of this sacrament, says: "It is a very grievous sin to defer the holy Unction until, all hope of recovery now lost, life begins to ebb, and the sick person is fast verging into a state of insensibility. It is obvious that, if administered while the mental faculties are yet unimpaired, while reason still exercises her dominion, and the mind is still capable of eliciting acts of faith and of directing the will to sentiments of piety, the sacrament must contribute to a more abundant participation of the graces which it imparts."

When was it that our divine Saviour instituted this sacrament? It is generally believed that He instituted Extreme Unction, immediately after the Sacrament of Penance, and a little while before His Ascension. However this may be, the Apostle St. James has made known to us the institution of this sacrament, when he said:

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: And the prayer of faith shall save the sick man and the Lord shall raise him up and if he be in sins, they shall be forgiven him." Obedient to this precept, the Church, since her establishment in the world, has never ceased to make use of this

sacrament.

According to the words of the Apostle, two things are essential to Extreme Unction, and constitute its matter and form; these are the unction and the prayer which accompanies it. The unction or anointing is made with oil of olives, which the bishop consecrates on Holy Thursday. The holy oil is applied to each of the principal members of the sick person, to purify them from the sins of which they have been the organs and the instruments. While anointing, the priest pronounces this prayer: "May the Lord by this unction, and by His most tender mercy, forgive you whatever evil you have done by your sight, by your smell, and by your other senses." How powerful and efficacious is this prayer, since the Lord has promised that He will always hear it! We ought therefore to return the most lively thanks to the goodness of our divine Saviour, who has bestowed upon us this precious gift! But, alas! how few are there who testify by their conduct a proper esteem and respect for this august sacrament! On the contrary, many Christians seem to dread the idea of receiving it, when the minister of Jesus Christ deems it necessary to administer it to them. And why? Simply

because they are ignorant of the salutary effects which this sacra

ment produces.

Among these effects, there is one of great value, and of which St. James speaks. He hesitates not to assert that this sacrament blots out sins. If the sick man "be in sins, they shall be forgiven him." Yes, Extreme Unction remits venial sins; but does it also efface mortal sins? Listen attentively to what I am about to say, and give thanks for it to the infinite goodness of God. Without doubt, the Sacrament of Penance is, after Baptism, the source whence God requires that we should seek the remission of our sins and the grace of reconciliation; for this reason, this sacrament, when it can be received, should precede Extreme Unction: yet, it may happen that a person, after having received absolution and communion, falls into a mortal sin, of which he is not aware, and which he consequently will not confess; it is possible that he may have received absolution and communion in a bad state, and yet be ignorant of it in this case, if he receive Extreme Unction with a sincere sorrow for his sins, and if he place no obstacle in the way of this sacrament, he receives the remission of his faults as an effect proper to Extreme Unction, which has been instituted for this end by our bountiful Saviour. Hence this sacrament is called by the holy fathers the supplement and complement of penance.

Extreme Unction effaces the residue of sin. But what do you understand by the residue of sin? It is the temporal punishment which the sinner has to undergo in this world or in the next, in expiation of his mortal sins already pardoned, and of his other lighter faults. Extreme Unction delivers the sick person from them, but in proportion to the dispositions with which this sacrament is received. The residue of sin is also a certain sluggishness, a kind of disrelish for good,-a want of application and fervor for the things of God,-a certain languor, which results from the disease of the soul; Extreme Unction cures us of all these and blots out whatever may be sinful in them.

Another effect which Extreme Unction produces, is, that it gives us the grace of consolation, causes abundant blessings to descend into our hearts, strengthens us to die well, some with joy, others in tranquillity and peace, or, at least, without trouble and discouragement. It clothes the sick person with an invincible power to

overcome the tempter; it imparts to the soul of the dying the hope of eternal rewards; it strips death of its terrors and transforms it into an angel of heaven, summoning us from the miseries of this world and transplanting us into the abodes of ineffable delights. Listen to those beautiful words of the Council of Trent: "At the same time that the external unction is applied to the afflicted members of the sick man, the interior unction of the Holy Ghost is infused into his soul, comforting him, consoling him, and giving him strength to bear the rigors of his sickness, by exciting in him a great hope and confidence in the divine mercies." Whence, in fact, does it come, that this fond husband, so soon to be torn from the wife whom he loves with the tenderest affection, bears his separation with such calmness and patience? How is this good father able to give his last blessing to his dear children with so much resignation? Where has that poor sinner, lately so tormented by the pains of remorse,-where has he found such peace and tranquillity that he seems to be replenished with consolations? Oh! the holy oil of Extreme Unction has fortified them, and enabled them to become thus triumphant in the combat against impatience, against the regret which might naturally arise from the breaking of the bonds which bind them to life, and against the terrors of death and its consequences. They are marked with the cross of Jesus Christ, the inexhaustible source of consolations and of graces: they feel and experience the truth of the promise made them by their blessed Lord, when He said: "Come to me all you who labor and are heavy laden and I will refresh you." Yes, my Brethren, the ministers of the living God, who are so often called to the deathbeds of His servants, can assure you that Extreme Unction really produces in the souls of such as receive it worthily all these salutary effects and wonderful changes.

How greatly then are those Christians to be pitied, who fear this sacrament so much, that all kinds of artifices must be resorted to, to induce them to receive it! Can we have recourse too soon to consolations so necessary in that state when the world is about to forsake us, and friends and relations are powerless to comfort us? But perhaps you regard this sacrament as the forerunner of death. You are in error if you do. Our blessed Lord instituted it not to hasten your death, but to hasten your cure. If God judges that

the recovery of health will conduce to your salvation; if the prolongation of your life will contribute to your own sanctification and the divine glory, the effect of the sacrament will certainly be to drive away your disease, and cure you. But, if you have recourse to this sacrament only when your life is despaired of, is it not a tempting of God to expect your cure from Him then?

How good Thou art, O my God! to show such mercy to us at the very time we are about to appear before Thy justice! Permit not, O Lord, that we pass out of life without the benefit of this sacrament. We do not wish to neglect any of the graces which Thy paternal bounty has prepared for us, and we shall endeavor to merit, by a truly Christian life, the favor which we implore from Thy mercy. From this moment we conjure Thee to grant us at the hour of death, the spirit of faith, of prayer, of penance and of compunction which should accompany the reception of Extreme Unction. May Thy mercy pardon us all, O my God! that Thy supreme justice may discover nothing to punish in our souls,—so that dying in Thy arms the death of the just, we may live eternally with Thee.-AMEN.

SERMON LXXXVII.

HOLY ORDERS.

"Let a man so look upon us as the ministers of Christ, and the dispensers of the mysteries of God."-1 CORINTHIANS, iv: 1.

It was not sufficient for the love of our Lord Jesus Christ to have regenerated man in Baptism, to have fortified and strengthened him in the faith by Confirmation, to feed him with the bread of angels in the holy Eucharist, to wash him from all the stains of sin in Penance, and to sanctify his departure out of this world by Extreme Unction. Our loving Lord wished to establish other sacraments, to sanctify the two principal states of the world, namely the state of priesthood and that of matrimony. We have

yet to explain these two sacraments, and to-day I shall speak of the first of them,-Holy Orders.

What the prophets had long before announced, Christ came to accomplish. He came to found a new kingdom, to promulgate a new law, to institute a new sacrifice, and consequently, a new priesthood. Under the ancient law, the tribe of Levi alone was called by the Lord to exercise the functions of the priesthood, and to offer to God the sacrifices appointed by the Jewish religion. So, under the law of grace, it is not granted to all the faithful to be elevated to the dignity of the priesthood and to be invested with the powers necessary to exercise the sacred functions. According to the order established by our Saviour, those alone can offer sacrifice, who have received a special vocation from God, and who have been especially consecrated for these sublime functions by the reception of the Sacrament of Orders.

Holy Orders, therefore, is a sacrament which gives power and grace to exercise, in a holy manner, the ecclesiastical functions. These functions are important, holy and sublime; therefore, the Church requires that those who aspire to them should make a long previous preparation, should receive several minor Orders, and only reach by degrees the high dignity of the priesthood. The first step toward the sanctuary is the reception of tonsure. The prince of the Apostles, St. Peter, instituted this holy ceremony in memory of our blessed Lord's crown of thorns, that, what had served in the hands of the wicked as a humiliation and torment to Jesus Christ, might become for the Apostles a sign of honor and of glory. This tonsure, or shaving of the crown of the head, reminds the ministers of the Church, that having renounced the world, they belong henceforward specially to God, are consecrated to His service, and must henceforth live only for their divine Master.

Having received tonsure, the candidate for the ministry goes on step by step through the four minor Orders, until he reaches the Holy Orders, which consecrate him irrevocably to the service of the altar. He becomes a sub-deacon, that is to say, he is called to serve the deacon at the altar. If he be admitted to deaconship, he receives the power of serving, on solemn occasions, the priest during the celebration of the divine mysteries and of singing the Gospel. In fine, the deacon receives the third Holy Order, in which this