VIATICUM: Holy Communion administered to those in immediate danger of death, the term meaning literally "provision for a journey," and translating the Greek ephodion. In early times it was

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used for spiritual provision for the two great jour neys of life and death-baptism and the last com munion, the word being employed in the former sense by Basil the Great (Hom., xiii.) and Gregory Nazianzen (Oratio, xl. 11). Before long, however, the word became restricted to the last communion. Thus the thirteenth canon of the first Council of Nicxa (325) states that " concerning the departing, the ancient canonical law is still to be maintained, to wit, that, if any man be at the point of death, he must not be deprived of the last and most indispen sable Viaticum. But, if any one should be restored to health again who has received the communion when his life was despaired of, let him remain among those who communicate in prayers only. But in general, and in the case of any dying person what soever asking to receive the Eucharist, let the bishop, after examination made, give it him." The viaticum is repeatedly mentioned in later synods (e.g., the alleged canons of the Synod of Carthage of 398, 76-77; Orange [441], canon 3; Vaison [442], canon 2; Agde [506], canon 15; Gerunda [517], canon 9; and Toledo [675], canon 11). The earlier mode of administration was evidently under both kinds, and intinetion was also permissible; or, if the condition of the sick or injured man required it, either the bread or the wine might alone be given. In other words, the method of administration was and is, so far as may be, similar to the modes of communicating those in perfect health. The ordinary requirement of fasting communion is dispensed with in the reception of the viaticum, which is now given before the sacrament of extreme unction (q.v.), although in the Middle Ages the reverse order was observed. Like extreme unction, it may be given more than once, and if there is recovery, the recipient is required to attend mass as before. The minister is the parish priest or some one deputed by him, though in case of sudden acci dent the nearest priest is to administer it. In earlier times this was not the case, for during per secutions it was given even by laymen (Eusebius, Hist. eccl., iv. 44), and Leo IV. (847-855) expressly forbade priests to send it by laymen or women (Mansi, Concilia, xiv. 891), while the Synod of Ansa (994) permitted none but priests to give it. The elements administered in the viaticum are those customarily reserved after mass (see Reservation of the Sacrament). They are borne by the priest, wearing a purple stole, to the place where the sick or injured man may be, and, if pos sible, his confession is heard, with the ordinary absolution. There are also several versicles and re sponses, with a number of brief prayers; but the special form of the rite is the sentence, " Receive, brother, the Viaticum of the Body of our Lord Jesus Christ; may He preserve thee from the wicked enemy, and bring thee unto life everlasting. Amen." In the Anglican Church the viaticum, though un mentioned under that name, is practically implied by the offices for the Visitation of the Sick (q.v.) and communion of the sick (see Lord's Supper, V., § 2), and about it has really centered in great part the long struggle within that communion regarding reservation of the Sacrament (q.v.). Unlike the

Roman use, however, the regular order for the celebration of the Eucharist is followed in general, with such deviations only as are appropriate to the special conditions which would naturally prevail in the communion of the sick. There is also in the Anglican offices, from the First Prayer-Book to the modern English and American uses, a special rubric providing that if, for any valid reason, the sick man be unable to be communicated physically, he does; if possessing true penitence and faith, receive the elements, "profitably to his soul's health, although he do not receive the Sacrament with his mouth."

Bibliography: Bingham, Origines, XV., iv. 9; most Roman Catholic manuals of devotion contain the viaticum office, e.g., Manual of Prayers, pp. 476-481, Baltimore, 1888; F. Procter and W. H. Frere, New History of the Book of Common Prayer, pp. 626-629, London, 1910.