For the pastoral care of those in danger of death the Church offers several ministrations. The administration of the sacraments of Confession, of the Anointing of the Sick, and of the Holy Eucharist (called Viaticum when received at the end of life) would be familiar to many Catholics. Another sacrament, however, can comprise a part of authentic pastoral care for the dying. For those who have never received Confirmation, the Church instructs her priests to administer the sacrament in these circumstances. In fact, she provides special faculties for them to do so. The reasons for this dispensation of the Church’s wisdom manifest important truths about the nature of Confirmation more generally. Understanding the Church’s practice in this regard clarifies several elements about the sacrament for the benefit of all believers.
For its part, the Catechism of the Catholic Church lists five effects of the sacrament of Confirmation (CCC, no. 1303). These include: (1) a deeper rooting in the divine filiation for prayer and praise; (2) a deepened bond with Christ and (3) with His Church; (4) an increase of the gifts of the Holy Spirit received in Baptism; and (5) a strength for public witness to the faith amidst trials. In their own way, each of these graces applies uniquely to a Christian in danger of death.
In the Latin Church, the sacrament of Confirmation is ordinarily reserved for those having reached the age of discretion (1983 CIC, can. 891). However, in danger of death even one beneath this age is nonetheless to be confirmed (CCC 1307). In fact, every priest enjoys the faculty to confirm such persons validly and licitly (1983 CIC, can. 883.3). He must do so, however, with Chrism blessed by a bishop (1983 CIC, can. 880 §2). In that sense, the bishop is present at every Confirmation through the Sacred Chrism.
The reasons for the Church’s wisdom in confirming those in danger of death can be categorized in two distinct, albeit related, realms. In the first place, the grace of Confirmation assists the dying person to avoid the fear and anxiety that can accompany grave illness and impending death. The increase in the gifts of the Holy Spirit (CCC 1303), especially that of fortitude, but also of knowledge (of the fleeting nature of worldly pleasures) and of understanding (for example, in the salvific nature of human suffering) will assist the dying to unite their sufferings to the Cross of Christ. In the second place, the graces of Confirmation will benefit the soul for eternity. The confirmed person, sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit, will praise God distinctly, as one indelibly marked for divine service.
At the present moment in the Latin Church, preparation for the reception of the sacrament of Confirmation tends to emphasize the grace given for public witness to the faith. Indeed, this stands as a principal effect of this sacrament. The fifteenth-century Council of Florence, for example, identified this grace as the effect of the sacrament. The Council taught: “the Holy Spirit is given for strength…[to] courageously confess the name of Christ” (DS 1319). Effective catechetical programs are right to emphasize that Confirmation offers a grace to witness to the faith and to share it with others. The confirmed person uniquely stands ready to confess the faith publicly amidst trials. Today, that task will mean that the confirmed will need to witness to the dignity of human life and to the sanctity of marriage in the face of opposition and moral confusion. Nonetheless, even those who, due to the proximity of impending death, will not profess the faith in the public square or serve as a leaven in the political and economic orders in the usual sense, will still benefit from the grace of Confirmation.
According to the Catechism, the first effect of this sacrament is a strengthening for liturgical praise. One is to be confirmed in danger of death both for the strength of the prayer offered during the trial of death and also because this sacrament will benefit a soul for eternity. Given the sacramental character or indelible mark conferred in this sacrament, a confirmed person differs from one who has been baptized but not yet confirmed (CCC 1304). Upon reception of the sacramental character, a confirmed Christian stands as an official, fully initiated witness (CCC 1305). That witness is first given by means of the praise of prayer. No public witness, even the essential witness of bringing the faith into public life, can take precedence over the first task of every believer: to offer praise to the Creator. As St. Benedict explains, “nothing is to be preferred to the worship of God.”
The administration of the sacrament of Confirmation to those in danger of death, including the youngest children, reminds believers of essential truths about the sacraments. In a similar way, the Confirmation of a severely handicapped, baptized person (an indispensable aspect of the pastoral care to which such a person has a right) helps to bring clarity to important features of the sacraments. The sacraments of the Church stand as sacred signs instituted by Christ through which God confers grace. Suitable preparation and deepened understanding of what transpires in the sacraments remains important, but they should never eclipse the fundamental reality that God acts in the sacraments. Confirmation of those in danger of death reminds every believer that, in the sacraments, something with eternal consequences really happens.
The administration of the sacrament of Confirmation, even in danger of death, is important because this sacrament offers a grace that lasts forever. For all eternity, the confirmed will praise God and rest in communion with Him and with the Church Triumphant as fully initiated Christians, sealed with a strength for celestial praise. A deeper knowledge of this insufficiently well-known aspect of the Church’s pastoral care would benefit every believer. Reflection on this aspect of Catholic life manifests important truths about the nature of the sacraments in general and of Confirmation in particular.{1}
{1} For more information on the sacrament of Confirmation, see my Confirmation (Cape Girardeau, MO: ECT Press, forthcoming); Emmanuel Doronzo, OMI, Tractatus Dogmatici De Baptismo et Confirmatione (Milwaukee: Bruce, 1947); Lawrence Feingold, Touched by Christ: The Sacramental Economy (Steubenville, OH: Emmaus Academic, 2021); James R. Gillis, OP, The Effects of the Sacrament of Confirmation (Washington, DC: Pontifical Institute “Angelicum,” Rome, 1940); and Marian Bohen, OSU, The Mystery of Confirmation: A Theology of the Sacrament (New York: Herder & Herder, 1963).
Ryan Connors is Rector of the Seminary of Our Lady of Providence in Providence, Rhode Island.
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