The constant faith of the Church and the teaching
Magisterium
attest to the existence of the sacrament from the
early Church.
In the first two centuries, there are no
commentaries extent on
the Epistle of James. Indeed, the canon of the New
Testament
to include the Epistle was not firm until the local
Councils of
Hippo and Carthage (393 and 397).
The early Fathers of the Church did not
systematically comment
on all aspects of the life of the Church. It must be
noted that in
the early Church, emphasis was not given to the need
of
anointing/healing. It was a practice of Christians
to be
baptized at the end of life.