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 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.

The Last Rites as performed in the Roman Catholic Church are probably the most commonly seen in media, and are composed of a combination of three sacraments: the Anointing of the Sick (sometimes referred to as Unction or Supreme Unction), Penance (sometimes also known as Confession or Reconciliation), and the Eucharist (Holy Communion; when received in expectation of immediate death, it is called Viaticum, which is Latin for "provision for the journey"). If the person in immediate danger of death is not baptised (usually this will be a "cradle Catholic" infant), an emergency baptism may also be performed. This is the sole exception to the rule that the Sacrament of Baptism be conducted by an ordained priest or deacon; in such a circumstance, if no ordained clergy is available, any confirmed Catholic may perform a sacramentally valid baptism.

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 being used only for those in immediate danger of death, but it may actually be performed (upon request) on any Catholic suffering from severe illness or injury, even if their condition is not immediately life-threatening, and may be repeated. Anointing can be performed separately from the other sacraments in Last Rites situations, but this normally happens because the patient is either medically unable to participate in the other sacraments, or is a young child who has not yet participated in the other sacraments for the first time.

If a priest is summoned in a Last Rites situation, but the patient dies prior to their arrival, none of the sacraments may be administered:

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 iBreviary

That doesn't stop scriptwriters from having priest characters perform "Last Rites" on the dead 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.

Contrast Due to the Dead, which are rites performed after death.

As a Death Trope, Spoilers ahead may be unmarked. Beware.

Examples of Last Rites (trope) include:

Fan Works

Averted and discussed in the "Teraverse" 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 (the source of the page quote above), she remarks on the difference between the movies and reality when it comes to the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick.
Astral Journey: It's Complicated: Emma sees her body being given this, despite getting better later on. She considers it as "back-up".

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.
The beginning of the escape sequence from Johnny Dangerously has one of his Mooks pretending to be a priest giving him the last rites in mangled Dog Latin:

Charley: Dominus vobiscum nabisco. Espiritu sanctum. De gustibus. Me gustibus. You gustibus. We missed the bus. They missed the bus. When's the next bus? Summa cum laude. Magna cum laude. The radio's too laude. Adeste fidelis. Centra fidelis. High fidelis. Post meridian. Ante meridian. Uncle meridian. All of the little meridians. Magna carta. Master charga. Dum procellas. Lotsa Vitalis.

Live-Action TV

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 intends, not the full Last Rites, because he's usually performing it on an unconscious soldier.