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| | Encyclopedia :: encyclopedia : Roman Catholic Church (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-22) |
 | | It is conferred by anointing with chrism, an oil into which balm has been mixed, giving it a special perfume, together with a special prayer that refers, in both its Western and Eastern variants, to a gift of the Holy Spirit that marks the recipient as with a seal. |
| | In it a priest anoints with oil blessed specifically for that purpose those who because of sickness or old age are in incipient danger of dying. |
| | The other "Last Rites" are Confession (if the dying person is physically unable to confess, at least absolution, conditional on the existence of contrition, is given), and the Eucharist, which when administered to the dying is known as "Viaticum", a word whose original meaning in Latin was "provision for a journey". |
| www.hallencyclopedia.com /Roman_Catholic_Church (9823 words) |
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