De Unció
The Final Sacrament
An introduction to the sacrament of Unction as the final seal of the Christian life and the liturgical process of the anointing.
Unction, my son, is the last sacrament of the Holy Roman Church: this sacrament strengthens and confirms all the other sacraments. When someone is gravely ill, my son, and death is marked by certain signs, then they must ask for this last Sacrament, to signify and show that they have preserved and kept the earlier sacraments.1 Then, son, all the clergy come with the sign of Jesus Christ by which the sacraments of Holy Church are ordered—that is, the cross, which represents to you the holy Passion that Jesus Christ endured to save his people—and they bring the holy chrism with which one received the first sacrament.23 And then, with prayers, they anoint the person on the places where they have committed sins and failings.4
Preparing the Soul for Departure
Practical and spiritual instructions for the dying to detach from the world and unite their suffering with the Passion of Christ.
On that day of anointing, a person should cast every temporal thing out of the heart, fix in the heart the hour of death that has come, and not hope to go on living in this world after that: and before coming to this sacrament, one should have confessed and received Communion, made one's will, and put everything in order for receiving death. My son, this final Sacrament, in which a person is anointed with chrism and oil, signifies the holy anointing of the Son of God, which He received on the holy cross with the precious blood of His body. So if those who come to be anointed with chrism and oil signify the passion of the Son of God, how much more do those who, at the hour of death, are anointed through martyrdom with the blood of their own bodies—enduring death to honor and serve the Son of God!5
Read the original Latin
Unció es, fill, lo darrer sagrament de Santa Esgleya romana: lo qual sagrament referma e conferma tots los altres sagraments.
Con hom es, fill, malaut fortment e es per alcunes senyals significada la mort, adoncs deu hom demanar aquest sagrament darrer, per significar e demostrar que hom ha conserváis e tenguts los primers sagraments.
Adoncs vénen, fill, tots los clergues ab lo senyal de Jhesu Christ per lo qual son ordonats los sagraments de Sancta Esgleya, so es la creu quit representa la sancta passio que Jhesu Christ sostench per salvar son poblé, e aporten la sancta crisma ab la qual hom ha reebut lo primer sagrament. E adoncs ab oracions unten hom per los loes on hom ha fet peccats e falliments.
En aquell dia de unció deu hom gitar de son cor totes coses temporals, e deu hom affermar en son cor la hora de la mort a la qual es vengut, e no deu hom aver esperansa a viure d aquí avant en est mon: e enant que hom sia vengut a aquest sagrament, deu hom esser confessat e combregat, e deu hom aver son testament fet, e en totes coses se deu hom esser ordonat per reebre la mort.
Amable fill, aquest darrer sagrament en lo qual es hom untat ab crisma e ab oli, significa la sancta unció del Fill de Deu, la qual pres en la sancta creu ab la preciosa sanch de son cors. On, si aquells qui vénen a unció de crisma e d oli signifiquen la passio del Fill de Deu, ¡quant majorment la signifiquen aquells qui a la hora de la mort son per via de martiri untats ab la sanch de lur cors, sostinent mort per honrar e servir lo Fill de Deu!
Notes
- 1 ↩Source form conserváis is read as conservats (preserved/kept), paired with tenguts; sense is clear in context of having held the earlier sacraments.
- 2 ↩Read as medieval Catalan qui't ('which…to you'): la creu qui't representa = 'the cross which represents to you'. If quit is a plain relative qui/que, drop 'to you'.
- 3 ↩With sancta crisma, 'the first sacrament' most naturally means baptism (and its anointing with chrism), not a generic first rite.
- 4 ↩Taken as medieval Catalan loes/llocs, 'places'—the bodily sites of anointing (senses/members) in extreme unction.
- 5 ↩Medieval Catalan 'On' introduces the a fortiori conclusion: sacramental unction already signifies Christ's passion; martyrdom does so still more fully.
Doctrine for Children — Opening companion
Rule yourself daily, not just on retreat
Chosen Portion turns the mirror into a daily practice — a short reading and examining question each morning before you lead anyone.
Chosen Portion makes the mirror daily: the ruler-formation questions this collection preserves become a two-minute morning examination in the app.
- A daily formation reading drawn from centuries of counsel to those in authority
- One pointed examination question a day — two minutes, before the meetings start
- Track your practice over weeks and watch the examined life become a habit