Until the late-1800's, a Sin-eater was considered a necessary but despised member of many communities.  Treated as an outcast, the Sin-Eater would live a solitary life until a family called upon him to help send the newly dead to the afterlife.  Typically, bread and ale were placed on the deceased's body and, after a brief ceremony, the Sin-Eater consumed the food and drink along with the person's sins, freeing the soul to pass peacefully.  The Sin-Eater would then be paid a few coins and quickly sent away to solitary life again, "doomed" to suffer the fate of someone so full of sin.  

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