Viaticum

In the Roman world the viaticum was the money and food a traveller took for the road. The Church gives the name to the Eucharist received at the point of death, when Christ's promise “whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day” takes on its full meaning. The Catechism notes that Viaticum, not Anointing of the Sick, is properly the last sacrament: the “last rites” are Penance, Anointing and Viaticum together, and they complete the Christian journey that Baptism, Confirmation and Eucharist began.