Has anybody else seen this? Baby on the altar

[MrBibbins]

Our new Parochial Vicar was celebrating Mass this morning and there happened to be an infant Baptism. After the baby girl was Baptized and after she was changed into her new white garments, the priest called the family (mom, dad, and godparents) up to the edge of the sanctuary and proceeded to pray over each of them.

Since I’ve come home to the Church and have been attending this parish, I’ve seen many infant baptisms at Mass so all of this was very familiar to me. Not so much what happened next.

After he had prayed over them, he invited them all to step up into the sanctuary saying “what we are about to do is a tradition that represents Jesus coming into the temple”. This alone struck me as very peculiar, but what followed seems like it just shouldn’t happen. The priest instructed the mother to place her baby on the altar so he could pray some additional prayers over her. Taken aback by this, I wasn’t able to process what was said while she was on the altar.

Has anybody else seen or heard of this happening? Is this an abuse?

 

[Phemie]

I have never seen this done during Mass. Thirty odd years ago, we were encouraged to place our newly baptized daughter on the altar for pictures but that was outside of Mass and there was no ‘ritual’ or prayer associated with that.

That said, when I googled this topic I found this in a response from Legionary of Christ Father Edward McNamara, professor of liturgy at the Regina Apostolorum university, to a reader’s question about babies in the Offertory Procession.

Some countries have a long-standing custom of placing newly baptized infants at the foot of an image or upon a side altar dedicated to Our Lady or, occasionally, to Our Lord, in a symbolic gesture of offering. It is good to maintain this custom even for baptisms within Mass. I recently saw this done with great pastoral effectiveness at a Marian shrine in Bohemia, in the Czech Republic.

Note that this was on a dedicated side altar, not the altar of the Eucharistic Sacrifice.

 

[malphono]

I have to assume the baptism mentioned in the OP was in the Roman Rite, so my comment here doesn’t really have much bearing. In any case, and FWIW, in the Maronite Church, at the end of the baptism rite, there is a procession from the baptistry to the main altar. The priest then briefly places the infant at the foot of the altar and recites a final prayer. This little ritual, which appears in various ways in all the Syriac Churches, is symbolic of the Presentation in the Temple and was part of the traditional Maronite ritual of baptism. I’m not sure whether it was retained in the modern, abbreviated Maronite ritual introduced a few years back.

 

[babochka]

During some of my children’s Byzantine-rite baptisms, they were placed on the altar. I’ve also seen it in at least one Roman-rite baptism, but it was outside of Mass.

 

[AJV]

Our new Parochial Vicar was celebrating Mass this morning and there happened to be an infant Baptism. After the baby girl was Baptized and after she was changed into her new white garments, the priest called the family (mom, dad, and godparents) up to the edge of the sanctuary and proceeded to pray over each of them.

Since I’ve come home to the Church and have been attending this parish, I’ve seen many infant baptisms at Mass so all of this was very familiar to me. Not so much what happened next.

After he had prayed over them, he invited them all to step up into the sanctuary saying “what we are about to do is a tradition that represents Jesus coming into the temple”. This alone struck me as very peculiar, but what followed seems like it just shouldn’t happen. The priest instructed the mother to place her baby on the altar so he could pray some additional prayers over her. Taken aback by this, I wasn’t able to process what was said while she was on the altar.

Has anybody else seen or heard of this happening? Is this an abuse?

I would not place the baby ON the altar. Altars nowadays are not regarded with the respect they deserve and more often are treated as tables, stands for notes, hymnals and whatnot, etc. The altar should be reserved for sacred items and those things which pertain to the Eucharistic Sacrifice. The baby could easily be held in front of the altar, or placed at the foot of the altar, if that is a pious custom of the place.

 

[ConstantineTG]

I have to assume the baptism mentioned in the OP was in the Roman Rite, so my comment here doesn’t really have much bearing. In any case, and FWIW, in the Maronite Church, at the end of the baptism rite, there is a procession from the baptistry to the main altar. The priest then briefly places the infant at the foot of the altar and recites a final prayer. This little ritual, which appears in various ways in all the Syriac Churches, is symbolic of the Presentation in the Temple and was part of the traditional Maronite ritual of baptism. I’m not sure whether it was retained in the modern, abbreviated Maronite ritual introduced a few years back.

Interesting. But is this done for girl babies as well? Because (read my reply to the next post)

During some of my children’s Byzantine-rite baptisms, they were placed on the altar. I’ve also seen it in at least one Roman-rite baptism, but it was outside of Mass.

I know if the child is male the priest will enter the Royal Doors with the baby and hold him above the altar/holy table while saying a prayer. But if the baby is female (such as my daughter baptized early last month), the priest only brings her to the front of the royal doors and lifts the baby up and makes the prayers. But he never enters the doors with the baby girl.

At the 8-minute mark here you will see, this is a baby girl… youtube.com/watch?v=XIq_jegcO4c

I can’t find a baby male but here’s a fully grown one (5:20 mark). As you can see, this is the rare occasion where an unvested male is present at the altar during a Liturgy. This is part of the baptismal rite. youtube.com/watch?v=0k7Bf0cD378

 

[malphono]

Interesting. But is this done for girl babies as well? Because

Yes, it is (or at least was). For male infants, it was taken a step further in times past, with the infant carried in procession around the altar (the SOC still does this – I don’t know about the SCC).

 

[Stylites]

For the Portuguese Festa Mass, the priest traditionally places the crowns upon the altar.

The Holy Ghost Festival, also known as “Chamarita,” recalls 16th Century Portuguese Queen Isabella, the famine that blighted her people and the arrival of a ship with food that saved them. The grateful queen took her crown to her church altar and centuries later Portuguese communities celebrate this with a festival and parades to church, led by a young woman portraying the queen and carrying a crown.The weekend celebration includes a colorful parade and marching bands, a carnival, equestrian groups, a barbeque and more.

 

[coachdennis]

I know of two people who related to me that as infants their mothers brought them to church and had them laid on the altar as prayers were said as a way of dedicating them to the Lord. This was in addition to their baptisms.

It appears to be a tradition particular to certain cultures

 

[ConstantineTG]

I know of two people who related to me that as infants their mothers brought them to church and had them laid on the altar as prayers were said as a way of dedicating them to the Lord. This was in addition to their baptisms.

It appears to be a tradition particular to certain cultures

Do you know what culture this is?

 

[coachdennis]

Do you know what culture this is?

This was done to them in the early 1950s. One was from rural Pennsylvania and the other was from the Boston area. Both were of Irish Catholic decent. I don’t know if it was particular to a cultural (geographical, familial, etc.) tradition.

 

[benjohnson]

Yes, it is (or at least was). For male infants, it was taken a step further in times past, with the infant carried in procession around the altar (the SOC still does this – I don’t know about the SCC).

This was done in my Lutheran church for my two of my sons. Thanks for the explanation!

 

[tabycat]

I know of two people who related to me that as infants their mothers brought them to church and had them laid on the altar as prayers were said as a way of dedicating them to the Lord. This was in addition to their baptisms.

It appears to be a tradition particular to certain cultures

It sounds like a tranition that shoud be incourged.