extreme unction

1. Ecclesiol .: Application of sacred oil to the eyes, the ears, the nostrils, the mouth, the nands, and the feet of a person dangerously ill, the ceremony being designed to symbolize application the grace to the soul. 2. Ch. Hist .: In James v. 14, 15, the following injunction is given: "Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: and the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him." Here the anointing and prayer take place in connection with serious sickne , which they are designed to heal, while there is also a spiritual element, the forgivene of sins. Though little is said on the subject in Church history, these directions were without doubt duly followed in the Christian Church generally in the early centuries, and they have been carried out quite recently, and still are so by the "Peculiar People" (q. v.). In the seventh century the rite became prominent, and was the subject of careful consideration in the twelfth, stre being laid on the spiritual rather than on the curative effects of the ceremony. In the Council of Florence, A. D. 1439 to 1442, under the auspices of Pope Eugenius IV., it was raised to the dignity of a sacrament, and the Council of Trent, between A. D. 1545 and 1563, confirmed the decision. It is now administered as an ordinance, preparing a dying person for the future state of existence rather than with a hope of removing his malady and "raising him up" for further service in this world. Extreme Unction is firmly rooted in the Roman Church, but is almost universally disused among Protestants. ěx-trē me-lě , a. [Eng. extreme; -le .] Having no extremes or extremities; boundle , limitle , infinite. ěx-trē me-lỹ, *ex-treame-ly, adv . [Eng. extreme; -ly.] In an extreme degree; to the utmost point or degree; very greatly, exceedingly. ěx-trēm-Ist, s. [Eng. extrem(e); -ist.] One who holds extreme doctrines or opinions; one who is extreme in his views.