Do you know the date of your Christening?

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Polak

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Do you know yours, without asking or checking?

The priest actually asked this during a sermon. He told people who know the date of their Christening to raise their arms. Suffice to say, very few hands were raised. I admit, I didn’t raise mine either, although I have since found out (or been reminded, because I’m sure I was told before) of the date and will try to remember it from now on.

The priest went on to make a general point about how we celebrate our birthday, but never our baptism. He almost made us sound a big egotistical, celebrating the day we were born, as if we were some great plus for the world and ought to celebrate that anniversary, while baptisms do not get celebrated, and not only that, but people often don’t even know the date it occured.

Personally I don’t think it’s egotistical to celebrate your birthday, as you being put here by God is a great miracle, so why not celebrate? I might have hinted that the priest was suggesting some of us must have a very high opinion of ourselves by celebrating our birthdays, but perhaps he wasn’t. I cannot really know what his thought process was when he said it. Perhaps he just wanted to point out that we easily remember when we were born, but not when we were baptised, and that isn’t right, because it shows that baptism isn’t given as much importance? It certainly made me think about it.
 
Polak said:
He almost made us sound a big egotistical, celebrating the day we were born
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Is this a direct quote, or your characterization? What did he actually say?
Polak said:
Personally I don’t think it’s egotistical
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I don’t think it is either, and I doubt the priest did. Is it really a useful discussion to argue with a point that wasn’t actually made?

-Fr ACEGC
 
My priest has asked us the same thing and I have no problem with the question. Receiving the Holy Mysteries of Initiation is one of the most important days in our lives. Why not know the date and recognize it?
 
We were also asked whether we knew our baptism dates in today’s homily and were encouraged to make the date special. Since I was baptised on Christmas Day (in a Methodist Chapel) there’s a similar ‘issue’ to those with birthdays on Christmas Day so I will celebrate the date of my reception, confirmation and first communion and including a late recognition of my baptism on that date (15th April).
BTW…Father said it would be good to pray in Thanksgiving for the person who ensured we were baptised. 🙂
 
I celebrate my birthday AND my Baptism/Chrismation. Will pm you re the latter.
 
No, I don’t know offhand the date of my baptism/christening, though I know I was about a month old at the time. On the other hand, I remember my first communion very clearly. It was on Gaudete Sunday, the third Sunday in Advent, and I keep that date every year. Religiously.
 
I also celebrate my FHC anniversary either on the day or the Sunday closest to the Feast of St. Athanasius.
 
I was received into the Church on January 30, 2005. That’s the date I remember. My conditional baptism was the day before.
 
I do remember the date of my baptism - but don’t celebrate it because I never remember it each year … 😞

I too have had my priest talk on this during the homily too, but he was coming from the fact that until we are baptized we are dead, and so we should celebrate our Baptisms because that is when we are given new life (he said it much better than my explanation) - and as heaven and eternal life is our goal in this earthly life, then that should hold the greater importance for us Catholics.

Father also elaborated on Christ’s Baptism, how He had no need for it, but back then they were submerged, so today water is poured on the head in Baptisms, using at the same time the Trinitarian formula. He also briefly delved into invalid Baptisms.
Polak said:
he just wanted to point out that we easily remember when we were born, but not when we were baptized, and that isn’t right, because it shows that baptism isn’t given as much importance
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🔼 that is the right interpretation to put on Fathers’ words, imo.
 
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I don’t know mine and I’m not sure there is any way of finding out. I’m pretty sure I know the priest’s name, but he’s now long gone, so no help there. Still, I know my birthday and I would guess my mother had it done within a week or two of my birth.

She was a bit of an older mother at the time, 38, and she had had a couple of miscarriages before me, but I’m guessing that she was quite encouraged that I was born, alive, and healthy (I was quite the loud shrieking crying screamer by the way, a very energetic extremely demanding baby), so even if she had been fairly tired, she was probably quite pumped at having given birth to me. That would have done quite a lot to get her up and about again no matter how she “should” have felt.
 
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This question posed a couple of months ago led me to order my certificate of baptism. I had assumed that having been born on October 2nd, a Friday, my mother and I would have been discharged from the hospital by the next Friday and I would have been baptized on the following Sunday, the 11th. I had assumed correctly.
 
I was Baptized on Mother’s Day the year I was born (at the end of March), so I was about 7 weeks old. The date was May 10th.
 
Yes it is on my baptism certificate. At One month old. This surprised me as I was a doubtful to survive as a new born.
 
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Happy Baptism Day! 🥳

I wasn’t sure about mine until I became a Catholic. Now I have both my baptism and confirmation certificates in safekeeping.
 
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Thank you!
I ‘ll call my mother to say thanks today…dad as well in my ❤️
 
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I celebrate it every year by renewing my Baptismal promise. I do this by myself but the past couple of years I asked my Priest or my Deacon to assist me as well as for a blessing. I am hoping to renew my promise at the Church I was Baptized in soon. There has been a hurricane each year for the last 3 years impacting the area requiring me to cancel the trip. There is a plenary indulgence attached to renewing one’s Baptismal promise. I do need to remember to pray for my Godparents who helped make this happen. Thank you for the reminder.
 
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