THEOLOGOS 1/2015 | ŠTÚDIE The four postulates above, which the Central Preparatory Committee ultimately presented, had already developed over a long time The main issue touched upon was to reverse the tendency to treat the anointing as a sacrament of the dying In Krakow in 1934 in the Jesuit Fathers Publication an article by Fr Ernest Matzel appeared called O sakramencie chorych On the Sacrement of the Sick In the first words of the author asks the question: „Which also from among the holy sacraments is the least known even by good Catholics? It is found that, and we are not mistaken when it is said, that the sacrament which is least known is clearly the Sacrament of the Sick, that is the so-called Last Anointing with Sacred Oil Before the Sacrament, people often experience very great fear, so that at its reception they move away as far as possible? Again, this sacrament is the Sacred Anointing of the Sick.“12 Knowledge of the sacrament was indeed poor This in turn contributed to the formation of a number of superstitions When the priest showed up in at the home of the sick, some understood it as a sign of certain death Often, when the priest appeared on the doorstep, relatives of the patient would suddenly burst out into tears Instead of being a sign of hope the Anointing became a sign of nohope That is why Fr Matzel proposed to change the understanding of the word „last“ and not to apply it to the dying alone The Anointing, as theologians explain, is the „last“, but in terms of the number of anointings received In life of the Christian we encounter several other sacramental anointings: in Baptism, Confirmation, and ordination The anointing administered through the Sacrament of the Sick, therefore, is the last in order The proposed names for the above sacrament were: holy oil, prayer oil, oil of blessing, anointing with holy oil, the anointing of God, the holy anointing of the sick, laying on of hands.13 Besides changing the name of the Sacrament there should be a catechesis for the Sacrament so that the faithful can have a clear understanding of the anointing So they know that it was established for the salvation of the soul and the human body A similar understanding arose in a small booklet, which was published in March 1956 The author explains why the sacrament of anointing has the name „last“ He states that it is, „not in the sense that supposedly after it has been administered that we meet an inevitable death Because although this sacrament is established primarily for the health of the soul, it does, however – if it is the will of God – return the sick person to bodily health Most people die after its reception, therefore the one who receives it is already dangerously sick, often terminally ill, and sometimes the patient‘s family calls a priest only when there is no longer rea12 13 E MATZEL, O Sakramencie chorych, Kraków 1934, p. 3 cf E MATZEL, O Sakramencie , s. 5 – 11 15