Sacred Symbol In a season of sacrifice, some Christians find oil a mark of the Spirit

The Rev. Susan Latimer poured the oil of unction into a brown vanilla bottle.

It looked as if the Episcopal priest were taking home a sample of a special salad oil instead of the sacred oil she will use to anoint ailing members of her Waterville congregation when she visits them or they participate in the church’s monthly healing service.

Latimer, rector of St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, was among 30 priests from throughout the Episcopal Diocese of Maine who gathered Tuesday at St. Patrick’s Episcopal Church in Brewer.

She and others poured two scared oils – chrism, used in baptism, and oil of unction, used to anoint the sick – into empty medicine vials, colored jars and other small containers to transport them home.

When they are ready to use the oils, the priests will transfer them to a designated oil stock, a round storage container.

On the bottom is a ring similar to those used on key chains in which the priest places his or her thumb. Inside the stock, most priests place a cotton ball and soak it in oil to prevent the oil from spilling.

Traditionally, Roman Catholic and Episcopal priests collect their consecrated oils on the Thursday just before Good Friday. Maundy Thursday is the traditional commemoration of Christ’s Last Supper.

Because Holy Week is so hectic for most Christian clergy, the Episcopal diocese moved the event to Tuesday this year. So this week, the group met informally with Bishop Chilton Knudsen, then participated in a chrism Eucharist service that included the renewal of their vows.

“O Lord, holy father, giver of health and salvation,” prayed the bishop during the service Tuesday. “Send your Holy Spirit to sanctify this oil; that, as your holy Apostles anointed many that were sick and healed them, so may those who in faith and repentance receive this holy unction be made whole.”

It is in the prayer that the plain olive oil is consecrated. Knudsen also consecrated the chrism, the oil used in baptism. It contains eucalyptus, which gives it a fragrant scent and turns it slightly green in color.

Oil has been used for centuries in food preparation and as an unguent. Extracted from olives after the harvest in late summer, it was one of the principal agricultural products of Palestine during the biblical period and after. Passages in the Old Testament describe how it was used in the anointing of kings and priests and in certain sacrifices.

While Episcopalians use just two kinds of sacred oil, Roman Catholics use a third – the oil of catechumens.

It will be used in Roman Catholic churches around the world during the Easter Vigil or on Holy Saturday. The purpose of the oil, according the prayer said by the priest during the Christian initiation process, is to “give wisdom and strength to all who are anointed with it.”

Catholic churches also have storage stocks with three compartments where the holy oils are kept. Some parishes display the holy oils in an ambry, a boxlike structure placed in a prominent position in the church near the baptismal font.

The containers used for the Episcopal service Tuesday at St. Patrick’s looked more like cruets from antique oil and vinegar table sets than containers that held something holy.

Knudsen pointed out, however, that it is the consecration of the oil, not what it is made of or kept in, that makes it sacred.

The Rev. Ann Lovejoy Johnson, rector of St. Philip’s Episcopal Church in Wiscasset, carefully poured the chrism into a medicine bottle to take home. The newest priest in the diocese, she was ordained last month.

“I am so excited,” she said. “I will do my first baptism on Pentecost,” which is the day when Christians mark the descent of the Holy Spirit 50 days after Easter.