Holy Oils
(OLEA SACRA).
Liturgical Benediction
Oil is a product of
great utility the symbolic signification of which harmonizes with
its natural uses. It serves to sweeten, to strengthen, to render
supple; and the Church employs it for these purposes in its rites.
The liturgical blessing of oil is very ancient. It is met with in
the fourth century in the "Prayer Book of Serapion", and in the
Apostolic Constitutions, also in a Syriac document of the fifth or
sixth century entitles "Testamentum Domini Nostri Jesu Christi."
The aforesaid book of Bishop Serapion (d. c. 362) contains the
formula for the blessing of the oil and chrism for those who had
just received baptism, which was in those days followed by
confirmation in such a manner that the administration of both
sacraments constituted a single ceremony. In the same book is found
a separate form of blessing for the oil of the sick, for water, and
for bread. It is an invocation to Christ to give His creatures
power to cure the sick, to purify the soul, to drive away impure
spirits, and to wipe out sins. In the Old Testament oil was used
for the consecration of priests and kings, also in all great
liturgical functions, e.g., sacrifices, legal purifications, and the
consecration of altars (Exod., XXX, 23,33; XXXIX, 27, 29; xi, 9, 15;
Levit., vi, 15 sq.)
In the primitive Church the oils to be used in the initiation of
catechumens were consecrated on Holy Thursday in the Missa
Chrismalis. Two different ampullae were used, one containing pure
oil, the other oil mixed with balsam. This mixture, was made by the
pope himself before the Mass, in the sacristy. During the Mass two
clerics of lesser rank stood before the altar holding the ampullae.
Towards the end of the Canon the faithful were allowed to make use
of themselves (Tertull., "Ad Scap." iv.), but the same oil also
served for extreme unction. The vessels holding it were placed on
the railingg surrounding the space reserved for the clergy. The
deacons brought some of these vessels to the altar to receive that
blessing of the pope which we read today in the Gelasian and
Gregorian Sacramentaries. The pope continued the mass while the
deacons returned the ampullae to the place whence they had brought
them, and a certain number of bishops and priests repeated over
those which had not been brought to the altar the formula pronounced
by the pope. The consecration of the large ampullae to the
archdeacon and one of his asistants. The archdeacon presented to
the pope the ampulla of perfumed oil, the pntiff breathed on it
three times, made the sign of the cross, and recited a prayer which
bears a certain resemblance to the Preface of the Mass. The ampulla
of pure oil was next presented to the pope, and was consecrated with
less solemnity. The consecration and benediction of the holy oils
now take place on Holy Thursday at a very solemn ceremony reserved
for the the bishop. He blesses the oil which is to serve at the
anointing of catechumens previous to baptism, next the oil with
which the sick are annointed in the Sacrament of Extreme Unctiion,
finally the chrism, which is a mixture of oil and balsam, and which
is used in the administraion of the Sacrament of Confirmation.
The Oil of the Sick
The use of oil in Christian antiquity was
not, as has been maintained, a medical prescription adopted by the
Church. In Apostolic times St. James directed the priests or
ancients of the community to pray for the sick man and to anoint him
with oil in the name of Jesus (James, v, 14). And shortly
afterwards, probably in the second century, a gold leaf found at
Beyrout, in Syria, contains an exorcism "pronounced in the dwelling
of him whom I annointed." This is, after the text of St. James, the
earliest evidence of the use of oil accompained by a formula in the
administration of a sacrament [see Theophilus of Antioch (d. 181),
"Ad Autolyc." I, xii, in P.G. VI, 1042]. The oil of the sick might
be blessed not only by priests, but also by laymen of high repute
for virtue, and even by women. In the sixth century St. Monegundus
on his death-bed blessed oil and salt which were afterwards used for
the sick ("Vita S. Monegundi", ix, in "Acta SS. Ord. S. Bened." I,
204; Gregory of Tours, "Vita Patr." xix, 4). A similar instance is
met with in the life of St. Radegund (Vita Radeg., I, xxxv). In the
West, however, the tendency was early manifested to confine the
blessing of the oil of the sick to bishops only; about 730 St.
Boniface ordered all priests to have recourse to the bishop
(Statut., xxiv). In 744 the tendency was not so pronounced in
France, but the Council of Châlons (813) imposed on priests the
obligation of anointing the sick with oil blessed by the bishop
(can. xiviii). In the East the priests retained the right to
consecrate the oil. The custom even became established, and has
lasted to the present time, of having the oil blessed in the house
of the sick person, or in the church, by a priest, or, if possible,
by seven priests.
Oil of Catechumens
During the time of the catechumentate those
who were about to become Christians received one or more anointings
with holy oil. The oil used on this occasion was that which had
received the blessing mentioned in the Apostolic Constitutions (VII,
xlii). This anointing of the catechumens is explained by the fact
that they were regarded to a certain extent as being possessed by
the devil until Christ should enter into them through baptism. The
oil of catechumens is also used in the ordination of priests and the
coronation of kings and queens.
Oil of Chrism
This is used in the West immediately after baptism;
both in the east and West it was used very early for the Sacrament
of Confirmation (see CHRISM).
Oil in the Agnus Dei
The "Ordo Romanus" (c. 730) shows that in
Rome, on Holy Thursday, the archdeacon went very early to St. John
Lateran, where he mixed wax and oil in a large vase, this mixture
being used to make the Agnus Deis (Mabillon, "Mus. Ital.", II, 31.)
The same document shows that in suburban churches wax was used
while Pseudo-Aleuin (Divin. offic., xix) says that both wax and oil
were used.
Oil in the Eucharistic Bread
In the Liturgy of the Nestorians and
the Syrian Jacobites, the elements presented at the Eucharistic
Consecration have been prepared with oil. Among the Nestorians a
special rubric prescribes the use of flour, salt, olive oil, and
water ("Officium Renovatiionis fermenti"; Matente, "De antiquis
Eccles. ritib.", I, iii, 7; Badger, "Nestorians", II, 162; Lebrun,
"Explic. des prieres de la messe", dissert, xi, 9).
Oil in the Font
From the second century the custom was
established of administering baptism with water specially blessed
for this purpose. Nevertheless, the sacrament was valid if ordinary
water was used. We are not well informed as to the nature of the
consecration of this baptismal water, but it must be said that the
most ancient indications and descriptions say nothing of the use of
oil in this consecration. The first witness, Pseudo-Dionysius, does
not go beyond the first half of the sixth century; he tells us that
the bishop pours oil on the water of the fonts in the form of a
cross (De hierarch, eccles., IV, x; cf. II, viii). There is no doubt
that this rite was introduced at a comparatively late period.
Oil in Church Lamps
The maintenance of more or less
numerous lamps in the churches was a source
of expense which the faithful in their generosity hastened to meet by establishing a fund to purchase
oil. The Council of Braga (572) decided that a third
of the offerings made to the Church should be used
for purchasing oil for the light. The quantity of oil
thus consumed was greater when the lamp burned
before a famous tomb or shrine, in which case it was daily distributed to pilgrims, who venerated it as a relic
(Kraus, "Real-Encykl.", II, 522). (See LIGHTS.)
SCHROD in Kirchenlex., s.v. Oele helige; BYKOUKAL in Kirchl.
Handlex., II (1909). 1205; BARRAUD, Notice sur les saintes huiles
et les vases qui servent a les contenir in Bulletin Monumental, VII
(1871), 451-505; Revue de l Art Chreiten, II (1884), 146-53.
H. LECLERCQ
Transcribed by Beth Ste-Marie
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume VII
Copyright © 1910 by Robert Appleton Company
Online Edition Copyright © 1999 by Kevin Knight
Nihil Obstat, June 1, 1910. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor
Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York