What is the Last Rites?

Like Baptism, Confirmation, and Marriage, Last Rites is a sacrament of the Roman Catholic Church. Last rites, as they could be administered to the seriously ill until the end of 1973, looked like this: A priest anointed the eyes, ears, nose, mouth, hands and feet of the sick person, saying the following phrases: “By this holy anointing and by his mild mercy, the Lord forgive you for what you have sinned by seeing, hearing, speaking, smelling, touching and doing. Amen.” This early Christian ritual can be traced to the New Testament. In ancient times, anointing was also seen as a means of healing. In the arena, wrestlers rubbed oil on themselves before fighting to smoothly escape their opponent’s grips. Oil also helped wounds heal faster.

“Extreme unction” has been replaced by “anointing of the sick”

Nowadays, “last rites” is called “anointing of the sick”. In this process, the priest anoints only the forehead (for the soul) and the palms of the hands (for the body) and says the prayer. For this purpose, an anointing of the sick oil blessed by the bishop is used, usually olive oil. Catholics or members of a Christian church who are seriously ill may receive the Anointing of the Sick.

Anointing of the sick is not a sacrament of death

Many (mis)understand Extreme Unction or Anointing of the Sick to be exclusively a sacrament of death because the priest was called to the terminally ill at the very last minute, often too late. However, the prayer and the anointing, according to the original meaning, were to save the sick person from death and make him recover. The Bible says that Jesus healed many sick people. Therefore, he was also called “Heilland”. Anointing is called “Mashiah” in Hebrew and became “Messiah” in the German vernacular. The Greek name for anointing is “Chriein”, from which “Christ” (the anointed one) was derived.