Dist. 23, Art. 2, Q. 2
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-a2-q2
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### Question II. *To whom this Sacrament ought to be given.*

Secondly it is asked, to whom this Sacrament ought to be given. And that [it ought to be given] to the sick alone seems [to be the case]:

1. From that which is said in the last [chapter] of James: *Is any among you sick? let him bring in the priests:* therefore it is enjoined upon them that they bring in priests; and this seems [clear] especially from the following text: *The prayer of faith shall save the sick man,* etc.

2. Likewise, that [it ought to be given] to those alone *who have the use of reason* is shown from the text, when it is said: *Let him bring in the priests;* and afterward: *If he be in sins:* if therefore to seek priests and to be in sins is proper to adults and to those who have the use of reason, it seems [so], etc.

3. Likewise, that [it ought to be given] *only to those existing in danger of death* is seen from the very name by which it is called *extreme unction:* therefore it ought to be given only in the last extremities.

**On the contrary:** 1. That it ought *not to be given to the sick alone* is seen from the Gloss itself, which says: «Is any among you sick? in mind and body, that is, or in faith»: therefore it ought to be given not only to those ailing bodily, but also to those ailing spiritually.

2. Likewise, this unction ought to be given to those drawing near to death and existing in danger of death; but he who *enters a just war* is in danger of death: therefore, etc.

3. Likewise, that [it ought] *not [to be given] to those alone who have the use of reason* is seen: because not only such persons are sick, but also others who need relief, such as little children and the mad: therefore it seems that this Sacrament ought to be given to them, which is the unction of the sick.

4. Likewise, this is proved from the text, in which it is said: *Is any among you sick?* *Anyone* [*quis*] is understood *indefinitely:* therefore whoever is sick ought to be anointed, therefore etc.

### Conclusion

> **Conclusion.** *Extreme unction ought to be given only to the sick who have the use of reason and who exist in danger of death.*

**I respond:** It must be said that this Sacrament is principally for *the wiping away of venial [sins]*, according as they can receive its fitting effect, and through this it serves for *the relief of the soul* weighed down by a body subject to corruption: and therefore that Sacrament ought to be given only to the sick, who have been able to sin venially, and to these insofar as they are at the point of death; for thus can they be freed from venial fault fittingly and sufficiently. And this is intimated in the text itself: *the state*, I say, *of infirmity* — and this is what is meant by *is sick*; *the danger* — in this, that it says *any* [*quis*], as if discriminatingly and notably and gravely, so that the power of nature and the help of medicine fail; but the *discretion of reason* — in this, that it says: *let him bring in the priests*, and again in what is subjoined: *if he be in sins, they shall be forgiven him.* — Therefore the reasons showing that this Sacrament ought to be given only to the sick who have the use of reason and who exist in danger of death are to be granted.

1. To that which is objected concerning the Gloss, it must be said that it is either understood sub-disjunctively, nor is bodily infirmity excluded, but presupposed.

2. To that which is objected concerning those who enter a just war, it must be said that although such persons are in danger of death according to fortune, yet not according to nature; but the ecclesiastical Sacraments do not follow fortune, but regard nature. If you object concerning him who has been condemned by sentence; it must be said that such a one is infamous in the face of the Church, even if according to the truth he has no fault. And thus that argument is clear.

3. To that which is objected, that others need relief; it must be said that this Sacrament is not principally ordained to this, as is clear from its very form, but to the remission of the sins which have been committed through the exterior senses; and therefore it is not given to infants nor to those naturally mad.

4. To that which is objected concerning this word *any* [*quis*], it must be said that it is taken rather *discriminatingly* than *indefinitely.* And if you object that such a mode does not befit that word; it must be said that this is false, because such a mode is annexed to the interrogative manner of taking it.

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