page_title: Sacraments of the Catholic Church
section_title: Anointing of the Sick
hierarchical_section_title: Sacraments of the Catholic Church / Sacraments of healing / Anointing of the Sick
caption_attribution_description: part of The Seven Sacraments
context_page_description: There are seven sacraments of the Catholic Church, which according to Catholic theology were instituted by Jesus and entrusted to the Church. Sacraments are visible rites seen as signs and efficacious channels of the grace of God to all those who receive them with the proper disposition. The sevenfold list of sacraments is often organized into three categories: the sacraments of initiation, consisting of Baptism, Confirmation, and the Eucharist; the sacraments of healing, consisting of Penance and Anointing of the Sick; and the sacraments of service: Holy Orders and Matrimony.
context_section_description: Anointing of the Sick is the second sacrament of healing. In this sacrament a priest anoints the sick with oil blessed specifically for that purpose. "The anointing of the sick can be administered to any member of the faithful who, having reached the use of reason, begins to be in danger by reason of illness or old age" (canon 1004; cf. CCC 1514). A new illness or a worsening of health enables a person to receive the sacrament a further time.
  When, in the Western Church, the sacrament was conferred only on those in immediate danger of death, it came to be known as "Extreme Unction", i.e. "Final Anointing", administered as one of the Last Rites. The other Last Rites are Confession (if the dying person is physically unable to confess, at least absolution, conditional on the existence of contrition, is given), and the Eucharist, which when administered to the dying is known as "bread for the journey" or by the Latin name "Viaticum", literally "provisions for a journey".
caption: Extreme Unction, from Rogier van der Weyden's altarpiece
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