This sacrament is only administered to those who are thought to be on the verge of death. Though if one unexpectedly recovers from near-death after receiving the sacrament, he can still receive it once he nears death again. One of its purposes is to heal the soul of sin, provided the penitent is truly contrite for his sins. However, if the penitent can go to the Sacrament of Confession, he must. Extreme Unction sanctifies the individual in his or her state of suffering, uniting him or her more perfectly to the Passion of Christ. The sacrament can best be described as a spiritual healing. It gives the recipient special graces of final perseverance to endure to the last thought of one’s life. The sacrament will also physically heal the recipient if that is conducive to the individual’s spiritual health.
The matter of the sacrament is the laying on of hands and the priest’s anointing of the person with oil. The form is the prayer prayed by the priest. The minister is a priest.
We find scriptural precedent for the sacrament throughout the New Testament as Christ lays His hands on people and they are cured. St. James also describes how in the early Church, a similar situation occuring among Christ’s successors, the apostles: “Is any among you sick? 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 will save the sick man, and the Lord will raise him up; and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man has great power in its effects” (Jas 5:14-16).