Dissertation I. On Confirmation Considered in Itself

Confirmation is a sacrament by which the Holy Spirit is conferred for strength in faith through anointing and imposition of the hand under a certain form of words. Confirmation is the complement of Baptism, insofar as, namely, it increases and strengthens the spiritual life received through Baptism (n. 115), and joins to the army of the Lord the human being who has been enrolled by Baptism in the family of Christ (n. 115). It is called Confirmation from the word confirming, that is, making firm. With these things premised, we shall treat first of the existence, then of the essence, then of the effects, finally of the necessity of Confirmation.