Can my child be baptized on Easter Sunday?

[Online_Knight]

My wife and I have been blessed with the glorious gift of impending parenthood. We are busy preparing for this most important of vocations.

My question is… If our baby does arrive on or around our due date of March 29th, is it allowed to have the baptism on Easter Sunday, provided the priest can find time on such a busy day? We have a lot of family from out of town and I am not keen on the “modern” idea of putting it off for weeks or even months until they come home again.

 

[Michelle_Arnold]

Baptism may be celebrated on any day, but it is particularly fitting that it occur at Easter. After all, Pope Benedict XVI has always counted it a special privilege that he was baptized the very day he was born on Holy Saturday 1927 with the newly-blessed baptismal waters. The Code of Canon Law states:

Though baptism may be celebrated on any day, it is recommended that normally it be celebrated on a Sunday or, if possible, on the vigil of Easter (canon 856).

Parents are obliged to see that their infants are baptized within the first few weeks. As soon as possible after the birth, indeed even before it, they are to approach the parish priest to ask for the sacrament for their child, and to be themselves duly prepared for it (canon 867 §1).

I recommend speaking to your pastor now and, presuming that everything proceeds as planned, asking if it is possible that the baby can be baptized along with the adults in the parish who will be received into the Church on the Easter Vigil.

Recommended reading:

Milestones by Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI)