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IIRC, one of Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin novels (a.k.a the Master and Commander series) sees a former sin-eater among the crew: ostracised by his crew-mates, he is taken on as a surgeon's mate by Dr Maturin.

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Another occurrence in pop culture: The Order, with Heath Ledger, focused on a Sin Eater. Not a great movie, but I remember enjoying it enough in the theater.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0304711/

There was also a 'Night Gallery' episode centered sin eaters this with a typical Rod Serling (or who ever he copied in this case) twist ending.

I forget, was that the one that wound up addicted to opiates or was that paddy the Irishman?

It's awful, I read the whole series just a year ago

Maturin himself is both Irish and rather fond of laudanum: I don't recall either being true of the sin-eater (but then I can't even remember which novel he appears in).

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