In Dutch

The Holy Church desires, or even commands, that the priest set forth certain matters for those who are going to enter marriage. I shall now proceed to this.

I. The principal ends of marriage are: 1. the procreation of children; 2. the mutual help of the spouses.

II. With regard to the first end, several things are permitted to married persons, while others are forbidden.

1. What is permitted to you? 1. The use of marriage, as it is called, which consists in the union of bodies. Here you must take into account that the woman ought to lie underneath and on her back. Without reason let it not happen in another way. 2. Further, everything is permitted which is necessary or useful for preparation for the use of marriage, such as mutual touches, etc.

2. What is forbidden to you? 1. Every such use of marriage that the procreation of a child cannot take place. Therefore, if someone should advise you to limit the number of children in an unnatural way, then you must reject that advice. Trust in divine Providence. If He grants you children, He will not let you lack the necessary help in educating them. 2. Further, it is forbidden to arouse each other to vehement feelings unless you can and will proceed to the use of marriage.

III. The use of marriage is not only permitted, but also obligatory, if it is seriously asked by one of the two. Then you may not refuse it, unless a weighty reason, for example sickness, excuses you.

IV. If the good God has blessed your marriage, let the wife carefully avoid everything that could harm the child, such as: very heavy work, carrying heavy burdens, violent outward or inward movements, strenuous bicycling, vehement anger or vehement sorrow. The man too must take account of that condition of the wife, and then especially must not cause her great sorrow. Finally, both must fervently pray to the good God that their child may be born alive and receive the benefit of holy Baptism.

V. Now I must note some things with regard to holy Baptism.

1. Must the child always be baptized?

Always; even in miscarriage, that is, when the fruit, the child, comes forth before the time; even if the child does not yet have human form; even if it gives no sign of life; even if the fruit is still enclosed by membranes.

2. Who must baptize the child?

a. In ordinary circumstances, when a child comes healthy into the world, it must be baptized in the church and by the priest.

b. If the child is in danger of dying, it must be baptized by one of those present. Father and mother come in the last place for the baptizing of their own child. But if no one is present, or the one present does not know it well, or cannot do it decently, then father or mother must baptize their own child in time of need. In miscarriage this will usually have to be done by the parents themselves.

3. How must you baptize the child?

a. If you can baptize the child on the head, then you baptize it in the ordinary way. Namely, you clean the head in such a way that you can certainly touch the head with the water. Then you take ordinary water - lukewarm water if you have it at hand; blessed water is not necessary - then you take ordinary water and wash the head with it while pronouncing the words: I baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

If the first time you cannot baptize on the head, but can on another member, then you must baptize on that member, however small it may be, for example a finger or toe, but always on the foremost member on which you can baptize. If, however, you get a chance to baptize again on a more principal member, for example hand or foot, then you must baptize again on that member, and indeed as often as you will be able to do it again on a more principal member, for example on breast, back, or shoulders, up to the head; for only then, when you have baptized well on the cleansed little head, is one of the baptisms certainly good. If, however, after having baptized on finger or toe, you can at once baptize on the head, then skip all the intermediate members.

As often as you cannot baptize on the head the first time, you must always use these words during the washing: If you can be baptized, then I baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. And if finally you baptize the head after it has come outside the body, you say: If you are not baptized, then I baptize you, etc.¹

b. How must one baptize if the child does not yet have human form, or if the fruit is still enclosed by membranes?

Pay close attention, for in these circumstances father or mother usually must baptize, and the salvation of a soul can be involved in it. For a child that is not baptized cannot come into heaven, and therefore every care is necessary here, that it be baptized and baptized as well as possible.

If therefore something comes forth after the use of marriage, even if it is in the first days, something of which you do not know what it is, then you must not just clean it up at once; rather, you must investigate whether perhaps the fruit, the child, is present. The fruit is enclosed in a little bladder filled with fluid; this is whitish in color.

When you have found this little bladder, you place it on the table or on a plate and put a bowl of water near it. Then first you must pour water over the little bladder,² while you say: If you can be baptized, then I baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Then you hold the little bladder somewhat slanting in the bowl with water, open it with the thumb and index finger of both hands, and let the fetal water run out. Then you say again, while you move the fruit in the water a little back and forth: If you can be baptized, then I baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Afterward you must take the fruit out of the water again.³

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¹ Cf. p. 118, note.

² Cf. p. 119, note 1.

³ Cf. Rath, Institutiones de Sacramentis in genere necnon de Baptismo et Confirmatione, n. 419.