The Sacrament of Confirmation

The Sacrament of Confirmation.—Next to Baptism, not in necessity or dignity but in likeness and in time, is Confirmation; for Confirmation completes the work begun in Baptism, and it is also frequently received immediately or next after Baptism. It may be defined as “the Sacrament in which through the anointing with chrism and the prayer of the bishop a baptized person is perfected and strengthened in the grace received and signed indelibly with the character of soldier of Jesus Christ.”

(a) The element of the Sacrament (remote matter) is chrism, that is, a mixture of olive oil and balsam specially blessed by the bishop and applied (proximate matter) by an anointing and the imposition of hands on the forehead of the recipient. The law of the Church requires that the chrism be new (i.e., made at the last previous consecration of oils), and that the anointing be made with the right thumb in the form of a cross.

(b) The form of Confirmation in the Latin Church is as follows: “I sign thee with the sign of the cross, and I confirm thee with the chrism of salvation in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost.”