ANOINTING OF THE SICK

Not only for the dying.For the tired, too.

The anointing of the sick is for serious illness of any kind — including chronic illness, disability, a long treatment course, and the day before surgery. It is celebrated in hospital rooms, at kitchen tables, and in bed. It can be asked for urgently.

Ask urgently → Pastoral care
Oil stock
on a blanket
WHO IT IS FOR

Chronic counts. Disability counts.

A great many people in this congregation live with conditions that will not resolve: long COVID, ME, POTS, EDS, MS, chronic pain, psychiatric illness, the ordinary grinding aftermath of surgery. The sacrament of anointing of the sick was never restricted to the last hours, and restricting it to them left generations of chronically ill people with nothing.

You may be anointed more than once. A new diagnosis, a serious flare, a hospital admission, the start of a treatment course, or a surgery each warrant it. Nobody will tell you that you are not sick enough to ask.

On chaplaincy and safety

A chaplain who will not misgender you is safety equipment, not a luxury. Where a hospital chaplaincy is unsafe for a trans or disabled patient, the Office of the Ordinary attends in person or by voice, and does not treat that request as an inconvenience.

Ask — urgently if it is urgent

Use the form below and write “urgent” at the top of it. Say where you are and how long you have.

Urgent requests are answered first

Say what the room is like

Tell the Chancery who is present, whether staff are using your name, and whether family are safe. That shapes how the visit is handled.

The visit

Bedside, at home, in hospital, or by voice where distance or infection control makes presence impossible. Sacramental anointing requires presence; the Chancery will say plainly which parts can be done at a distance.

The rite

Anointing with oil and the prayers of the 1952 Rituale Romanum, unaltered, kept short if you are exhausted.

Afterwards

You are followed up with. Anointing is recorded in the register, and the Chancery keeps a note of who is unwell so you are not forgotten between crises.

“Is any man sick among you? Let him bring in the priests of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.”

James 5:14

The last rites are a related set of prayers for the dying, and this sacrament is part of them. But anointing of the sick is not restricted to the dying and never has been. Asking for it does not mean anyone thinks you are about to die.
Yes. Chronic illness and disability are exactly the situations this sacrament was made for, and you may be anointed again whenever things worsen or a new phase of treatment begins.
Yes, and it is one of the most common requests here. The Chancery also celebrates a Blessing Before Surgery for the people around you, which can be done the same day.
Yes, within reach, and by voice where distance or infection control prevents presence. Say in your first message which hospital, which unit, and whether the staff are using your correct name.
Say so. The Chancery has handled this before: the visit can be timed around visiting hours, kept brief, or arranged with a nurse’s help so that you are not left alone with people who harm you.

Ask to be anointed

If this is urgent, write “urgent” in your first line and give a phone number.

FF_SACRAMENT
Read by the Office of the Ordinary. Health details are held in confidence, never published, and never given to a family member who has not been named by you.
ANOINTING

You are sick enough
to be prayed over.

Ask now rather than at the worst hour. Urgent requests move to the front.

Ask → Prayer requests