Extreme Unction, a sacrament of the Roman Catholic church, and of the Greek and other eastern churches, administered for the spiritual and bodily relief of the sick. The Greeks call it the "oil of prayer." The Scriptural authority on which this rite is founded is taken from St. James v. 14, 15. In the Latin church it is called extreme or "last unction, because, unlike the unctions of baptism, confirmation, and holy orders, this is reserved for the last hour. The effects of this sacrament are held to be the following: spiritual strength to overcome the enemies of salvation in the final struggle of the dying hour, and patience to support the pains and discomforts of illness; the indirect forgiveness of all mortal sins of which the sufferer may be unconscious, and the direct remission of venial sins; the removal of the weakness of the spiritual faculties caused by the habits of sin; and restoration to health when it is for the welfare of the patient. The sacrament is administered by the priest, who anoints with consecrated oil the eyes, ears, nostrils, mouth, hands, and feet of the sick person, praying at each unction that the Lord by his mercy and through that unction will remit the sins committed through each sense. -The various eastern churches, Greek, Armenian, Coptic, and Nestorian, agree with the Latins in regarding this as one of the seven sacraments instituted by Christ; but they differ in that they do not reserve its use for the sick in 'danger of death.

Moreover, in the Greek church it is sometimes administered by as many as seven priests at the same time, but ordinarily by two. The Greek form of words does not substantially differ from that employed by the Latins.