Sick Call Set in your home?

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At the time and place I was growing up, every Catholic household had a wall-mounted crucifex that could come off the wall to be opened to reveal candles and Holy Water to act as a sick call set.

I guess something did away with these. Maybe it was Vatican II or the NOM, I don’t know. But they’ve become impossible to find.

We had one of those funky metal modern looking crucifexes in our house, but I always felt “lacking” for not having once of those old sick call sets. I was lamenting to my mother about this, and she happened to have two–one that was a wedding gift for her in the early 1950’s, and one that was her mother’s (from Ireland in the early 20th Century). She gave us one of them, though we’re not sure which.

How many of you have this formerly ubiquitious item?
 
Hey, I actually have 2 of them - hanging in my room and my boy’s room. My boys find them interesting to take apart and set up with the candles and all.
 
Twelve years ago, my mother gave me her “sick call” crucifix which she and my dad received as a wedding gift 45 years ago in 1959. When we moved into our new home 2 years ago, I took Jesus off the wooden cross and I repainted Jesus since it had aged some in 43 years. I have it in my bedroom where I pray the rosary most of the time. I’ll be in a Catholic Gift & bookstore this weekend and will look to see if they have them.

Puppy
 
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jrabs:
Hey, I actually have 2 of them - hanging in my room and my boy’s room.
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Did you buy them recently, or are the hand-me-downs? I searched far and wide for a new one before my mom gave me the one I have now.
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jrabs:
My boys find them interesting to take apart and set up with the candles and all.
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Heh. I used to do the same thing, but as I got older I was afriad I was being irreverant. :o
 
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Timidity:
I searched far and wide for a new one before my mom gave me the one I have now.
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Having said that, I just looked in EWTN’s online catalog, and they have them.

So, then, that leads me to a whole series of questions. Are they still used? What is the proper use of a sick-call set in this new day and age? Mine comes with instructions, but they’re so onld and the paper is so yellowed and the print is so tiny that it’s impossible to read. I can make out something about a veil and greeting the priest with a lit candle.

Should I make sure to fill the vial with holy water? It’s currently empty.

I guess, in short, I’m asking “What (if anything) is the modern usage of the sick call set?” (And suddenly I’m thinking that I should have posted this in the Sacraments forum).
 
No I don’t have one but my grandmother did. She lived with us for a while and was almost blind.

The priest would come on the First Friday of every month and I remember her having my mother set it out on a table and she insisted that she carry the lighted candle to the door to greet the priest with my mother guiding her.
I think we probably should have one but I don’t know if they use them anymore?
 
I have one also, but it’s not a crucifix, it’s a picture of Jesus. The copyright is 1941, and it was in our home when I was a kid.

Peace in Christ +
 
I had one which I gave to a local retirement home for use in their Communion Service each Sunday.

I am an EMHC to the Sick. Most people don’t have them. I bring a crucifix and purificator with me. I used to bring a candle, but the smoke bothers many, and it one more thing to carry. Actually I dropped it one day, broke the glass and never got around to replacing it.
 
We also have two – one was a gift for our wedding (25 years ago) and the other was a gift for my parents’ wedding (1943). I don’t keep holy water in the bottles, though, because it evaporates – I keep a bottle elsewhere (the bottle we have blessed on Holy Saturday).

'thann
 
what would be the point? priests are like doctors, they don’t make house calls any more. Anointing of the sick is the most under-used sacrament we have, even more than confession. At least the priests have to spend some time each week in the confessional. Some parishes have an anointing service once a month, or less, but you have to be well enough to get there and sit through the service. Just try getting a priest to come to the nursing home or hospital in an emergency, around here you are looking at 10-12 phone calls to different parishes to find out who is “on call”. The hospital chaplains are mostly nuns and deacons who cannot anoint. You are expected to make arrangements for the sacrament when you first get sick, so I have been told. We called every parish around every day for a week for my mother, when our pastor finally came, she had already had a stroke. He anointed her, and I know her sins were forgiven, but as a convert she would have been greatly comforted by confession and viaticum, and that was denied to her.
 
In my area, we have 3 church parishes under the same pastor. Every Wednesdays at 5:15 in the chapel there is an annointing mass which I began attending at the beginning of August. Last week was the first time I saw an actual “annointing of the sick”. It was beautiful. My brother-in-law (bil), God rest his soul, who had lukemia several years ago, was visited by our pastor. My bil was not yet on his deathbed, as a matter of fact, he was waiting for my dh to give him bone marrow, which unfortunately did not work. His cancer was too far along. The pastor had to travel about 1 hour to see my bil. Maybe they don’t make house calls, but I know for a fact they make hospital calls. God Bless,

Puppy
 
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asquared:
what would be the point? priests are like doctors, they don’t make house calls any more.
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That was a thoroughly depressing post. I’m saddened by your mother’s experience.

Are Asquared’s experiences the exception or the norm?
 
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asquared:
what would be the point? priests are like doctors, they don’t make house calls any more. Anointing of the sick is the most under-used sacrament we have, even more than confession. . . …
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Our priests respond to all calls; immediately if need be, but more usually in a day or two, fitting them into the schedule. In addition three times a year a priest visits all those on our list as home bound; that is all the ones EMHCs bring Communion to each Sunday.
 
Yes and the other day I opened the crucifix to show my grand daughter and we had to leave it opened for days, because of her amazement. When she is 4 maybe I can explain it a little more.🙂
 
Yes, I got one of those sets for Easter Vigil this year. I also noticed our local Catholic bookstore had some too.
 
My grandfather collapsed at his local clinic the 4th of March. He was to be transfered (via Life Flight) to a heart center for emergency surgery within an hour. He requested Last rights as they loaded him into the hellicopter.

When he arrived at the heart center,** they had a priest waiting to offer him this sacrament before he went into surgery (about 15 minutes later).**

He lived 2 more days, and was surrounded by family when he passed.

I just wanted to offer another perspective.

God keep you Grandfather…
 
I think fewer people have these nowadays because most people usually are hospitalised when they are critically ill. There are very few people who die in their homes unless it is something very sudden. In that case, the person would be already dead by the time the priest arrived. I would think that priests who are hospital chaplains do a lot of Anointings. Anointings in homes would be rare because the sick person would probably be transported by the paramedics to the hospital rather quickly and then visited by the priest who is the hospital chaplain.
 
lak611 said:
I think fewer people have these nowadays because most people usually are hospitalised when they are critically ill.
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Perhaps. I must say that in the 2.5 years since I started this thread (LOL! Again!), I’ve found them more and more in Christian and Catholic shops. I still haven’t refilled mine with Holy Water and Candles, as I don’t see it ever being used.
 
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