Article — Prümmer, Manuale Theologiae Moralis
Article II. On Baptizing Infants Not Yet Born And Abortive Fetuses
Notions. Under the name infant is here understood a "viable" human being, that is, an infant who is able to live outside the maternal womb; this is accustomed to occur after the seventh month of gestation. A fetus, however, is a conceived but nonviable human being.
129. 1. An infant existing in the maternal womb can and must be baptized if his life is in danger and there is no probable hope that, having been duly delivered, he can be baptized.165 He can then be baptized because physicians today have instruments so perfect that, with moral certitude, the head of the infant, or at least another principal part of his body, can be washed with water. But he must be baptized because otherwise his eternal salvation is endangered or even destroyed.
Baptism conferred upon an infant still totally enclosed in the mother's womb must, after a successful birth, be repeated under condition, even though the physician testifies that the water touched the infant's head in the womb.166 But "if the infant has put forth the head and danger of death threatens, he is to be baptized on the head; nor afterward, if he survives, is he to be baptized again. If he has put forth another member, he is to be baptized upon it under condition if danger threatens; but then, if after birth he lives, he is again to be baptized under condition."167
165 Code of Canon Law, c. 746, § 1.
166 Thus the Sacred Congregation of the Council, July 12, 1794, and March 16, 1897; Code of Canon Law, c. 746, § 5.
167 Thus the Roman Ritual, tit. 2, c. 1, n. 20; Code of Canon Law, ibid., §§ 2 and 3.
130. On Caesarean section168 and other similar surgical operations. It is necessary to distinguish whether Caesarean section is performed while the mother is living or dead.
a) Must Caesarean section be performed while the mother is living?
Because baptism can with moral certitude be validly conferred upon an infant in the maternal womb, the mother now does not seem to have a strict obligation to undergo Caesarean section for the sake of conferring baptism upon the infant. For Caesarean section almost always causes the mother a grave danger of death, which she is not bound to undergo, since the spiritual salvation of the infant can be sufficiently secured in another manner, namely, through baptism in the maternal womb. For the bodily salvation of the offspring, however, the mother is not bound to expose her own life to the greatest danger. Nevertheless, the mother can sometimes licitly permit Caesarean section to save the infant and to render his baptism more secure, unless, however, most grave disadvantages would arise for the husband or for other offspring already born from the death of the mother which might follow.
b) Must Caesarean section be performed when the mother is dead: a) in order to baptize the fetus; b) in order to save the bodily life of the infant?
It is answered to a): If a physician is present who can and wills to perform this operation, it certainly must be performed in order to save the soul of the infant. Otherwise, however, so many and so great inconveniences are accustomed to arise from civil laws and other circumstances that a priest is not bound to urge it. The Holy Office, when asked concerning this obligation on December 13, 1899, ordered that a response already issued on February 15, 1780,169 be given, in which it is stated: "Although this extraction of the fetus from the womb of a pregnant and deceased mother is to be disclosed and urged, nevertheless His Holiness expressly guards against and forbids missionaries, in particular cases, to involve themselves in ordering the section, much less in performing it." Moreover, if the infant is near to delivery, he can be baptized by means of some instrument without Caesarean section, as was said above. In the first four months, however, neither conception itself is certain, nor a fortiori is it certain that a fetus still living exists, since it is morally certain that so tender a fetus does not survive its dead mother. Therefore, at that time there is no grave obligation to perform Caesarean section with great inconvenience.
It is answered to b): If a truly well-founded hope of preserving the life of the offspring is present, this surgical operation certainly is to be performed, since the order of charity requires this. Such a hope is present, however, a) if the offspring has already been conceived for seven months; b) if the mother has not been consumed by a long and protracted disease; and c) if the section is performed immediately after the death of the mother has occurred. For from the seventh month the offspring is viable, as they say; but a long disease of the mother is accustomed also to harm the offspring and cause his death in the maternal womb.170
168 What Caesarean section is was already stated above, II, n. 133.
169 Collectan. de Prop. Fide, nn. 541 and 2073.
170 Cf. above, II, n. 135.
131. 2. Every abortive fetus, even the smallest, is to be baptized at least under condition, unless it is established from his putrefaction that he is lifeless. The reason is that several authors probably teach that the soul is joined to the fetus immediately after conception. Therefore, every living fetus is judged to be a human being, for whom baptism is accordingly altogether necessary. In practice it is sometimes difficult to judge whether an expelled fetus is living or dead. If he is certainly alive, let him be baptized absolutely; but if doubtfully alive, or if the least probability of life exists, the fetus is to be baptized under the condition: "If you are alive." Concerning the manner of baptizing, however, these things are to be noted according to Capellmann:171 The expelled fetus is to be taken carefully, and, by placing him in lukewarm water, not cold water, his membranes are to be ruptured, so that the amniotic fluid flows out and the water can touch the fetus himself. Then immediately the form is to be pronounced: "If you are alive, I baptize you..."; and afterward he is to be removed from the water. The reason for this manner of acting is that baptism conferred upon the so-called "secondines" is invalid. But if the secondines were ruptured outside the water, there would be a danger that the fetus would die suddenly from contact with the air. But if the secondines are ruptured under water, that danger is not so imminent, and moreover there is a greater probability that the water truly touches the fetus. Mothers, midwives, and physicians are to be diligently and prudently admonished not to omit baptizing abortive fetuses. For such abortions, whether culpably or inculpably, occur very frequently; and unless baptism is then conferred, innumerable infants are excluded from the kingdom of heaven.
171 Pastoralmedizin¹⁰, 259.
132. On baptizing monsters.172 The Roman Ritual and the Code of Canon Law also speak of baptizing monsters. For it sometimes happens that a woman delivers a mass which has a very deformed appearance. According to modern physiological science, this mass is either 1. a so-called "mole," that is, a certain growth produced in the womb from fluids and fibers, which certainly is not a human being;173 it is not lawful to confer baptism upon masses of this kind, not even under condition, as is evident of itself; or it is 2. a true human fetus, although deformed. For today it is rejected by all that a woman can, without a miracle, give birth to a beast or another living being which is not human. Therefore, if such a deformed fetus gives signs of life, he is to be baptized. But if his life is doubted, he is to be baptized under the condition: "If you are alive." But if it is doubted whether such a deformed fetus is one human being or two, for example, because he has two heads or two chests, it is safer to baptize the individual heads or chests separately, saying: "I baptize you," etc. The first head or chest is to be baptized absolutely, but the others conditionally. But if danger of death threatens and time does not suffice for the individuals to be baptized separately, the minister can, while pouring water upon the heads of each, baptize all simultaneously, saying: "I baptize you all in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." Nevertheless, it is lawful to employ this form only in these and other similar dangers of death, for baptizing several simultaneously, and where time does not permit the individuals to be baptized separately; never otherwise.174
172 Mißgeburt, deformity.
173 Commonly, a growth (Gewächs).
174 Cf. Rit. Rom., tit. 2, c. 1, n. 22; cf. Code of Canon Law, c. 748.