EXTREME UNCTION, a sacrament of the Catholic Church. It has been general since the 9th century. The Council of Florence A.D. thus defined it : "The fifth sacrament is extreme unction. Its matter is olive oil, blessed by a bishop. It shall not be given except to a sick person whose death is apprehended. He shall be anointed in the following places : the eyes, ears, nostrils, mouth, hands, feet, reins. The form of the sacrament is this : Through this anointing of thee and through its most pious mercy, be forgiven all thy sins of sight, etc. . . . and so in respect of the other organs. A priest can ad minister this sacrament. But its effect is to make whole the mind, and, so far as it is expedient, the body as well." This sacrament supplements that of penance (viz., remission of post-baptismal sin) in the sense that any guilt unconfessed or left over after normal penances imposed by confessors is purged thereby. It was discussed in the 12th century whether this sacra ment is indelible like baptism, or whether it can be repeated; and the latter view, that of Peter Lombard, prevailed.
It was a popular opinion in the middle ages that extreme unction extinguishes all ties and links with this world, so that he who has received it must, if he recovers, renounce the eating of flesh and matrimonial relations. Such opinions, combated by bishops and councils, were due to the influence of the consolamentum of the Cathars (q.v.). In both sacraments the death-bed baptism of an earlier age seems to survive, and they both fulfil a deep-seated need of the human spirit.