VIATICUM, a Latin word meaning "provision for a jour ney" (Gr.Ta i4)65ca ), is used by early Christian writers to denote anything that gave spiritual comfort to the dying. Ultimately it came to be restricted to the last communion given to the dying. In extreme cases the viaticum may be given to per sons not fasting, and the same person may receive it frequently if his illness be prolonged. The ritual administration is that prescribed for the communion of the sick, except in the for mula "Accipe, frater (soror), viaticum corporis Domini nostri Jesu Christi, qui to custodiat ab hoste maligno, et perducat in vitam aeternam. Amen." The viaticum is given before extreme
unction, a reversal of the mediaeval practice due to the importance of receiving the Eucharist while the mind is still clear.