De l’« extrême-onction » au « sacrement des malades » : fin de vie, réforme liturgique conciliaire et transformations rituelles dans la seconde moitié du xxe siècle

Abstract

Of the seven Catholic sacraments, Extreme Unction was clearly the one which experienced the most radical reform by the Vatican Council II. Its name was changed, as was its ‘matter’, ‘form’, and ‘subject’ (to use the technical vocabulary of sacramental theology), but also its place within the series of the ‘last sacraments’. Finally, it lost a considerable part of its significance. One can even say that it was reinvented, but without this reinvention triggering controversies comparable to those that arose from the reform of the mass, solemn communion, or even of baptism and marriage. This article revisits this reform by looking first at the ancient régime of the sacrament before the Council, its reform, its implementation, as well as the meaning of this sequence as a whole.