The Purpose of Anointing the Sick: A Reappraisal

SINCE THE appearance of Fr. Kern's classic on extreme unction a half century ago, a goodly number of theologians of all schools have agreed that, granted the proper dispositions on the part of the recipient, the sacrament of unction has the power of canceling the total debt of punishment and thus preparing the soul for immediate entrance into heaven. Not all agree on what is meant by proper dispositions, and it is difficult at times to say whether this extraordinary effect is to be attributed directly to the sacrament or to the devotion and fervor of the sick person. Kern himself demands that the sacrament be received with due preparation and devotion and at a time when the sick person can and does cooperate fully with the actual graces peculiar to this sacrament. And with this view most of Kern's admirers are in agreement. But there have been more ardent followers of Kern, particularly here in the United States, who have either ignored or who have refused to admit the qualifications with which Kern proposed his thesis. Thus, as early as the year 1916, Fr. F. Tecklenburg, writing in the pages of the Ecclesiastical Review, attempted to popularize through the clergy the results of Kern's researches. Tecklenburg also demanded 1 Josephus Kern, S.J., De sacramento extremae unctionis tractatus dogmaticus (Regensburg, 1907). 2 E. Doronzo, O.M.I., lists the following authors as having accepted Kern's thesis aliquo clamore reinventae veritatis: Pohle-Preuss, Otten, Kilker, Lercher, Cappello, Dafarra, and, among writers of articles in dictionaries and periodicals, Toner, Tecklenburg, Richards, Feld, Gits, McCarthy, and Verhamme. To this list we would add such names as Pesch, Van Noort, Piolanti, and Vermeersch, although Doronzo does not believe that the teaching of these authors necessarily favors Kern's teaching. Cf. De extrema unctione 2 (Milwaukee, 1955) 148. 3 The following single paragraph best sums up Kern's thesis and its qualifications: Cum sacramentum ad hoc sit institutum, ut animam christiani morti appropinquantis ad immediatum introitum gloriae disponat ideoque ex specifica sua ratione habeat vim abstergendi omnem reatum poenae temporalis, omnes infirtni, qui plenum fructum s. Unctionis nanciscuntur, plenam poenarum relaxationem consequuntur. Plenum autem s. Unctionis fructum nanciscuntur, qui illam cum debita praeparatione et devotione in eo statu morbi percipiunt, quo cum auxiliis intuitu eius sibi oblatis cooperari adhuc valent, et qui hanc cooperationem de facto plene praestant (ibid., p. 190).