Dist. 23, Art. 1, Q. 4
by St. Bonaventure
Source text: Public Domain Mark 1.0. English translation/apparatus/encoding: CC BY-NC 4.0, Wroot Press.
https://bonaventure.wrootpress.com/browse/4/d/23/q/bon-sent-IV-d23-a1-q4
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### Question IV. *Whether the form of the word belongs to the essence of the Sacrament.*

In the fourth place inquiry is made concerning the form of this Sacrament, and it is asked whether the form of the word belongs to the essence of this Sacrament. And that it does, seems [to be shown]:

1. *First*, by the rite of the universal Church, which everywhere confers the anointing together with a priestly blessing.

2. Likewise, it is proved by that [text] of James: *Let him bring in the presbyters, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil*: therefore a prayer is set before the anointing, and it seems that it belongs to the integrity [of the Sacrament] just as the anointing does; and this is proved by the following text: *The prayer of faith shall save the sick man*: therefore the efficacy of the Sacrament resides principally in the word of the prayer.

3. Likewise, this same thing seems [to hold] *by a parallel* in the other Sacraments: for the Sacraments of the new law sanctify through the word, as Hugh says: therefore by like reasoning it seems that this Sacrament [does so too].

4. Likewise, just as in the others an intention is necessary, and therefore there is also a word restricting the intention; so too in this one an intention is necessary: therefore by like reasoning [there is required] also the utterance of a word expressing or restricting the intention.

**On the contrary:**

1. All the Sacraments take their origin from the fount of sacred Scripture, because there is no Sacrament in the Church that is not described in Scripture; but the form of this Sacrament is nowhere described, neither by the Evangelist nor by the Apostle: therefore etc.

2. Likewise, all the Sacraments that have a form ought to have the same [form] throughout the whole catholic Church, because a variation of the form is a variation of the Sacrament, and a Sacrament cannot be otherwise than uniform, just as faith and the Church [are]; but this Sacrament does not have the same form. For in the Gregorian Church this is the form: « Through this holy anointing and His most merciful mercy may the Lord forgive you whatever you have done amiss by the fault of the eyes »; in the Ambrosian [Church] this is [the form]: « I anoint you with sanctified oil in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, that, prepared after the manner of an anointed soldier for the contest, you may be able to overcome the aerial powers », or one similar to this. Therefore it does not seem that any form is substantial.

3. Likewise, all the forms of the Sacraments have been handed down through an indicative utterance; but the form of this Sacrament has been handed down through a deprecative prayer: therefore either it does not seem suitably assigned, or it is not a form, since the Sacraments of the new law posit their effect with certainty: therefore they ought to be expressed through an indicative utterance, not through a deprecative one.

4. Likewise, according to blessed James it is the prayer of faith that is necessary: if therefore prayer is [directed] to God, and God is better prayed to by the groaning of the heart than by the voice of the mouth; it seems that for the perfection of this Sacrament it is not necessary that anything be expressed orally.

It is asked, therefore, whether it has a form, and what the form is, and in what mode.

### Conclusion

> The essential form of extreme unction is a deprecative prayer.

**I respond:** It must be said that some wished to say that this Sacrament did not have an essential form of the word, but [only] one that was for its well-being; and therefore it was not expressed, nor is it found single in the Church, but various. — But nevertheless it is not safe to say this, nor [is it] according to the text of Scripture, since in the institution of this Sacrament James seems to place the greatest force in the prayer and to attribute the whole efficacy to it, when he says: *The prayer of faith shall save*; he does not say: *the anointing*. But the prayer of faith is said [to be] not that of the anointer himself, but that of the Church herself, in whose faith the Sacraments are administered. Just as, therefore, in the other Sacraments it does not suffice to believe with the heart, unless a profession be made in the outward word; so it must be understood here, that a mental prayer without a vocal one does not suffice.

And therefore the form of the word belongs to the integrity of the Sacrament — the form, I say, of the word, insofar as it is expressive of the prayer of faith; and this on account of such an institution of this Sacrament.

Hence note that there is a form of the word which expresses the act and the intention; and such a [form] is by way of the indicative and is not of the necessity of the Sacrament, but of its congruity; and this is had in some Churches, but not in the Roman [Church], which especially avoids those things that can be an occasion of deviating. And there is a form which expresses the prayer; and since the prayer is by way of deprecation, such a form is deprecative; and this belongs to the necessity of this Sacrament and is had in all the Churches, since it is touched upon in the institution of this Sacrament. And since a determinate word is not expressed, but only the prayer of faith; therefore it is not necessary that there be uniformity in the word of the prayer, but only that there be [uniformity] in the sense.

But if you ask why in this Sacrament the prayer belongs to the essence rather than in another; the answer is that the principal reason is the institution. If you ask the reason of the institution; it can be said that this has a manifold ground of congruity. The first is on the part of the recipient, who because of his infirmity is destitute; therefore he is to be relieved by prayer. — The second is on the part of the manner of curing, which is through devotion and the elevation of the soul to spiritual things; and because that which above all things excites the soul to this is prayer; therefore etc. — The third reason is on the part of the disease, since here the remission of sin takes place, the ministry of the priest intervening; and since in the remission of guilt the priest bears himself only in the manner of one who prays deprecatingly — whence also in his absolution he uses a deprecative prayer, as has been treated in the preceding — hence it is that it was most excellently instituted, that the anointing not take place without a prayer, whose expression is the form of the Sacrament, as the reasons show. — These things having been seen, it is easy to reply to the objections.

1. To that, then, which is objected, that it does not take its origin from the fount of sacred Scripture; it must be said that this is false, as is evident; indeed [it takes its origin] from that word of blessed James: *The prayer of faith shall save the sick man*.

2. To that which is objected, that the form is not the same; it must be said that, according to that which is necessary and essential to the Sacrament, it must be the same; but the form of the word is not necessary by reason of the outward voice, but insofar as it is expressive of the inward word.

3. To that which is objected concerning the indicative prayer, it must be said that it is not the same with this Sacrament and with the others, because this one has a certain special prayer which no other had, as has been seen.

4. To that which is objected, that one prays better by the groaning of the heart; it must be said that in the Sacraments, because they are outward signs, not only is that which is inward considered, but also the outward sign, by reason of which they have the character of a Sacrament; and thus the whole is clear. For although someone were to believe the Trinity, unless it were expressed in baptizing, he would not confer the Sacrament. So it must be understood in the case at hand.

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