64. The minister of baptism is one thing if ordinary, another if extraordinary; and the extraordinary minister is one thing for solemn baptism, another for private baptism.

1. The extraordinary minister of private baptism is any human being having the use of reason, whether man or woman, whether Catholic or heretic, whether believer or unbeliever, who indeed always baptizes validly, but licitly only in a case of necessity and when the ordinary minister is lacking, as is clear from the doctrine and practice of the Church.

a. Nevertheless it is not licit for the father or mother to baptize their own child, except in danger of death, when no one else is present who may baptize. Cn. 742, 3.

b. A case of necessity is considered to be present if a man not yet baptized is in danger of death; but not if, because of distance, bad weather, or illness, a priest cannot be had except after a long time. Therefore in these circumstances the office of baptizing cannot be committed to a layman, always excepting danger of death.

c. Yet in mission places there is approved the custom by force of which, when a priest is absent, baptism is permitted to be administered immediately by catechists or other approved laymen to recently born infants, even those enjoying good health (although the priest is absent only for a short time), because the life of infants is exposed to continual dangers.¹

d. If in a case of necessity baptism is conferred privately, there are to be used, if it can be done, two witnesses or at least one, by whom the conferral of baptism can be proved. Cn. 742, 1.

2. The extraordinary minister of solemn baptism is the deacon, who nevertheless can licitly baptize solemnly only by delegation of the Ordinary or of the pastor, which is to be granted from a just cause. A sufficient cause on account of which the office of baptizing can be committed to a deacon is judged to be this: if the pastor is absent or sick, or if he is occupied with holding a sermon or hearing confessions, etc. If necessity presses, the permission is legitimately presumed.

a. Whether a deacon baptizes licitly in a case of lighter necessity, but without the commission of the pastor, is disputed. Suarez holds the affirmative opinion, because when necessity exists a reasonably presumed commission suffices.² The reason of St. Alphonsus, who holds the negative opinion (n. 116), is this: because a deacon can solemnly baptize only in place of the priest.

b. It is not licit for a deacon, even if he baptizes solemnly, to bless salt or water.³

c. A cleric lower than a deacon who solemnly baptizes incurs irregularity, because he exercises an order which he does not have. But a deacon who solemnly baptizes without commission indeed sins, because he injures the right of the pastor; yet he does not seem to incur irregularity, because he does not exercise an order which he does not have, since by force of ordination he can solemnly baptize.

3. The ordinary minister of solemn baptism is every and only priest, who nevertheless, except in a case of necessity, cannot licitly use his power unless he possesses the ordinary or delegated faculty for this.

a. Therefore a bishop can licitly baptize only those who have domicile or quasi-domicile in his diocese; and a pastor can licitly baptize only those who have domicile or quasi-domicile within the limits of his parish. But he cannot licitly baptize outsiders who do not have quasi-domicile in his parish without the permission of their own pastor, unless they are travelers or vagrants. Outside his parish he cannot licitly baptize his own parishioners without the permission of the pastor of the place.

b. Travelers ought to be baptized by their own pastor in his parish, if this can be done easily and without delay; otherwise they can be baptized by any pastor in his own territory. Therefore an infant whom a woman bears while staying outside her homeland, or whom a woman happens to bear in a place not her own, must be brought to his own pastor, unless he is far distant, or the infant is exposed to danger of life, or baptism for that reason would have to be deferred too long. Cn. 738, 1. Vagrants can be baptized by any pastor whom they themselves have chosen, if they are adults, or whom their parents have chosen, if they are infants.

c. Priests who without just cause baptize infants offered to them from another parish sin gravely, because they injure the right of the infant's own pastor. But when a just cause exists, an outside infant can licitly be baptized with the reasonably presumed permission of the infant's pastor. In the same way parents sin who outside a case of necessity or without the permission of the pastor bring their child to be baptized by other priests, because they violate the right of their own shepherd.

d. The baptism of adults, from the Roman Ritual and from the Code of Canon Law, is to be referred to the bishop, if this can conveniently be done.⁴ But in most dioceses it is laid down that no adult is to be baptized outside a case of necessity, not even under condition, without the permission of the Ordinary.

¹ S. C. de Prop. Fide, 11 Feb. 1804.

² Suarez, disp. 23, sect. 2, n. 10.

³ S. C. R., 10 Feb. 1888, n. 3684.

⁴ Roman Ritual, tit. 2, c. 3, n. 3. Cn. 744.

65. The order to be observed among diverse ministers in private baptism is thus described in the Roman Ritual: "If a priest is present, he is to be preferred to a deacon, a deacon to a subdeacon, a cleric to a layman, and a man to a woman, unless for the sake of modesty it is fitting that a woman rather than a man baptize an infant not wholly born, or unless the woman should know better the form and manner of baptizing."¹

"Nevertheless," says Lehmkuhl (n. 67 [93]), "this rule is understood in such a way that a. any believer existing in union with the Church, whether man or woman, provided he sufficiently knows the manner of baptizing, is altogether to be preferred to any heretic, even a priest; b. an outside woman is to be preferred to the father of the infant, since parents ought not to baptize their own infant except when another is lacking."

A layman who, contrary to this order, baptizes in the presence of a priest sins gravely, since to the priest alone does this faculty belong as proper by force of ordination; nor can a priest yield his own right, which belongs to him from divine institution, except by reason of decency, e.g., for baptizing a fetus in the mother's womb. But in other cases, to invert this order is free from grave fault, to such an extent that a layman baptizing in the presence of a deacon, according to a probable opinion, does not sin gravely.²

Question Fourth. On the Subject of Baptism

The subject capable of baptism is every and only wayfaring man not yet baptized. Every: because all need regeneration, as being infected with original sin. Only: because the sacraments were instituted for wayfaring men alone, and to them alone access into the Church lies open. Not yet baptized: for this sacrament can neither licitly nor validly be repeated. - We must treat: a. of infants to be baptized; b. of fetuses to be baptized; c. of adults to be baptized; d. of those to be baptized under condition.

¹ Roman Ritual, tit. 2, c. 1, n. 13. Cn. 742, 2.

² Cf. Suarez, disp. 31, sect. 4, n. 7 ff.