22. Furthermore, bishops on the day of their consecration have been wont to ride on horses covered with white robes; to represent that which we read in the Apocalypse, 'The armies which are in heaven follow him riding on white horses.' [Footnote 531] The armies which are in heaven are good and just men and prelates, who as these heavenly riders do daily follow God in all good works: who for this reason are said to be in heaven, because they love and seek after heavenly things alone; whence the Apostle saith, 'Our conversation is in heaven.' [Footnote 532] These armies, that is good and just men and prelates, follow Jesus, whensoever they vanquish vices in themselves by discipline, in their neighbours by admonition. Whence S. James saith, 'He which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.' [Footnote 533] These armies have white horses and chaste bodies.
[Footnote 531: Apocalypse xix, 14.]
[Footnote 532: Philippians iii, 20.]
[Footnote 533: S. James v, 20.]
23. The bodies of good men are also called horses, because, just as horses are governed by the will of the rider, so are the bodies of the just ruled according to the will of Christ. These horses ought to be white, or covered with white trappings: that is, the bodies of just men and prelates ought to be chaste and pure. For if they be not pure they cannot follow Christ. And S. Peter saith, 'Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that we should follow His steps, who did not sin, neither was guile found in his mouth.' [Footnote 534] Further, the clergy of the holy Roman Church, by the grant of the Emperor Constantine, do ride upon horses adorned with trappings of the most snowy white. On what day a bishop ought to be consecrated, and why a copy of the gospels is put upon his shoulders in consecration, shall be declared in the second book, under the chapter upon Bishops. [Footnote 535]
[Footnote 534: I S. Peter ii, 21.]
[Footnote 535: The consecration of a bishop, in the which the Holy Ghost is present unto such as receive it worthily, is administered always on the Lord's day, and at the third hour. For bishops do obtain the office of apostles, unto whom the Holy Ghost was given on the Day of Pentecost and at the third hour. When a bishop is to be ordained, the suffragans of the province should assemble with their metropolitan, and two bishops place and hold a volume of the gospels above his head and neck, or upon his shoulders, one shedding the benediction over him, and the rest, such as are present, touching his head with their hands. This book is held above his head; first, that the Lord may confirm the gospel in his heart; secondly, that he may understand by this, unto what burthen and labour he is subjected: because everyone that is pre-eminent, that is, a prelate, is more troubled with griefs than rejoiced with honours; thirdly, to denote that he ought not to be backward to carry with him everywhere the burthen of the preaching of the gospel; fourthly, to admonish him to submit himself more than ever to the yoke, and to obey the gospel.—Rationale, Book II, c. xi, 6.]
[{147}]
Seventhly, we have to speak of the unction of altars, chalices, and other instruments of the church; which according to the rule are anointed at their dedication; and this not only from the command of the divine law, but also because Moses 'sprinkled with blood the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry, and almost all things are by the law cleansed with blood;' [Footnote 536] and also again after the example of S. Sylvester, who when he consecrated an altar used to anoint it with chrism. For the Lord commanded Moses to make oil of unction with which to anoint the tabernacle of the testimony, the table, the ark of the covenant, the candlestick, and other furniture as aforesaid. Which unctions are performed on things that have not been anointed, to show greater reverence to them and to bestow more grace upon them. And of these unctions we have spoken and shall again speak in their right places. But the sacrament of unction hath indeed some further effect and meaning both in the Old and New Testament: whence the Church doth not Judaize, when she observeth the unctions in her sacraments, as some old writers, who know neither the Scripture nor the power of God, do falsely say. Of the unctions of the church and altar we have spoken under their own heads.
[Footnote 536: Hebrews ix, 2.]
24. Further the paten is consecrated and anointed for the administration of the body of Christ, who willed to be sacrificed upon the altar of the cross for the salvation of all men. 'Almighty God also did order the flour to be brought to His Altar scattered on golden and silver patens. The chalice also is consecrated and anointed, that by the grace of the Holy Ghost it may be made a new sepulchre of the body and blood of Christ, and then He, Himself, may deign to make it overflow with his virtue, as He made the cup of Melchizedech, His servant, to flow over.
25. Eighthly; in the eighth place we have to speak of extreme unction, which from the institution of Pope Felix the Fourth, and from the command of the Apostle S. James, is administered unto such as are at the point to die. Concerning which some say that it is not so properly a sacrament as the anointing of the forehead or any other part with chrism, because (as they assert) it may be repeated and since there is offered a prayer over the man; a circumstance which is not a condition of a sacrament. This unction also may be administered by a single priest if more cannot be present: and by it venial sins are remitted, according to S. James, 'If any rich among you,' etc., as before, 'and if he have committed sins they shall be forgiven him.' [Footnote 537] And this unction is applied to divers parts of the body or the limbs, for reasons which may be gathered from the prayers then used; and especially on those parts in which the five senses chiefly reside, that whatever sins the rich man may have committed by means of these may be abolished by virtue of this unction. Concerning some other rules we ordinarily read, that the party to be anointed must be at the least eighteen years of age, and that he ought to be anointed in sickness once only during a year, though he may be sick many times, and that no one must be anointed, unless, being in his senses, he shall have first demanded it either by words or signs:— [{149}] and besides this, that the shoulders ought not to be anointed, because they were anointed in baptism, and that a confirmed person ought not to be anointed on his forehead but on his temples, and a priest's hands ought to be anointed on the backs and not inside, because they were anointed on the inside at his ordination:—and that one who hath been once anointed by a bishop ought not in respect to him to be further anointed by a priest:—and that if a sick man who hath been anointed should recover, the anointed places should be washed, and the water used be thrown into the fire; but should he depart, his body ought not to be washed because of the recent unction. But if the sick man be at the point of death, he should be immediately anointed lest he die without the unction. Besides this, some penitents, and dying men, put on sackcloth and lay themselves down on ashes as we shall explain in the sixth book, when we speak of Ash Wednesday. [Footnote 538]
[Footnote 537: S. James v, 24.]
[Footnote 538: 'On this day also ashes are blessed, and scattered over the head in token of humiliation. "Dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return," was said unto Adam (Gen. iv). And Job "repented in dust and ashes" (Job xlii, 6). And the Lord saith, "In the house of Aphrah (marg. read dust) roll thyself in the dust" (Mic. i 10). Also in Judith we read, "The children of Israel humbled themselves in fasting, and dust on their heads" (Chronicles iv). And Abraham saith, "Shall I speak unto the Lord, who am but dust and ashes?" (Gen. 18). And "Mordecai put on sackcloth with ashes" (Esther iv, i). And "the daughters of Zion have cast ashes on their heads" (Samuel iii). Hence, we read in the Pontifical, penitents and the dying, in token of repentance and humility and that they are dust and ashes, do prostrate themselves in ashes and put on sackcloth—an use drawn from the Old Testament. For we read in Isaiah the fifty-eighth, that penitents do lie in sackcloth and ashes. And Hieremiah saith the same in the twenty-fifth chapter, "Wallow yourselves in the ashes, for the days are accomplished." Also in the third of Jonah, "The king of Ninevah put on sackcloth and sat in ashes." Also in the Lamentations, "The virgins of Jerusalem are clothed in sackcloth."'—Rationale vi, 28, 18.]