Adsum

February 2006

Extreme Unction Unconsciously Received by the Conscious

Father Connell Answers Moral Questions
by Very Rev. Francis J. Connell, C.SS.R., S.T.D., L.L.D., L.H.D.

Question: A priest engaged in hospital work may have reason to fear that if he advises a person in danger of death to receive Extreme Unction, he may make the patient fearful and discouraged, to the detriment of his mental and physical condition. Moreover, in such an event the relatives and the doctors may feel and show resentment toward the priest, so that his work in the hospital is rendered less effective. In a situation of this kind would the priest be allowed to induce the sick person merely to go to confession and receive Holy Communion, and then administer Extreme Unction without informing the patient of what is being done? The procedure would be to confer this sacrament by a single anointing on the forehead, with the short form, the sick person meanwhile believing that he is receiving only the priest’s blessing. For it would seem that the general intention of receiving the last rites of the Church when death is approaching — an intention which every Catholic is presumed to have — would suffice for the valid reception of Extreme Unction, even though the recipient is unaware that he is receiving it here and now. The licit and fruitful reception would be assured by the previous confession.

Answer: There is good reason to believe that Extreme Unction would be validly administered in the case described by the questioner, because of the sick person's general habitual intention of receiving the spiritual benefits which the Church confers on her members when they are actually in danger of death. But the procedure itself, I believe, is most objectionable for other reasons. In the first place, it is surely the earnest desire of the Church that whenever one of her members is in danger of death he should be made aware of his condition, if he is conscious, so that he may put his best effort into preparing for the entrance of his soul into eternity. The fact that he has been to confession and received Holy Communion does not supply for an explicit realization of the danger of death. When a person knows that only a brief time will pass before he stands before the judgment seat of God, he is inclined to be much more exact in his confession and more fervent in his contrition than when he regards the sacrament of Penance as an ordinary act of devotion.

Furthermore, the Church surely wishes one who is conscious when he is anointed to realize that he is receiving a most important sacrament — a sacrament which, according to some theologians, is ordained to prepare the soul for immediate entrance into heaven. Surely, it is not in accordance with the dignity of this sacrament to confer it (apart from the case of necessity) without the prescribed number of anointings and the beautiful prayers that the Church has added, and by a subterfuge, as if it were a distasteful medicine given to a timid child.

If the method proposed by the questioner were adopted, what would the priest do in regard to the prayers for the dying? They are not strictly obligatory, yet every good Catholic should be glad to have them recited over him when the hour of death is approaching.

We should not yield to the spirit of paganism which views death as the greatest possible evil, and has little or no concern for the life beyond the grave; and our Catholic people should be warned against this spirit When a Catholic is dying, he should be informed of this fact, kindly but definitely. Even if there is only a probable danger of death, he should know the truth about his condition, at least if death is likely to come soon. In most cases any fear or anxiety that may be aroused by such an announcement is felt by the relatives rather than by the sick person himself. But even if the patient is himself disturbed and discouraged by being informed of his precarious condition, it is better that such a situation be permitted to happen than that he be allowed to pass into eternity unwarned, perhaps unprepared to meet his Judge.

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