According to Canon 938 of the 1917 Code of Canon Law, only a
bishop or priest can validly administer the sacrament of anointing. This canon
is based on the dogmatic definition of Trent. The fourth canon of the 14th
session of Trent on extreme unction states:
If anyone says that the Presbyters
of the Church, whom blessed James exhorts to be brought to anoint the sick, are
not the priests who have been ordained by a bishop, but the elders in each community,
and that for this cause a priest alone is not the proper minister of Extreme
Unction; let him be anathema.
In his commentary on the 1917 Code
of Canon Law, Fr. Charles Augustine writes,
Every priest, and no one but a priest, may validly administer
this sacrament. This follows from James 5:14f., and was expressly defined by
the Council of Trent. Since every priest may validly administer this sacrament,
it follows that excommunicated, suspended, interdicted or degraded priests are
not excluded, though such, of course, cannot confer it licitly, as it flows
from the power of order, not of jurisdiction. And because no one but a priest
may confer Extreme Unction, no inferior cleric, though otherwise of the highest
rank, can validly administer it. Not even the Pope could grant this power to a cleric
who is not endowed with the priestly character.
The singular (sacerdos, priest) must not be understood as if
several priests could not administer this sacrament conjointly, as is customary
with the Greeks, among whom seven priests together confer this Sacrament. This
custom has not been reproved by the Church, but the Greeks are held to believe
that one priest is sufficient to administer Extreme Unction validly and
licitly.[1]
If many priests administer this
sacrament in that way, in such a way that some do the anointings and others
pronounce the form, the sacrament is considered to be invalid, because it is required
that the same minister apply the matter and pronounce the form.
Si plures sacerdotes hoc
sacramentum administrant taliter, ut alli faciant unctiones et alii pronunient
formam, sacramentum videtur esse invalidum, quia requiritur, ut idem minister
applicet materiam et pronuniet formam.[2]
Charles Augustine, “A Commentary on the New Code of Canon Law,” Book III, Title V (St. Louis, Mo.: B. Herder Book Co., 1921), 399-400.
Since the administration of Extreme
Unction is strictly a parochial right, it is by law reserved to the pastor, and
assistant priests or curates must have the pastor's permission to exercise it.
This permission may be given habitually. Besides, the diocesan statutes or
letter of appointment may determine whether assistants have the right. The
oeconomus, or temporary administrator, of
a parish enjoys full parochial
rights and may therefore give permission to administer this Sacrament to
another priest. Regulars have been enjoined time and again a not to interfere
with this right. Secular Tertiaries are not allowed to receive this Sacrament
at the hands of the Friars Minor. To canons of cathedral as well as collegiate chapters
this Sacrament must be administered by the pastor in whose parish they have
their domicile. Exempt from these rules is the Ordinary of the diocese, to whom
the dignitaries or canons, according to rank and precedence, should administer Extreme
Unction. Besides can. 514 must here be applied, as explained elsewhere.
“in casu necessitatis, v. gr., tempore pestis, posse diversas unctiones fieri, mediante penicillo, quia in hoc sacramento nulla requiritur impositio manuum sicut in Confirmatione;”
“In the case of necessity, that is, in time of disease, the different anointings can be done using an instrument [penicillum] because in this sacrament imposition of hands is not required, as it is in Confirmation”
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