Appendix: On the Ceremonies of Baptism

S. Th. III, q. 66, a. 10; q. 67, a. 7-8; q. 71.

169. Obligation of observing the rites and ceremonies. - 1. Baptism of itself and outside a case of necessity must be conferred solemnly, i.e. with all the ceremonies and rites prescribed in the ritual (can. 755, § 1). This obligation is grave by its genus, from a grave precept of the Church enacted on account of reverence toward the sacrament (n. 103); whence the minister sins gravely if without a just reason he omits all the ceremonies, or a notable part of them, or notably changes them.

Thus if he neglects the anointing with oil or chrism, the insufflation, the imposition of saliva and salt, the use of consecrated water, the profession of faith, or even several lesser ceremonies. Likewise it is a grave sin to use old oils beyond a year, if new ones can be had; for otherwise Baptism would not have to be deferred on this account, but administered with the oils of the preceding year, which therefore are to be preserved until the new ones have arrived. When blessed oil is about to be lacking, other unblessed olive oil should be added, even repeatedly, but in a lesser quantity (Roman Ritual, tit. 2, c. 1, n. 47-49); the same is to be done for blessed water if it has been diminished in the baptistery (can. 757, § 2; Rit., n. 6).

Per accidens, in danger of death, Baptism can be conferred privately: then, if it is conferred by a minister who is neither priest nor deacon, only those things are to be placed which are necessary for the validity of Baptism; if by a priest or deacon, let the ceremonies also be observed, if time is present, which follow Baptism (can. 759, § 1).

2. The whole baptismal rite is to be performed in the language of the ritual, i.e. in Latin in the Latin Church, even as to the questions to be put to the sponsors. Yet the minister can repeat in the vernacular language the questions put in Latin and receive the responses in the same language; indeed, sometimes an indult is conceded by the Holy See that they may simply be made in this language. Likewise the sponsors can recite the Our Father and the Creed in the vernacular language, while the priest recites them in Latin speech.

The offspring of Catholics is to be baptized in the rite of the parents; but if the parents are of diverse rites, let it be baptized in the rite of the father, unless another thing is provided by special law. If only one of the parents is Catholic, the offspring is to be baptized in the rite of this one (can. 756). The obligation is certainly grave.

The baptized person belongs to that rite with whose ceremonies he was baptized, unless fraud, or necessity, or apostolic dispensation intervened. But if, contrary to the prescription of can. 756, at the prayers of the parents he was baptized by a minister of another rite, he belongs to the rite in which he ought to have been baptized, as the Commission for the Interpretation of the Code declared, October 16, 1919, unless nevertheless legitimate permission of the Ordinary has been added.

3. Although it is not a precept, but only of counsel, that a Christian name be given to the one to be baptized, nevertheless let the pastor take care that obscene, fabulous, or ridiculous names, or the names of empty gods or impious pagans, not be imposed (Rit., n. 54). But if this cannot be prevented, Baptism is not for this reason to be deferred, but the child is to be baptized; yet to the name imposed by the parents there should be added, in a low voice, the name of some saint, and both should be inscribed in the book of the baptized (can. 761), so that namely the person can certainly be recognized.

The right of choosing the name belongs to the parents, then to the sponsors; if these are lacking, let the pastor impose it. The name imposed in Baptism can licitly be changed in Confirmation; nevertheless this generally does not seem opportune, lest confusions arise.

4. Different ceremonies for the Baptism of infants or of adults are prescribed and are to be observed. But the Ordinary of the place, for a grave and reasonable cause, can indulge that the ceremonies for the Baptism of infants be used in the Baptism of adults (can. 755, § 2). If the ceremonies have been omitted for any reason whatever, they are to be supplied as soon as possible in the church (can. 759, § 3), which obligation is grave; whence if in danger of death a priest baptized privately, even adding the ceremonies which follow Baptism, once the danger has ceased the rest are afterward to be supplied (Rit., c. 2, n. 29). But since the ceremonies follow Baptism, hence:

a) If the Baptism of a Catholic was certainly conferred validly in infant age, for the adult the ceremonies from the rite of the Baptism of infants are to be supplied.

b) If the Baptism of a Catholic is repeated under condition, then if indeed the ceremonies were omitted in the prior Baptism, they are to be supplied; but if in the prior Baptism they were used, in the other they can be repeated or omitted (can. 760). The same seems to be said if Baptism was certainly invalid.

c) If the Baptism of a heretic is repeated conditionally in adult age, of itself the ceremonies are to be supplied; nevertheless the Ordinary of the place can permit that they be omitted (can. 759, § 2); if in infant age, the ceremonies are to be supplied secretly, for in this way Baptism is to be repeated.

d) If the Baptism of a heretic is certainly valid, it cannot be repeated, and the ceremonies are not customarily supplied. The Ritual says, c. 3, n. 12: "let them be supplied, unless for a reasonable cause it seems otherwise to the Ordinary of the place."

170. Time and Place of Baptism. - Let the following canons be noted:

1. On time: Can. 770: "Let infants be baptized as soon as possible..." (n. 148).

Can. 771: "Private Baptism, when necessity urges, is to be administered at any time and place."

Can. 772: "Even solemn Baptism can be administered on any day; nevertheless it is fitting that the Baptism of adults, according to the most ancient rite of the Church, be conferred, if it can conveniently be done, on the vigil of Easter and Pentecost, especially in metropolitan or cathedral churches."

Can. 753: "§ 1. It is fitting both that the priest who is about to baptize adults, and the adults themselves who are healthy, be fasting.

"§ 2. Unless grave and urgent causes stand in the way, an adult who has been baptized should immediately assist at the sacrifice of the Mass and receive holy communion."

2. On place: Can. 773: "The proper place for administering solemn Baptism is the baptistery in a church or public oratory," not in a semi-public or merely private one.

Can. 774: "§ 1. Every parochial church, any contrary use or privilege or custom being revoked and reprobated, should have a baptismal font, without prejudice to a legitimate cumulative (but not exclusive) right already acquired by other churches," which also subsists when new parochial churches with a font have been erected (Commission for Interpretation, November 12, 1922).

"§ 2. The Ordinary of the place can, for the convenience of the faithful, permit or command that a baptismal font also be placed in another church or public oratory within the boundaries of the parish."

Can. 775: "If the one to be baptized, on account of the distance of places or other circumstances, cannot approach or be transferred without grave inconvenience or danger to the parochial church, or to another which enjoys the right of a font, solemn Baptism can and must be conferred by the pastor in the nearest church or public oratory within the boundaries of the parish, even if these lack a baptismal font."

But if not even this is possible, either it will be possible to wait for some time until the one to be baptized can be brought to the church, or, extraordinarily, license is to be obtained from the Ordinary for conferring Baptism solemnly at home, concerning which the following canon speaks.

Can. 776: "§ 1. But in private homes solemn Baptism ought not to be administered, except in these circumstances:

"1. If those to be baptized are children or grandchildren of those who actually hold the supreme principate of peoples or have the right of succeeding to the throne, whenever these have duly requested it;

"2. If the Ordinary of the place, according to his prudent judgment and conscience, has judged that this is to be conceded for a just and reasonable cause in some extraordinary case," for example, on account of a permanent danger of infamy, or if an impious father obstinately forbids the infant to be baptized in church, or if a sick person is foreseen as not to be brought to the church, or if a custom has prevailed for infants of nobles (cf. S. Congr. Sacr., July 22, 1925).

"§ 2. In the cases mentioned, Baptism is to be conferred in the chapel of the house, or at least in another decent place, and with baptismal water blessed in the usual way."

Therefore to baptize solemnly in the sacristy is not licit, except in those circumstances in which it can be permitted at home, and consequently only for a reasonable cause from the license of the Ordinary to be conceded in individual cases.

171. On sponsors. - Sponsors, or those who receive, are called those who receive the baptized person from the sacred font. By this they become, as it were, spiritual quasi-parents, because they receive under guardianship and care the baptized person, since he is, as it were, a newly born little one who needs a nurse and pedagogue by whom he may be instructed in faith and Christian life. Namely, sponsors assume this special care (q. 67, a. 7).

Concerning sponsors several determinations of law must be considered:

1. From can. 762 and 763, a sponsor is required a) under grave obligation indeed in solemn Baptism, "as far as can be done," i.e. unless a grave and reasonable cause excuses; whence solemn Baptism ought not to be delayed for a long time because a sponsor cannot be found, as happens more easily in mission places;

b) also in private Baptism, if one can easily be had; but if one was not present, let one be used in supplying the ceremonies, in which case, nevertheless, he contracts no spiritual relationship;

c) when Baptism is repeated under condition: namely, the same sponsor who was present at the prior Baptism is then to be used, as far as can be done; outside this case, in conditional Baptism a sponsor is not necessary, but can licitly be used.

2. Only one sponsor, even of a sex different from the one to be baptized, or at most one man and one woman, are to be used (can. 764). Hence the axiom: One sponsor suffices, two are permitted, three or more are prohibited. The obligation is grave, because the Church wished to prevent relationships from being multiplied (Council of Trent, sess. 24, cap. 2, de ref.). It is a grave sin to use three or more; to use two sponsors of the same sex is reckoned only venial, if the sponsors are of the same sex as the baptized person; if they are of a different sex, it is said by many with St. Alphonsus, Th. M., l. VI, n. 155, to be mortal, because in that case impediments of marriage are multiplied. If several sponsors approach, designated by the parents, the pastor can permit all to be witnesses, indeed even to touch, provided he externally designates one man and one woman, to whom alone he hands the infant, and admonishes them that they alone are true sponsors, and notes them alone as such. Thus St. Alphonsus, n. 154.

3. That someone be a sponsor validly, from can. 765 it is necessary: "1. That he be baptized, have attained the use of reason, and have the intention of carrying out this office; - 2. that he belong to no heretical or schismatic sect, nor by condemnatory or declaratory sentence be excommunicated or infamous with infamy of law or excluded from legitimate acts, nor be a cleric deposed or degraded; - 3. that he be neither father nor mother nor spouse of the one to be baptized; - 4. that he be designated by the one to be baptized or by his parents or guardians, or, if these are lacking, by the minister; - 5. that in the act of Baptism he physically hold or touch the one to be baptized, either by himself or through a proxy, or immediately lift or receive him from the sacred font or from the hands of the one baptizing."

Hence: a) Sponsors are not those who touch the infant but have not been designated by the parents or by the pastor, or who have been designated but do not touch the infant.

b) On the contrary, those are sponsors who, designated by the parents, if they are rejected by the pastor, nevertheless hold the infant; - unless they are rejected on account of defect of a condition required for validity.

c) No one receives the office of sponsor through a proxy unless he consents to this. But that this may be certainly established, the custom is to be reprobated by which an express mandate is not given, but only a proxy is constituted by the parents (S. C. Sacr., July 24, 1925).

4. That someone be licitly admitted as sponsor, from can. 766: "1. That he has completed the fourteenth year of his age, unless another thing seems good to the minister for a just cause; - 2. that he is not, on account of a notorious delict, excommunicated or excluded from legitimate acts (can. 2256, § 2) or infamous with infamy of law, although no sentence has intervened, nor interdicted or otherwise publicly criminal or infamous with infamy of fact; - 3. that he knows the rudiments of the faith; - 4. that he is not a novice or professed in any religion, unless necessity urges and express permission of the superior at least local is had; - 5. that he is not constituted in sacred orders, unless express license of his own Ordinary is added."

The one baptizing himself is not expressly excluded; in the case a proxy must be used (cf. S.C.R., June 14, 1873).

5. The effects of valid reception are: A. An obligation in sponsors "to have the spiritual child perpetually commended to themselves, and, in those things which regard institution in the Christian life, to take diligent care that he show himself throughout his whole life such as they promised by the solemn ceremony that he would be" (can. 769). Wherefore they are bound to take care that the children commended to them be instructed by catechetical instruction (can. 1335).

The obligation is grave since it concerns a grave matter; but it urges only in a case of necessity, when the baptized person needs the care and instruction of the sponsor, as if he is nourished among unbelievers or heretics, or has unbelieving or heretical parents, or parents altogether negligent in the instruction of their child. But if the child is nourished among Catholics, he can be presumed to be sufficiently instructed by the parents until the contrary is established (q. 67, a. 8).

B. Spiritual relationship between the sponsor and the baptized person, in the same way as between the one baptizing and the baptized person, but not between the sponsor and the parents (can. 768). From this relationship there arises a diriment impediment of matrimony (can. 1079), and guilt of spiritual incest in the case in which they sin carnally with one another.

He does not contract spiritual relationship: a) who acted only as proxy in the name of the true sponsor, since this one alone becomes spiritually related; b) who was not sponsor in Baptism, but only in supplying the ceremonies (can. 762, § 2); c) who was only a sponsor in Baptism repeated under condition: for in this case neither the sponsor who was present at the prior Baptism, nor the one at the later, contracts spiritual relationship, unless the same sponsor was used in both Baptisms (can. 763, § 2): for then alone it is established that the sponsor was present in a valid Baptism.

6. The office of the pastor in admitting, designating, and rejecting sponsors is a matter of prudence. Especially:

a) In doubt whether someone can be admitted validly or licitly to the office of sponsor or not, the pastor, if time is available, should consult the Ordinary (can. 767). Otherwise, says Vermeersch, Th. M., III, n. 234, "let him rather keep away the doubtful sponsor; if he cannot do this without serious inconvenience, let him add another certainly suitable one," namely, if a second had not already been designated.

b) "In rejecting the unworthy from the office of sponsor, let the pastor use all prudence and kindness, lest he offend others or harm the good of religion. Hence let him never use harsh and injurious words, but in a gentle way let him say that he is acting solely from the prescriptions of the Church and cannot admit such a person as sponsor," notes Prummer, Th. M., III, n. 147.

c) "When an infant is announced as to be baptized, let the priest already inquire immediately concerning the quality of the sponsors, and not wait until all are prepared in the church. Then immediately let him warn that another sponsor be designated" (ibid.).

d) If from the refusal of an unworthy sponsor very great inconveniences should arise, let him take care that the sponsor does not touch the one to be baptized in the act of Baptism; and if not even this is possible, he can, if grave scandal does not arise from this, tolerate the unworthy sponsor, because the law concerning unworthy sponsors to be rejected is a positive ecclesiastical law which does not oblige with so great an inconvenience. And the same holds in the case of tolerating a heretical or schismatic sponsor, although nevertheless from can. 765 he would not truly be a sponsor.

e) From the prescription of the Ritual, tit. 2, c. 2, n. 31: "The sponsors are to be admonished concerning the spiritual relationship which they have contracted with the baptized person; which relationship impedes Matrimony and diriments it."

172. Observations concerning the notation and proof of Baptism. - 1. "Pastors ought diligently and without any delay to enter in the baptismal book the names of the baptized, mention having been made of the minister, parents and sponsors, and of the place and day of the Baptism conferred" (can. 777, § 1). The obligation of itself is grave; the inscription is personally incumbent upon the pastor, unless there is a reason excusing; in which case he should at least confirm it by signature.

2. "But where it is a matter of illegitimate children, the name of the mother is to be inserted if her maternity is publicly established, or if she of her own accord seeks this in writing or before two witnesses; likewise the name of the father, provided that he of his own accord seeks this from the pastor either in writing or before two witnesses, or is known from a public authentic document; in other cases let the born child be inscribed as the child of an unknown father or of unknown parents" (can. 777, § 2). The name of the parents is to be inscribed in such a way that every occasion of infamy is avoided; if infamy is foreseen, in particular cases recourse is to be had to the S. Congregation of the Council (Commission for Interpretation, July 14, 1922).

3. "If Baptism was administered neither by the proper pastor nor in his presence, the minister should as soon as possible inform the proper pastor by reason of domicile concerning the Baptism conferred" (can. 778). If the baptized person lacks domicile, the pastor of the quasi-domicile, if he is a vagus, the pastor of the place is to be informed.

4. "To prove conferred Baptism, if prejudice is done to no one, one witness beyond every exception is enough, or the oath of the baptized person himself, if he received Baptism in adult age" (can. 779). But if proof harms the right of someone, fuller proof is required, as if the nullity of matrimony depends on it: then, however, a qualified witness would suffice, e.g. a pastor who testifies concerning things done by himself from office (can. 1791, § 1).