Dissertation III. On the Reception of Confirmation

I. The person receiving. Every and only baptized person not yet confirmed can validly be confirmed (canon 786; n. 38). Per se even those perpetually insane are to be anointed, namely so that at least according to being they may be constituted perfect and complete Christians; and this must be urged even more if the discussion concerns the partially insane (St. Alphonsus, VI, 180).

II. The age of reception. In the first twelve centuries there was the usage of conferring Confirmation together with Baptism. This practice still flourishes in the Greek Church; but in the Latin Church it has been changed, except in some regions in which even little children are presented to be confirmed, as in Spain and in Latin America. For the rest, with respect to the Latin Church this rule holds: the administration of Confirmation is suitably deferred to about the seventh year of age; nevertheless it can be conferred even before then if the infant is constituted in danger of death, or if it seems expedient to the minister for just and grave causes (canon 788), for example if otherwise the infants would lack the occasion of receiving the sacrament for a very long time (St. Alphonsus, VI, 178). In other cases it cannot be conferred before about the seventh year of age.¹ It is not expedient to defer Confirmation longer than about the seventh year of age, since "thus the young adolescents confirmed become more pliant for grasping precepts, and more suited for receiving the Eucharist afterward, and from having received it they receive more abundant advantages."² Cf. St. Thomas, III, q. 65, aa. 1 and 2.

¹ Pontifical Commission, 16 June 1931, reply to II (A.A.S. 1931, p. 353); compare, however, with respect to the custom which flourishes in Spain and elsewhere, the response of the Sacred Congregation of the Sacraments, 13 June 1932 (A.A.S. 1932, p. 271).

² Thus Leo XIII in the brief Abrogata, 22 June 1897.

III. Things to be observed in reception. In the one receiving there are required: 1. the state of grace (canon 786), which, if it has been lost, is to be recovered through confession or through perfect contrition; 2. sufficient instruction, if the one to be confirmed possesses the use of reason (cited canon), namely instruction in the rudiments of faith and in the principal things which regard the sacrament of Confirmation.¹ It is only of counsel that the one to be confirmed, if it can conveniently be done, be fasting.² Finally, those to be confirmed, if there are several, are to be present for the first imposition or extension of hands, nor are they to depart until the rite has been completed (canon 789). It is said, if there are several, for if there is only one person to be confirmed and he is absent, the ceremony cannot even be begun.

Note. The precept of the Roman Pontifical of wearing a linen band until the chrism has dried is no longer observed, but immediately after the anointing the chrism is wiped from the forehead of the confirmed person (St. Alphonsus, VI, 180).

¹ The Sacred Congregation de Propaganda Fide, 4 May 1774, says thus: "Those to be anointed with sacred chrism must first be diligently instructed, according to the teachings of the Roman Catechism, concerning the nature, dignity, effects, and dispositions prerequired for receiving this sacrament worthily. Likewise they must be instructed concerning the rudiments of faith, the precepts of the Decalogue and of the Church, the acts of the theological virtues, and they must hold in memory the Lord's Prayer and the Apostles' Creed" (Collectanea, n. 503).

² Cf. Roman Pontifical.