A History of Anointing

1. A History of Anointing Most religions view disease and death as violations of the way things ought to be • They are mysteries because they are not understood • What is the meaning of it? • Does it have any purpose? • Why this, why now, why me? Whether as witness or participant in disease and death, they raise more questions than answers

2. A History of Anointing When we do find some meaning, it becomes sacred to us because it makes the intolerable tolerable • Primitive societies asked the same questions we ask today about sickness and misfortune, suffering and death They too found answers in religious ritual and myth • Rituals through which they enacted their response to the mystery • Myths in which they embodied in story form the little they did comprehend

3. A History of Anointing Religious rituals respond to the condition of sickness and death They should not be They are not normal They are violations of the sacred order in which health and life are preserved Myths contrast the way things are with the way things should be They narrate in story form how the current condition came about

4. A History of Anointing Genesis - The Fall of Man Illustrates two features of the ancient attitude toward death Life was holistic If one part of the interconnected web of reality was disturbed all its parts were effected as well The universe is ONE That ONE is both material and spiritual

5. A History of Anointing • It was holistic • Life was not physical or spiritual but both. • People were living beings not just bodies or just souls • Health and sickness were not just physical; the whole person was sick • The entire universe was both physical and moral; things happened or behaved the way they did as part of the sacred order • If one part of the interconnected web of reality was disturbed all its parts were effected as well • Suffering and death came into the world as a result of disobedience

6. A History of Anointing Since disruptions of the sacred order were considered both physical and moral • In treating sickness and injury natural medicines even surgery could be used • But, prayers, incantations were also used to determine the moral cause of the disorder and set it right • Religious rituals surrounded preparation of the remedies • to insure the treatment was properly applied • to remind the patient of the importance of reintegration with the sacred order to bring about recovery Ancient response to illness was both sacramental and medicinal

7. A History of Anointing Religious ritual was symbolic affirmation of the value of life and health • Expressions of dependence on things out of their control • Embodiment of beliefs in demonic forces who could cause disease and divine agents who could cure them They could easily be misused and misunderstood because the area of mystery into which they looked was great • Medically speaking they were most often ineffective but occasionally seemed to work • Sacramentally speaking they were always effective since they gave meaning to what was happening even if the patient died

8. A History of Anointing Funeral rituals for similar reasons have always been sacramental • They dramatize the meaning of life and death as it is comprehended within a given culture • Psychologically - They help people come to terms with death and release their feelings of bereavement • Sociologically - They provide an acceptable way for people to mourn and make the transition to life without those they loved • Sacramentally - They express beliefs and hopes that make death bearable. And, they allow those who participate time to rediscover and reaffirm those sacred meanings.

9. Healing and Anointing in the Early Church The New Testament • Jesus announced that the messianic age had begun (Matthew 4:23-25) • He healed by word and by touch and he brought to others a healing presence through which they became inwardly renewed as well as outwardly cured. (Luke 19:1-10; John 9:1-39) • The disciples shared in his ministry (Luke 9:1-6) • They “anointed many sick people with oil and cured them.” (Mark 6:13) They used oil as a sacramental substance in their healing ministry

10. Healing and Anointing in the Early Church The New Testament • Even after Jesus’ resurrection healing continued to be a sign through which people came to Jesus. (Acts 3:1-10; 14:8-18) • Among believers charismatic healing was a sign that the kingdom of God had begun in the church. Paul mentions them as spiritual gifts given by God to some individuals for the benefit of the community. (I Cor. 12:9-10) • Jerusalem Christians used prayer and oil in their healing ministry. (James 5:14-15)

11. Healing and Anointing in the Early Church Indications of a healing ministry during the first few centuries • Hippolytus of Rome 215, The Apostolic Tradition • Contains a prayer over oil that was brought to be blessed during the eucharistic liturgy. • The bishop prayed that, “it may give strength to all who taste it and strength to all who use it” • After the liturgy it was take home by the faithful to be used as an internal or external medicine In a letter from around the same period, Tertullian mentions that he knew of a Christian who even cured a pagan with oil.

12. Healing and Anointing in the Early Church Indications of a healing ministry during the first few centuries • Fourth century documents imply that the oil that was blessed for anointing catechumens might also have been used in other exorcisms for curing spiritual and physical sickness • Serapion, the bishop of Thmuis in Egypt, composed a prayer for blessing of oil that it might be “a means of removing every sickness and disease, of warding off every demon, a medicine of life and salvation bringing health and soundness of soul and body and spirit, leading to perfect well being”

13. Healing and Anointing in the Early Church • The Apostolic Constitutions, composed in Syria around 380, contains a similar prayer over offerings of oil and water, that God would give them the power to produce health and drive away demons. • Pope Innocent I (416) wrote to his fellow bishop Decent of Gubbio, “There is no doubt that the passage in James speaks about the faithful who are sick and who can be anointed with the oil of chrism that is prepared by the bishop. Not only priests but all Christians may use this oil for anointing, when either they or members of their household have need of it. However the oil should not be given to those who were doing public penance since it was a kind of sacrament and penitents were not allowed to receive the other sacraments.”

14. Healing and Anointing in the Early Church • Cyril of Alexandria (428) berated Christians who resorted to pagan magicians and sorcerers when they were sick, and advised them to call in the priests of the church instead. • Victor of Antioch (450) cited the epistle of James in support of praying over and anointing the sick, but in his opinion the prayers were the effective element, the oil was just a symbol of the healing that God would bring in response to prayer • Caesarius of Arles (6th century) preached a number of sermons exhorting those in his diocese to make use of it

15. Healing and Anointing in the Early Church • During the patristic period oil was considered a sacrament of physical and spiritual health • It was a sacrament in the broad sense as a symbol of the healing power of the Holy Spirit • It was also seen as an effective sign • Because of the consecration by the bishop • Becasue it sometimes did what it was supposed to • Rufinus, Ecclesiastical History 375, relates that he saw five hermits heal the withered body of a man by anointing him all over with the oil of Christ • Palladius says that Macarius cured a paralyzed woman with oil • Sulpicious Severus wrote a biography of Martin of Tours recounting his cures through anointing • These stories continued through the 7th and 8th centuries

16. Anointing the Sick to Anointing the Dying • These sort of stories at least show that through the beginning of the middle ages Christians viewed and used oil as a sacrament of healing • Sometimes the anointing was done by a priest but not always • Sometimes the oil was blessed by a Bishop but not always • The anointing most always was accompanied by prayer • No specific form of the prayer is recorded

17. Anointing the Sick to Anointing the Dying • Bede a British monk in the 8th century wrote the first known commentary on the full Epistle of James • He described the practice of anointing identically with the sermons written by Caesarius of Arles in France some 200 years earlier • His insistence that only consecrated oil could be used was the only difference • This was the only anointing he was familiar with so he simply assumed this must be the anointing James referred to • Other documents of the period show that people requested oil for the cure of almost anything

18. Anointing the Sick to Anointing the Dying • People did not ask for oil when they were dying. They asked for Reconciliation and Eucharist • Public penitence included an anointing in the form of an exorcism to drive out the spirits of evil • When people received reconciliation on their deathbed they were also anointed • The usually lengthy process was shortened to include: • The penitent’s confession • An anointing of exorcism • Concluding with a prayer of forgiveness • It was conducted exclusively by the priest

19. Anointing the Sick to Anointing the Dying • People began to shy away from asking priests to anoint them because if they recovered after receiving the penitential anointing they were bound by the ancient canons prohibiting business pursuits, marital relations and so on that went with public penance • The priestly anointing was reserved more and more for serious illness when people were dying • The custom of private lay anointing continued into the beginning of the 9th century

20. Anointing the Sick to Anointing the Dying • Charlemagne’s ‘Holy Roman Empire” marked a period of organizational reform • 2nd Council of Chalon, France 813 declared that the anointing of the sick by the priest with oil blessed by the Bishop was to be taken more seriously • Priests in Germany were told to carry holy oil with them in case they needed it. • Alcuin of York found that the Gregorian sacramentary lacked standardized prayers for and rituals for anointing. He added his a supplement of his own. • It include a rite for the priestly anointing of the sick • He included it in the section of prayers for the dying and the rite for final reconciliation

21. Anointing the Sick to Anointing the Dying • In the years that followed Alcuin’s version gradually supplanted Gregory’s version • Over time Bishop’s emphasized the importance of priestly anointing and prohibited the practice of lay anointing • The actual prayers for the anointing of the sick called for healing and recovery • The rubrics called for the rite to be repeated for seven days if required • It was done by signing a cross with oil on various parts of the body, with special attention to the part in most pain • In fact the rite was only performed for the seriously ill or in conjunction with rituals for the dying

22. Anointing the Sick to Anointing the Dying • The order of the rituals followed that of Innocent I written in 416 • The Council of Mainz 847 decreed that those who were in danger of death should receive Reconciliation prior to anointing followed by Viaticum in accord with Innocent’s assessment that no other sacrament should be received if one is in need of reconciliation • The anointing was interpreted as a “consolation of the church” offered to those who did not have time to offer penance for their sins • Council of Pavia 850 suggested that through the oil sins were forgiven and sometimes as a result health was restored. • By the end of the ninth century last rites were reconciliation, anointing and viaticum

23. Anointing the Sick to Anointing the Dying • Rome at this time had no rite for administering oil to the sick and their liturgical books had denigrated to a sorry state due to lack of skilled copyists • The altered Gregorian sacramentary of Alcuin was brought back to Rome and became official along with the his changes • Back in the desert monasteries which gave birth to anointing further changes were emerging • Anointing developed into a communal ritual that was performed not in the cell of the sick monk but in the monastery chapel • When this spread beyond the monastery it developed into a long ceremony requiring three or more priests who recited prayers, anointed, signed with ashes, commended the soul and gave communion. Each priest customarily charged a stipend. • The more elaborate the ritual became the less it was used

24. Anointing the Sick to Anointing the Dying • 12th century anointing lost all attachment to physical recovery • It was rarely given to people who were expected to recover. Prayers for physical healing were dropped from the rite and replaced with prayers for remission of sins and hope for salvation • These prayers were borrowed from several places in an attempt to make the words of the ritual correspond more closely to an anointing in preparation for death • The oil was no longer applied to an area in pain but was applied just to the senses, hands, feet • Accompanied with a prayer that God would forgive the sins committed through these various organs of the body • It was moved to the end after reconciliation and eucharist • It was now seen as final preparation and referred to as extrema unctio “last rites”

25. Anointing the Sick to Anointing the Dying • Peter Lombard included extreme unction in his book of Sentences which became the accepted list of sacraments • The rite he had in mind was the solemn anointing done in a church by several priests • The matter of the sacrament was the oil blessed by a Bishop • There was disagreement about the form because the words varied throughout Europe • The effects also met with disagreement since some of the prayers still mentioned physical healing in addition to forgiveness of sins • Not everyone died after anointing so that in some cases it did seem to effect a healing • Hugh of St. Victor felt that sickness afflicted the body because of sin, and so when sins were forgiven through the sacrament it sometimes happened that the body was cured • They also disagreed about who should receive the sacrament and when it should be done

26. Anointing the Sick to Anointing the Dying • By the 13th century all unanimously agreed it was instituted by Christ through the apostles • In many places the rite was simplified to make it more available and easier to administer • Only one priest was needed to do the anointing • The anointing was only given at the end of a sickness when death seemed imminent • The prayers asking for healing were not included in the simplified rite • The standard formula used became “Through this holy anointing and his tender mercy, may the Lord forgive whatever sins you have committed by sight, hearing,” etc. as the oil was used to sign the various parts of the body

27. Anointing the Sick to Anointing the Dying • The scholastic period asked, What was the difference between reconciliation and extreme unction since both seemed to forgive sins? • Franciscans, Albert of Hales felt Baptism washed away original sin, penance washed away mortal sin so extreme enction must wash away venial sin • Dominicans, Albert the Great believed that extreme unction eliminated the remnants of sin, that is the inclination to commit sin that remained after forgiveness

28. Anointing the Sick to Anointing the Dying • Thomas Aquinas agreed with his contemporary and teacher Albert. In addition he felt that • It could effect physical healing if the disease was a result of sinful habits • It could remit unconfessed sins if the person cooperated with the grace of the sacrament • The sacrament was always effective in offering God’s grace • The person had to cooperate with it by inwardly turning to God • It should not be given to children, the unconscious, or anyone who did not fully understand the grace of the sacrament • Bonaventure agreed but felt the sins remitted were those venial sins often left out of confession • These were the last obstacles to complete abandonment to God • The sacrament should not be given to those who might recover • Both theologians died in 1274

29. Anointing the Sick to Anointing the Dying • Theologians who followed gave less notice to the experiential side of the sacrament • 14th-15th Century theologians continued to see extreme unction as final preparation for eternal glory, and that, no matter how it worked, it removed all obstacles to heaven • If the sacrament was effective it must not matter whether the recipient changed or not since those who received were in no condition to respond. • They saw no reason not to give the sacrament to the unconscious • Duns Scotus felt that the anointing was most effective when those receiving it were so far gone they were no longer capable of sinning • 1438 The Council of Florence met in an attempt to reunite the Roman and Greek churches separated in 1054. It listed extreme unction as the fifth sacrament and pointed out that it was given only to those in danger of dying

30. The Sacrament of Extreme Unction • Reformers felt few qualms about rejecting it as a sacrament • It had no scriptural basis for institution • Both Luther and Calvin felt the Epistle of James 5 spoke about healing not about dying • Luther felt it had some spiritual value as a sacramental like holy water • In his book Institutes if the Christian Religion, Calvin simply referred to it as “hypocritical play acting” in which priests attempted to act like apostles. He felt that initially the church was given a miraculous gift of healing but now that the Gospel was accepted that gift was no longer needed. • The Church of England admitted the existence of the sacrament but eliminated it from the rituals of the church. In 1563 the Thirty-nine Articles of Religion ranked it as 5th amongst the sacraments but not instituted by Christ. The new edition of The Book of Common Prayer dropped the rite from 1552 until 1928

31. The Sacrament of Extreme Unction • Council of Trent • They agreed that some used the sacrament as an excuse for living lives of excess • They agreed that the excesses of stipends pointed out the greed of some priests • But they believed that anointing brought spiritual benefits to the soul. It simply needed reform and explanation. • The council related extreme unction to penance • Extreme Unction is the completion of penance and in fact the whole Christian life which should be one of total penitence and turning toward God • It was a sign of mercy that forgave sins and assured salvation • Its institution was hinted at in the sending of the apostles to heal and anoint (Mark 6:13) and its power of forgiveness was assured by James 5 • Finally it condemned those who said differently

32. The Sacrament of Extreme Unction • Post Trent • In 1614 a standard simplified rite was adopted putting an end to elaborate rites and local variations • Children below the age of discretion were never anointed • Priests were advised to conditionally provide the sacrament even to the dead in case the soul lingered with the body • The bishops at Trent decided not to side with the either the Dominicans or the Franciscans and declared the sacrament could both remove sins and remove the remnants of sin. Pope Benedict XIV in 1747 felt the argument was going nowhere and granted a plenary indulgence to all who were anointed. • For the Church anointing which began as a sacred sign bringing meaning to sickness and disease became a sacred sign bringing meaning to death. In it the church still experienced dependence in God for its well-being

33. The Sacrament of Extreme Unction • Theologians in the Middle Ages • Because it was included in the seven sacraments it must have been instituted by Christ • The sacrament was invalid unless administered immediately before death • Most Catholics never received the sacrament • In some places the rite was still fairly elaborate and costly • People died before a priest could arrive. The sacrament was only received by those rich enough to keep a priest near by during their final illness. • Reformers felt few qualms about rejecting it as a sacrament • It had no scriptural basis for institution • Both Luther and Calvin felt the Epistle of James spoke about healing not about dying

34. The Sacrament of Extreme Unction • Return to Anointing of the Sick • Sacraments sometimes mean more than they intend • Extreme Unction was intended to express the Christian meaning of death • It was to insure that the transition from this life to the next would be touched with hope rather than despair • Many Catholics perceived it quite differently • Calling a priest for last rites became a sign of lost hope. All chance of regaining health was gone • Catholicism’s funeral services and funeral masses. The words asserted hope and final glory but the vestments were black and the prayers for the deceased pleaded as if it might not be granted. • Early 20th century the church relaxed the rule on receiving when near imminent death

35. The Sacrament of Extreme Unction Return to Anointing of the Sick • 1950s biblical scholars noted • that New Testament views of death were not so doleful as the medieval interpretation • That the kingdom of God began on earth not in heaven • That there were theoretical shortcomings in the traditional conception of death and afterlife especially regarding punishment and purgatory • That historians were discovering differences between the sacramental practices of the early church and those of later Christians • Until then most theologians thought the existing rituals simply needed a slight adjustment or an upgrade in wording to bring them more into line with contemporary scholarship

36. The Sacrament of Extreme Unction Return to Anointing of the Sick The Roman church began to look to the Orthodox Eastern churches where anointing had not developed under the same historical pressure • Its meaning there was primarily physical rather than spiritual healing as it had been in the patristic era • In some churches the oil was given even to prevent illness • The Second Vatican Council called for a revision in the practice of extreme unction which more fittingly may be called anointing of the sick

37. The Sacrament of Extreme Unction Return to Anointing of the Sick This is not a sacrament only for those at the point of death As soon as any faithful begins to be in danger of death from sickness or old age the time for receiving this sacrament has already arrived The new rite replaced the old in 1974

38. The Sacrament of Extreme Unction Return to Anointing of the Sick • Those for whom this may be their last anointing are to receive the sacrament in conjunction with reconciliation, if they desire it, and communion • Those who wish to be anointed during less serious illness may receive the sacrament either at home, or in the hospital or at church in a communal celebration • The emphasis is on healing and strengthening rather than forgiveness of sins • The oil is not placed on the five senses but on the forehead and hands • The priest may use blessed oil or bless it himself just before anointing

39. The Sacrament of Extreme Unction Return to Anointing of the Sick The prayer now reads “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.” • Anointing is now to be incorporated in the context of a total pastoral ministry to the sick • Counseling, prayer scriptures, regular communion and reconciliation should accompany the anointing