Can we be confirmed twice?

[wisdom_3_5]

I was 15 when I was confirmed, did it just to get my mom off my back, didn’t choose a saints name, honestly I really didn’t have a clue what it was about. Now that I’m back in the Church I wonder if I could/should be confirmed again, since it IS something I understand better now and am very devout. Still, somehow it “took” I mean here I am very devout etc. Maybe I can just change my confirmation name? Comments please! Thanks!

Karen

 

[Charles]

wisdom 3:5:

I was 15 when I was confirmed, did it just to get my mom off my back, didn’t choose a saints name, honestly I really didn’t have a clue what it was about. Now that I’m back in the Church I wonder if I could/should be confirmed again, since it IS something I understand better now and am very devout. Still, somehow it “took” I mean here I am very devout etc. Maybe I can just change my confirmation name? Comments please! Thanks!

Karen

Catechism of the Catholic Church paragraph 1304:

“Like Baptism, which it completes, Confirmation is given only once, for it too imprints on the soul an indelible spiritual mark, the “character,” which is the sign that Jesus Christ has marked a Christian with the seal of his spirit by clothing him with power from on high so that he may be his witness.”

As you said in your post, Karen, it “took”! Congratulations on your return to the Church also! As far as taking another saint’s name, there is nothing to keep you from having more than one saint that is particularly special to you. My confirmation name was George, and I still thank God for his example of duty and honor. But I also have other saints whose examples I make a point of regularly thanking God for (St. Francis of Assisi for his example of poverty and St. Maximillian Kolbe for his example of sacrifice).

 

[Br.Dan_OCD]

Dear Karen,

You’re not much different than many of us, really. Your confirmation seems to have been similar to your baptism in that you objectively received all the graces of the Sacrament but it has taken you some time to “actualize” those graces subjectively. This process of actualizing graces is what we all have to do throughout our lives… So, just keep up the good work and you’ll be “re-confirmed” by the grace of God on a continual basis. Keep asking God for His grace!

 

[Tyler_Smedley]

Something I learned just the other day is that even if you are in a state of moral sin when you recieve the sacrament of confirmation, you still get the gift of the holy spirit, it just lies “dormait” (sp) until you confess the mortal sin where then it begins to give you the grace from the sacrament. It is similar with the sacrament of ordination, even if the priest is in a state of moral sin they can still preform the sacraments validly, because it changes you soul.

 

[JCPhoenix]

I’ve actually wondered the same thing. Ironically I actually began to question my faith when I went to college…at a Catholic College! There was no fault in the school, just in my own spirit. I’d been devout throughout high school, and my seperation was actually affected somewhat by outside forces…very long story. Let’s just call it a spiritual battle just for the sake of simplicity.

I later returned fully to the Church, after having begun to read the “Left Behind” series. The anti-Catholicism offended me and I made it my mission to study the Faith and better understand it…which led to my return and eventually my first Confession after 10 years.

It was a very tearful and even terrifying Confession, and never before has the forgiveness of Christ been so demonstrated to me…it almost seemed too easy, but God does know how I tend to be hardest on myself…as most of us are.

My Confirmation name was “Christina” and I did reasearch her, although I’m not sure it was really for the right reasons. However, the one thing about her and her variations, real and allegedly legendary, was that no matter how she was persecuted for her faith, she came back more strongly. One story of St. Christina holds that she was threatened with the removal of her tongue unless she ceased to preach about Jesus…she continued, they cut off her tongue and she spoke more eloquently than before. They threw her in the fire, they tried to drown her, and one account tells how she was borne from depths of the ocean by the Archangel Michael himself.

In looking back, although I question my motives for choosing her at the time, I’ve come to realize that my life has been true to what I learned of her then; I have been through the fire and every experience has made me stronger, no matter how painful it was at the time. And in the end, I have come back to Christ and my faith is stronger now that ever before.

I would encourage you to look at your Confirmation saint again, remember your motives at the time, and take a close look at the name, variations of the saint (ie: several St. Christophers) and be sure you were really “not” choosing…or did the Holy Spirit lead you even then to the person and name you chose?

Things aren’t always on the surface; sometimes things that we think should be apparent are really things we need to dig deeply to discover.

 

[Br.Rich_SFO]

I want to comment on something Tyler Smedley posted.

Please do not take offense Tyler.

“Something I learned just the other day is that even if you are in a state of moral sin when you recieve the sacrament of confirmation, you still get the gift of the holy spirit, it just lies “dormait” (sp) until you confess the mortal sin where then it begins to give you the grace from the sacrament.”

This is true, it is seen in some of the writings of the Church Fathers, It is said that the Sacrament “revives” when the impediment is removed. I know of no other Sacrmament where this is spoken of.

“It is similar with the sacrament of ordination, even if the priest is in a state of moral sin they can still preform the sacraments validly, because it changes you soul.”

This is totally different. It refers to the fact that it is Christ Himself who is the minister of the Sacraments, who is acting through the human minister. The state of the soul of the human instrument does not effect the validity of the Sacrament. However the state of the soul of the person receiving the Sacrament does affect the reception of the Sacrament.

 

[Godfollower]

I was 15 when I was confirmed, did it just to get my mom off my back, didn’t choose a saints name, honestly I really didn’t have a clue what it was about. Now that I’m back in the Church I wonder if I could/should be confirmed again, since it IS something I understand better now and am very devout.

I once went to my priest with the very same question, because (“now” that I was in college) I actually felt my faith more strongly (as opposed to my confirmation, which was just what you did for eighth-grade CCD). My priest gave the correct answer, which was that I could not be “reconfirmed” because it only happens once. But he had a great suggestion: why not be a sponsor for RCIA? So I did. I learned a lot from being the sponsor for someone coming into the Church, while serving her at the same time.

Believe me, you can get as much our of RCIA as the person you’re sponsoring (or even more). And you don’t even have to find someone to sponsor; most RCIA progams are hurting for sponsors, and they’ll gladly take you and match you up with someone.

 

[Gamera]

Same boat here. I had zero belief in God, let alone the sacrament, when I got confirmed. If I could change one event in my life, it would be to go back and get confirmed and mean it.

 

[T.A.Stobie_SFO]

No, in the the Catholic Church.

My dad was confirmed twice. Once in the Anglican Church and again when he converted to the Catholic Church. The first was not considered valid due the invalid orders in the Anglican church.

 

[twf]

So even if you do not believe in God nor the sacrament it is still valid?!

 

[Gamera]

So even if you do not believe in God nor the sacrament it is still valid?!

So everyone tells me, yeah. My reading of CCC 1310, which says that “To receive Confirmation one must be in a state of grace…,” suggests to me that I received it invalidly, but everyone tells me I merely received it unlawfully. Apparently it’s analogous to an atheist going up to the Communion and receiving the Host ---- the sacrament is still really occurring, but it’s being received unlawfully and sinfully.

Believe me, I wish I could do it all over again. But I’ve got nobody to blame but myself. The best that I can do is to try to live in accordance with the ideals of Confirmation which I so foolishly discarded at the time.

 

[T.A.Stobie_SFO]

Believe me, I wish I could do it all over again. But I’ve got nobody to blame but myself. The best that I can do is to try to live in accordance with the ideals of Confirmation which I so foolishly discarded at the time.

Remember with most sacraments the grace continue throughout your life. Every day I ask God for the graces of Matrimony to love my wife better. Baptism, Confirmation, Matrimony, & Holy Orders all have graces that continue over the life of the individual. Ask God for these graces and live a holy life to recieve them better.

 

[homewardangel]

I have wondered this same thing several times - because I was confirmed twice…in the Catholic church.

What about being confirmed if the church, bishop, ect…is a schism from the church (i.e. SSPX church) Is that confirmation valid?

My first confirmation was when I was young (11 yrs old I would guess). My mother hated the new mass and we ran around from church to church. At that time we were attending a church that offered the mass in latin.

Then mom found a different church where the “traditional mass” was offered in latin. So I was confirmed again. Then shortly after that she decided that she didn’t like that church either and we started going to another church.

Are those types of sacraments valid in a schism church?

Terry

 

[T.A.Stobie_SFO]

If the Bishop has valid orders and confirms the confirmation is valid.

• If the bishop is is schism, it becomes illicit (against the law of the church), but still is valid.

If the Bishop does not have valid orders, he cannot confirm validly.

Sometimes in these case, where there is doubt, the second is done conditionally just is case the first was invalid.

 

[palmas85]

I have wondered this same thing several times - because I was confirmed twice…in the Catholic church.

What about being confirmed if the church, bishop, ect…is a schism from the church (i.e. SSPX church) Is that confirmation valid?

My first confirmation was when I was young (11 yrs old I would guess). My mother hated the new mass and we ran around from church to church. At that time we were attending a church that offered the mass in latin.

Then mom found a different church where the “traditional mass” was offered in latin. So I was confirmed again. Then shortly after that she decided that she didn’t like that church either and we started going to another church.

Are those types of sacraments valid in a schism church?

Terry

It depend on if the orders of those giving the sacraments being valid or not.

 

[puzzleannie]

many people join a Life in the Spirit seminar in order to learn more about and embrace the gifts of the Holy Spirit in their lives, you might ask your diocese about upcoming retreats. If you have already been confirmed you merely ask the Holy Spirit to work in and through you, using your own words or any of the traditional prayers of submission to Him.

If you feel you were not in a state of grace when you were confirmed, your first good confession restores you to fullness of grace and to the enjoyment of all the grace of this and all the sacraments.