To n. 261. - Appendix III. Historical-Liturgical Appendix on Confirmation

After the optative salutation ("May the Holy Spirit come upon you," etc.) and the introductory formulas ("Our help," etc.), the bishop, extending his hands over them, recites the prayer: "Almighty eternal God," etc., in which, having recalled the benefit of baptism received, he calls down upon them the sevenfold Holy Spirit; with the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit enumerated, he finishes the prayer with a blessing and a longer conclusion. Then, wearing the miter and, according as, with attention to the number of those to be confirmed, it is more expedient, either sitting upon the faldstool or standing, he proceeds to the anointings. He addresses the individual candidates by their own name, anoints them on the forehead with his thumb in the form of a cross, saying, "I sign you with the sign of the cross," etc. Finally, he gives a light blow to the cheek of the confirmed person, saying, "Peace be with you." With the antiphon "Confirm this, O God" sung, and with the prayer of the bishop over those confirmed and the solemn blessing of the bishop, the ceremony is ended.

1. Preliminary observation. Through the first three centuries there was the usage of joining the ceremonies of baptism with the ceremonies of confirmation, so that it could be doubted whether the anointing which follows essential baptism first pertained to baptism or to confirmation. The separation of ceremonies became more general after, in places remote from the episcopal city, a priest or deacon ministered baptism, but the bishop, in the visitation of the diocese, ministered confirmation.

2. Now let us observe a few things concerning the three principal rites.

A. Imposition of hands. Contrary to what is done in most Eastern liturgies, in the Latin Church there has been preserved, distinct from anointing, the imposition of hands, which alone is mentioned in Scripture, and which, as some think, for a long time alone was used in Gaul, Spain, and northern Italy.

In the Eastern Church no other imposition of the hand is had except the one which is joined with anointing and which even now in the Latin Church is held as the sole essential one.

In the distinct imposition of hands, the minister prays as the Apostles did (Acts VIII, 15-17). From very ancient memory, the formula contains two parts: thanksgiving for baptism received, or at least commemoration of baptism, and a prayer that the Holy Spirit be sent. Similar formulas are found in the Eastern rites themselves.

B. Anointing. Sacred Scripture is silent concerning anointing, where it speaks about baptism or confirmation. Yet certain words of Sacred Scripture, for example those by which St. John (1 John 2, 20.27) commemorates the anointing which the faithful received from the Holy One, from God; or those by which St. Paul (2 Cor. 1, 22) presents himself with the faithful as confirmed in Christ and anointed: "But he who confirms us with you in Christ and who has anointed us is God: who has also sealed us and given the pledge of the Spirit in our hearts," either show an anointing then made, or contributed to inducing it. It is certain that it existed in the second century. In the first part of the third century, Origen expressly mentions the anointing of Chrism (Hom. 6, c. 5, P.G. 12, 472. Cf. cc. 580). Yet not in all monuments of that age is the grace of the Holy Spirit joined so closely with baptismal anointing. In the most celebrated place of the letter to Decentius, c. III, Innocent I (401-407) teaches us that anointing is joined with the very consignation (impression of the sign of the cross), which seems to have been introduced in the fourth century. Behold the words of the Pontiff: "To presbyters, whether apart from a bishop or in the presence of a bishop, when they baptize, it is licit to anoint the baptized with chrism, but with that which has been consecrated by a bishop; yet not to sign the forehead with the same oil, which is due to bishops alone, when they hand down the Paraclete Spirit" (P.L. XX, 555). Hence the twofold anointing which is still used in the Latin Church: one at the end of baptism, the other in confirmation.

From the fourth or fifth century, the Eastern Churches preserved only one anointing, which certainly pertains to confirmation and obtains the principal place, so that among the Syrians the whole body is anointed.

C. The usage of consignation also could have flowed from Sacred Scripture, 2 Cor. 1, 22 (l.c.) and Eph. IV, 30: "And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, in whom you have been sealed unto the day of redemption." Already in the third century it seems to have had joined to it the formula: "In the name of the Father," etc.

Concerning the origin of the light blow, much has been disputed. In ancient documents, only the kiss of peace is mentioned.

The form of the sacrament in almost all Eastern liturgies is declarative. Thus in the Byzantine rite: sphragis doreas tou hagiou Pneumatos - "seal of the gift of the Holy Spirit" - which form is already demonstrated in the fourth century. A similar one occurs in the Gelasian Sacramentary, p. 86 of the cited edition: "The sign of Christ unto eternal life. Amen." The present form appears from the tenth century.

From Acts VIII, 14 and 17, and XIX, 1-7, we receive these things. Peter and John are sent to the Samaritans already baptized expressly so that they may confer the Holy Spirit upon them; Paul, at Ephesus, orders twelve persons, who had received only the baptism of John, first to be baptized, and then he himself imposes hands upon the same. Therefore, although the name of confirmation is not yet used, nevertheless a sacrament distinct from baptism, and the Holy Spirit conferred by imposition of hands, are well discerned.

In the Acts of the Apostles there occurs the generic name of imposition of hands; or even the effect of the imposition is mentioned (Acts VIII, 17-19 and XIX, 6, and II, 38 with X, 45. Cf. Hebr. VI, 4). In the first three centuries the completed mystery of initiation through baptism and confirmation is designated by certain words, such as he teleiosis, perfection. From the fourth century these words become proper to those confirmed. Among the Greeks, only the word sphragis has been preserved. Among the Latins, from the third century the word signaculum seems reserved to confirmation, without excluding the use of the word Consignation. Finally the definitive appellation of the West, Confirmation, is already used here and there in Gaul from the fifth century. Let canon 2 of the Council of Orange (441) be an example: if "in baptism, because of any necessity whatsoever, he was not chrismated, in confirmation the priest (i.e., the bishop) will be reminded" (Hefele-Leclercq, Hist. des Conc. II, p. 432).

Time, place, number. Through several centuries, confirmation immediately followed baptism. Only from the thirteenth century did the custom become strong of deferring this sacrament to the age of reason; this has been approved by the Roman Catechism and the Code.

The place was not the baptistery, but a special building (Consignatorium) or the church, or chapels joined to the baptistery.

Number. Already St. Cyril (Procatechesis, P.L. 33, 365.366) desires for the enlightened that they receive "the indelible seal of the Holy Spirit." And if, in the first centuries, hands were imposed upon converted heretics so that they might receive the Holy Spirit, that ceremony, in which nothing but imposition of the hand is ever mentioned, the rite of anointing and consignation being omitted, cannot be confused with confirmation.

E. de M., S.I.