Last Rites (trope)

"...I smelled chrism oil: the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick. It's often - erroneously - called Last Rites, and it's often portrayed that way in movies, but in fact, it's often done for anyone suffering from a serious illness or trauma."

- From It's Just A Habit by Captain Boulanger

The Last Rites are the final ministrations to the dying in various Christian churches. In the West, the version performed by the Roman Catholic Church is probably the most common, and is composed of three sacraments: the Anointing of the Sick (sometimes referred to as Unction or Supreme Unction), Penance and the Eucharist (Holy Communion). In Eastern churches -- particularly the Eastern Orthodox Church and Byzantine-Rite Catholic Churches -- there are two parts to the Last Rites, the Sacred Mysteries of Confession and the reception of Holy Communion. In general, Protestant churches do not have a distinct, separate set of rites for the dying.

When the Last Rites appear in fiction (if they appear at all), they are almost always and only depicted as the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick from Catholicism, to the point that the Anointing is frequently mistaken outside of fiction as being the entirety of the Last Rites, and sometimes mistaken for a universally Christian ritual. It's also mistakenly presented as only ever used for those in immediate danger of death, but in reality it is performed on those suffering from severe illness or injury, even if their condition is not immediately life-threatening. In reality, it is the reception of the Eucharist -- called in this instance the Viaticum (Latin for "provision for the journey") -- that is the only sacrament essentially associated with dying, not the Anointing. And neither can be administered to the deceased:

"When a priest has been called to attend a person who is already dead, he is not to administer the sacrament of anointing. Instead, he should pray for the dead person, asking that God forgive his or her sins and graciously receive him or her into the kingdom. It is appropriate that he lead the family and friends, if they are present, in some of the prayers suggested at the end of the “Commendation of the Dying"..."

- "Rites for Emergencies" at the ''[http://www.ibreviary.com/m/preghiere.php?tipo=Rito&id=229

That doesn't stop scriptwriters from having priest characters do it anyway.

This trope encompasses all use, misuse or misidentification of the Last Rites in fiction, including the use of Roman Catholic rites in non-Catholic contexts.

Fan Works

 * Averted and discussed in the "Teraverse" side-story It's Just A Habit by "Captain Boulanger". At the start of the story POV character Marie O'Neill is a Catholic eucharistic minister -- a variety of Catholic lay-clergy with a very limited remit -- and in one chapter she remarks on the difference between the movies and reality when it comes to the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick.

Film

 * In On the Waterfront, local parish priest Father Barry performs the Anointing as the "last rites" on Joey's body.
 * Deliberately invoked in La Dolce Vita, which uses explicit parodies of various sacraments including the Last Rites as devices to reveal the fundamental hypocrisy of the modern world.

Live-Action Television

 * Father Mulcahy is frequently seen administering the Last Rites in M*A*S*H. We rarely get to see him do more than begin the process, though, but it's clear that it's the Anointing that he's performing, not the Viaticum -- if only because he's usually performing it on an unconscious soldier.