Anointing of the Sick is available upon request. Please call the Cathedral Parish Office at 217-522-3342 and request to speak with a priest or speak with a priest after Mass to determine an appropriate time.

The Sacrament of Anointing is meant for the physical healing of illness, if it be God’s will, and for the spiritual healing of the sick by the reception of the Holy Spirit’s gift of peace and fortitude to deal with the difficulties that accompany illness or the frailty of old age.

As such, a person need not be at the point of death to receive the Sacrament. What is required is that a person be in the danger of death or suffering from grave illness or advanced age.

The Church leaves it to the prudential judgment of Her ministers to dispense the Sacraments according to the Church’s intentions. Church law requires that a person be “dangerously ill,” such that often there must be a perceived threat of death. This, however, does not mean that the Sacrament is limited to those who are imminently dying.

In general, we can ask two questions: am I in significant danger of death and does my illness or age seriously impair my health? If the answer to both questions is yes, then consider asking a priest if you can receive anointing of the sick. When in doubt, ask a priest!

Anointing of the Sick is one of the seven sacraments and helps to heal and strengthen the soul and body of a Catholic who is seriously ill. The Sacrament used to be called “Extreme Unction,” a term which is no longer used in the Church’s language. Viaticum, sometimes offered in conjunction with the Sacrament, is Holy Communion given to those in danger of death, meant as “food for the journey.”

One of the effects of the Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick is the forgiveness of sins, even grave sins, for those unable to make regular recourse to the Sacrament of Reconciliation. If possible, a person should receive Sacramental Confession before being anointed.

If a person previously in danger of death recovers after receiving the Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick, however, he or she should seek out the Sacrament of Reconciliation immediately to confess any unconfessed grave sin, as that is the normative means established by Christ to forgive sins of a serious nature.

There is no hard and fast rule for how often someone may receive anointing. Church law permits the Sacrament to be repeated if the sick person, having recovered, again becomes seriously ill or if, in the same illness, the danger becomes more serious.