Bede, on Jas 5:14

“Is any man sick among you? Let him bring in the priests of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.”

“And let them pray over him, anointing him, etc. We read that the apostles did this in the Gospel, and now the custom of the Church holds that the sick are anointed with consecrated oil by the presbyters, and are healed with accompanying prayer. Not only the presbyters, but as Pope Innocent writes, also all Christians are permitted to use the same oil to anoint in their own or their relatives' necessity, though this oil may only be consecrated by bishops. For what he says, With oil in the name of the Lord, signifies oil consecrated in the name of the Lord. Or certainly because when they anoint the sick, they should also invoke the name of the Lord over him.”

Imported from an open dataset — not yet checked against the printed edition.