The National Sick Call Sets Museum is now located in the choir loft of St. Francis by the Sea Church in Laguna Beach, CA. The church is open irregularly, except it is always open Sunday mornings for Mass at 9:30 a.m. The various Laguna Beach city tours may include the museum as one of its stops. The museum will be forever a work in progress, but scroll below for some pictures and information. Welcome!
The National “Sick Call” Set Museum
Everything here is related to what has been called the “Last Rites” of the Catholic Church. When most people died at home instead of in a hospital, families were encouraged to be ready for the fateful day when a family member was near death and the priest would be called to come and do the “Extreme Unction” (Final Anointing). They would do so by having a “sick call” set with items pertaining to the ritual that always would include a crucifix, container or bowl for holy water, 2 candles, and often additional items such as cotton (to clean the priest’s thumb), a “sprinkler” for the holy water, etc. The priest might bring en entire kit (many versions here), as well as the Oleum Infirmorum(Oil of the Sick) and the Viaticum (“Food for the Journey” -Holy Communion).
As you can see, sick call sets can range from small boxes kept in a drawer to large, decorative “devotional” items such as statues with hidden compartments and shadow boxes that would also hold the needed items. They go back as far as the 1880s up to the present day. The collection includes sets from the USA, Italy, Germany, Ireland & England. The most common ones are the “crucifix” style (on the ceiling) that slide open to reveal the contents.
The contemporary Church refers to this ritual now as the “Sacrament of the Sick”, and is now administered to the elderly and anyone who is seriously ill.
For more information contact: Cyndie Dunkerson, OFS, (Curator) cyndie4na (at) gmail (dot) com
or Fr. Jack Kearney, (Collector) frintervention (at) gmail (dot) com or visit SickCall.net
The images below represent a few of the many sick call sets and elements in the museum. Click on the picture for a full view
For more information and pictures of the collection click here: http://www.SickCall.net
The National “Sick Call” Set Museum
Everything here is related to what has been called the “Last Rites” of the Catholic Church. When most people died at home instead of in a hospital, families were encouraged to be ready for the fateful day when a family member was near death and the priest would be called to come and do the “Extreme Unction” (Final Anointing). They would do so by having a “sick call” set with items pertaining to the ritual that always would include a crucifix, container or bowl for holy water, 2 candles, and often additional items such as cotton (to clean the priest’s thumb), a “sprinkler” for the holy water, etc. The priest might bring en entire kit (many versions here), as well as the Oleum Infirmorum(Oil of the Sick) and the Viaticum (“Food for the Journey” -Holy Communion).
As you can see, sick call sets can range from small boxes kept in a drawer to large, decorative “devotional” items such as statues with hidden compartments and shadow boxes that would also hold the needed items. They go back as far as the 1880s up to the present day. The collection includes sets from the USA, Italy, Germany, Ireland & England. The most common ones are the “crucifix” style (on the ceiling) that slide open to reveal the contents.
The contemporary Church refers to this ritual now as the “Sacrament of the Sick”, and is now administered to the elderly and anyone who is seriously ill.
For more information contact: Cyndie Dunkerson, OFS, (Curator) cyndie4na (at) gmail (dot) com
or Fr. Jack Kearney, (Collector) frintervention (at) gmail (dot) com or visit SickCall.net
The images below represent a few of the many sick call sets and elements in the museum. Click on the picture for a full view
For more information and pictures of the collection click here: http://www.SickCall.net
Classic Painting of the Last Rites
The Transitus of St. Francis of Assisi -
On the eve of his death, the saint, in imitation of his Divine Master, had bread brought to him and broken. This he distributed among those present, blessing Bernard of Quintaville, his first companion, Elias, his vicar, and all the others in order. "I have done my part," he said next, "may Christ teach you to do yours."
Then wishing to give a last token of detachment and to show he no longer had anything in common with the world, Francis removed his poor habit and lay down on the bare ground, covered with a borrowed cloth, rejoicing that he was able to keep faith with his Lady Poverty to the end. After a while he asked to have read to him the Passion according to St. John, and then in faltering tones he himself intoned Psalm cxli. At the concluding verse, "Bring my soul out of prison", Francis was led away from earth by "Sister Death", in whose praise he had shortly before added a new strophe to his "Canticle of the Sun". It was Saturday evening, 3 October, 1226, Francis being then in the forty-fifth year of his age, and the twentieth from his perfect conversion to Christ.
Francis was canonized by Gregory IX less than two years later on July 16, 1228. His feast is celebrated on October 3.
Wall Mount Sick Call Sets - on the ceiling on the museum
