body are anointed with the holy Oil — the places in which the five senses have their seat, namely the sense of sight, the sense of hearing, the sense of smell, the sense of taste, and the sense of touch — and meanwhile the Priest says: « May the Lord forgive you whatever you have sinned through sight and hearing, » and so on for the rest. And since that prayer is the form of the Sacrament, without any doubt it efficaciously brings about what the words express, unless something on the part of the one receiving it stands in the way.
How great the liberality and kindness of our God are in this Sacrament will easily be understood by one who considers how great a multitude of sins flows forth from these five fountains of sin. And this is the reason why St. Bernard relates that a certain holy bishop, when he had put off for a few hours the administration of the Sacrament of Extreme Unction to a noblewoman who lay ill, and she had meanwhile exchanged life for death, was seized with so great a sorrow that he lay all night in the chamber of the dead woman together with his priests, praying and groaning, and reckoning it to his own fault that the pious woman had not, through the Sacrament of Extreme Unction, either recovered, or received so generous a remission of sins from the Lord's liberality. But because that holy bishop was a friend of God, he obtained from his Lord by prayers and tears that the woman should rise again; and anointed by that same holy man with immense devotion, she received both effects of the sacred anointing: for she fully recovered, lived on for many years, and, as we piously believe, did not lose the remission of her sins. This example of so great a man, faithfully committed to writing by another most holy man, can easily persuade everyone how highly this venerable Sacrament ought to be esteemed.