Baptism with blood

[lakotak]

I know this is a strange question, but in the time I have been on this forum, I have seen many strange questions asked.

We had a young man stabbed to death in the city that I live in. He was, I believe almost 24 years old. He wanted to be a doctor. It was a robbery and the robbers chose to stab him even after he gave them the money. He fell in the gutter and a person who lived in the same block that he did heard the robbery and came out. He found the young man lying in the gutter bleeding to death. He was stabbed in the heart. The person stayed with the young man and held his hand until he died.

The thought came to me would a baptism with his own blood in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit have been valid, since there was nothing else to make the sign of the cross with except with his own blood and his life was just about gone? I don’t know why this came to my mind, but thought I would ask. I know it is a strange question.

 

[Verbum]

Hi lakotak,

Water is essential for baptism. Also, if an adult is concerned, he/she has to desire baptism.

You have probably heard of the “baptism of blood”. This is an allusion to a person who wishes to become a Christian and is killed for his/her belief.

To pursue the subject, except in danger of death, it is not permitted to baptize a child without the consent of at least one parent. I know of at least two cases where grandparents baptized a child whom the parents had no intention of having baptized. These baptisms are valid, but they are expressly forbidden by the Church. And if ever, this child, once grown up, desires baptism, the grandparents would have to inform the ecclesiastical authorities of the fact that the person was already baptized. (One cannot be baptized twice.) Altogether a bad situation.

Verbum

 

[ConstantineTG]

You are onlyh baptized with blood if your blood was spilled for Christ. You have to be a martyr of the faith to have been baptized with blood. For example you are an atheist and you accompanied a missionary for other reasons (you want to be charitable, business reasons, etc). So you go to a mission area which is remote. Through the course of the mission, you were converted and started believing, perhaps a Catechumen along with those in the area. It so happens that the area you are in are part of a region that belongs to a pagan religion. Some members of the tribe or another tribe decided to put a stop to the preaching by taking you as prisoners. The option was simple, stop preaching or die. You choose death. Thats baptism by blood.

 

[DavidFilmer]

There is only one Baptism - and it’s water Baptism. Baptism of blood (or desire) is not a different type of Baptism, but only the hope that the Grace of water Baptism will be applied in special circumstances. This has not been defined as a doctrine of the Church, but the belief dates back to the very early Church and is worthy of acceptance.

In the situation you described, no water was available. In an emergency, I suppose you would resort to the next best thing - which, in this case, would be your own spittle (not the recipient’s blood). Under ordinary circumstances this would surely invalidate the Sacrament (invalid matter), but our belief in Baptism of Blood or Desire lead us to hope that God will make an allowance for this circumstance as well (and there’s no harm in trying).