I am hoping to eventually baptize my child according to the EF.
What I would like to know is if there are specific days when Baptisms can be performed (e.g…, only on Sundays), or are they allowed on any day of the week?
Thanks in advance!
As soon as possible after birth.
The rules of time are governed by the CIC, rather than by the rubrics, so Canon 856 would apply:
Can. 856 Although baptism can be celebrated on any day, it is nevertheless recommended that it be celebrated ordinarily on Sunday or, if possible, at the Easter Vigil.
No that it much matters (since it’s no longer in force) but I didn’t see anything to the contrary in the 1917 CIC either.
I was looking through the 1910 entries of my home parish’s register (they published the 1858-1920 records several years ago) and this is how it breaks down for 1910, 1911 & 1920:
Sunday 13–8–18
Monday 4–4–6
Tuesday 1–8–2
Wednesday 2–8–3
Thursday 2–10–5
Friday 5–5–7(including Good Friday)
Saturday 0–3–4
Many of the children baptized during the week were 1-3 days old but of those I only noticed one subsequent death. The one baptized on Good Friday was 5 days old and she went on to get married 36 years later.
But the Roman Missal says: On this and the following day, by a most ancient tradition, the Church does not celebrate the Sacraments at all, except for Penance and the Anointing of the Sick.
I suppose the laws were different a century ago.
She may have been an emergency Baptism. Those things aren’t written in the register but I suspect that those where the kids are 1 or 2 days old (and there were several) might be because they didn’t think they’d survive. I don’t think I ran into any that were more than 10 days old.