The Patron Saint of Healing

PLEASE CALL THE RECTORY IN THE EVENT OF AN EMERGENCY REQUIRING A PRIEST

(630) 627-0687

• This Sacrament is primarily intended for those who suffer from serious or chronic physical or emotional illnesses, or those who struggle with the infirmities of age.

• A person does not have to be in danger of death in order to receive the Sacrament.

• Those scheduled for surgery or a serious hospital stay may wish to receive this Sacrament prior to entering the hospital. Contact the rectory office for additional information.

Please inform the parish office if one of your family members is hospitalized at Good Samaritan Hospital, Elmhurst Hospital, or Central DuPage Hospital and you wish a priest to visit.  Additionally, Catholic chaplains are assigned to all hospitals to administer the Sacraments and care for the spiritual needs of patients. 

1514 The Anointing of the Sick "is not a sacrament for those only who are at the point of death. Hence, as soon as anyone of the faithful begins to be in danger of death from sickness or old age, the fitting time for him to receive this sacrament has certainly already arrived."

1499 "By the sacred anointing of the sick and the prayer of the priests the whole Church commends those who are ill to the suffering and glorified Lord, that he may raise them up and save them. And indeed she exhorts them to contribute to the good of the People of God by freely uniting themselves to the Passion and death of Christ."

1527 The sacrament of Anointing of the Sick has as its purpose the conferral of a special grace on the Christian experiencing the difficulties inherent in the condition of grave illness or old age.

1531 The celebration of the Anointing of the Sick consists essentially in the anointing of the forehead and hands of the sick person (in the Roman Rite) or of other parts of the body (in the Eastern rite), the anointing being accompanied by the liturgical prayer of the celebrant asking for the special grace of this sacrament.

1524 In addition to the Anointing of the Sick, the Church offers those who are about to leave this life the Eucharist as viaticum. Communion in the body and blood of Christ, received at this moment of "passing over" to the Father, has a particular significance and importance. It is the seed of eternal life and the power of resurrection, according to the words of the Lord: "He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day." The sacrament of Christ once dead and now risen, the Eucharist is here the sacrament of passing over from death to life, from this world to the Father.