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Viaticum is the term the Catholic Church and some Anglo Catholic Anglicans uses for the Eucharist
Eucharist

The Eucharist, also called Holy Communion or Lord's Supper and other names, is a Christianity sacrament commemorating, by consecrating bread and wine, the Last Supper, the final meal that Jesus Christ shared with his disciples before his arrest, and eventual crucifixion, when he gave them bread saying, "This is my body", and wine...
 (Communion) given to a dying person. It is not the same as the sacrament
Sacrament

A sacrament, as defined in Hexam's Concise Dictionary of Religion is "a rite in which God is uniquely active." Augustine of Hippo defined a Christian sacrament as "a visible sign of an invisible reality." The Anglican Book of Common Prayer speaks of them as "an outward and visible sign of an inward and invisible Grace." Examples of sacram...
 of the Anointing of the Sick
Anointing of the Sick

Anointing of the Sick is distinguished from other forms of religious anointing or "unction" in that it is intended, as its name indicates, for the benefit of a sick person....
, but rather it is the Eucharist administered in special circumstances. According to the L'Osservatore Romano
L'Osservatore Romano

L'Osservatore Romano is the "semi-official" newspaper of the Holy See. It covers all the Pope's public activities, publishes editorials by important churchmen, and runs official documents after being released....
, the Vatican
Vatican City

Vatican City , officially the State of the Vatican City , is a Landlocked country sovereignty city-state whose territory consists of a walled enclave within the city of Rome, the Capital of Italy....
's newspaper, Cardinal
Cardinal (Catholicism)

A cardinal is a senior Ecclesiology official, usually a Bishop , of the Catholic Church. They are collectively known as the College of Cardinals, which as a body elects a new pope....
 Javier Lozano Barragán explained, "The Catholic tradition of giving the Eucharist to the dying ensures that instead of dying alone they die with Christ who promises them eternal life."

The word viaticum is a Latin word meaning "provisions for a journey," from via, or "way." The Eucharist is seen as the ideal food to strengthen a dying person for the journey from this world to life after death.






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Viaticum is the term the Catholic Church and some Anglo Catholic Anglicans uses for the Eucharist
Eucharist

The Eucharist, also called Holy Communion or Lord's Supper and other names, is a Christianity sacrament commemorating, by consecrating bread and wine, the Last Supper, the final meal that Jesus Christ shared with his disciples before his arrest, and eventual crucifixion, when he gave them bread saying, "This is my body", and wine...
 (Communion) given to a dying person. It is not the same as the sacrament
Sacrament

A sacrament, as defined in Hexam's Concise Dictionary of Religion is "a rite in which God is uniquely active." Augustine of Hippo defined a Christian sacrament as "a visible sign of an invisible reality." The Anglican Book of Common Prayer speaks of them as "an outward and visible sign of an inward and invisible Grace." Examples of sacram...
 of the Anointing of the Sick
Anointing of the Sick

Anointing of the Sick is distinguished from other forms of religious anointing or "unction" in that it is intended, as its name indicates, for the benefit of a sick person....
, but rather it is the Eucharist administered in special circumstances. According to the L'Osservatore Romano
L'Osservatore Romano

L'Osservatore Romano is the "semi-official" newspaper of the Holy See. It covers all the Pope's public activities, publishes editorials by important churchmen, and runs official documents after being released....
, the Vatican
Vatican City

Vatican City , officially the State of the Vatican City , is a Landlocked country sovereignty city-state whose territory consists of a walled enclave within the city of Rome, the Capital of Italy....
's newspaper, Cardinal
Cardinal (Catholicism)

A cardinal is a senior Ecclesiology official, usually a Bishop , of the Catholic Church. They are collectively known as the College of Cardinals, which as a body elects a new pope....
 Javier Lozano Barragán explained, "The Catholic tradition of giving the Eucharist to the dying ensures that instead of dying alone they die with Christ who promises them eternal life."

The word viaticum is a Latin word meaning "provisions for a journey," from via, or "way." The Eucharist is seen as the ideal food to strengthen a dying person for the journey from this world to life after death. It seems that originally the Eucharistic bread was placed in the mouth of the dead person so that he or she would have food for what the early Christians believed was a 3 day journey between this world and the next. Scholars have compared the rite to the pre-Christian custom of Charon's obol
Charon's obol

Charon's obol is an Allusion term for the coin placed in or on the mouth of a dead person before burial. The custom is primarily associated with the ancient Greeks and ancient Rome, but examples are found earlier in the Near East, and later in Western Europe#Classical antiquity and medieval origins, particularly in the regions inhabited by...
, a small coin placed in the mouth of the dead for passage to the afterlife and sometimes called a viaticum in Latin literary sources.

The desire to have the consecrated host and eucharistic blood available for the sick and dying led to the reservation of the Blessed Sacrament
Blessed Sacrament

The Blessed Sacrament, or the Body and Blood of Christ, is a Catholic devotionsal name used in the Roman Catholic Church, Old Catholic and Anglican Churches, to refer to the Host and Precious Blood after they have been consecrated in the sacrament of the Eucharist....
, a practice which has endured from the earliest days of the Christian Church. Saint Justin Martyr
Justin Martyr

Saint Justin Martyr was an early Christian apologetics and saint. His works represent the earliest surviving Christian "apologies" of notable size....
, writing less than fifty years after the death of Saint John the Apostle
John the Apostle

John the Apostle was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus. Christian tradition identifies him as the author of several New Testament works: the Gospel of John, the Epistles of John, and the Book of Revelation....
, mentions that “the deacons communicate each of those present, and carry away to the absent the consecrated Bread, and wine and water.” (Just. M. Apol. I. cap. lxv.)

If the dying person cannot take solid food, the Holy Eucharist may be administered in the form not of bread, but of wine. The sacrament of Anointing of the Sick is often administered immediately before giving Viaticum if a priest
Priest

A priest or priestess is a person having the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities....
 is available to do so. Unlike the Anointing of the Sick, Viaticum may be administered by a priest, deacon
Deacon

Deacon is a role in the Christianity that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions....
 or extraordinarily (and only in special circumstances) by a lay
Laity

In religious organizations, the laity comprises all persons who are not clergy. A person who is a member of a religious order who is not Holy Orders clergy is considered as a member of the laity, even though they are members of a religious order ....
 minister using the reserved Blessed Sacrament.