Has anyone here (Lay) ever baptized someone in an emergency?

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AltarSoldier

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I read more into baptism and how any Catholic can baptize someone in a dire emergency when no priest or deacon is available.
To be frank, I never knew this part of the sacrament. Being in the medical field this has inspired me to walk around with a little holy water bottle in my pocket šŸ˜ƒ
 
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My father was a doctor and Catholic and did when circumstances required it. He used any water available and the formula.
 
Yes. I attempted to baptize the remains of our miscarried child. My wife had only been pregnant a little over a month, and nothing was discernible. I did the best I could, not knowing what I was looking at, nor whether there was any human life there. The hospital disposed of the remains ā€” they were supposed to be a Catholic hospital, so I hope they handled them with the dignity they deserved, but the staff seemed pretty clueless about Catholic medical ethics and the sanctity of life, so I wouldnā€™t bet the ranch on it.

We always keep bottles of holy water close at hand in our house.
 
Iā€™ve come close a few times but havenā€™t actually needed to go through with it. The one instance that comes to mind at the moment was an older relative not expected to survive a hospital stay resulting from an accident. He was comatose by the time the family got around to mentioning anything to me, so it became a moot point.
 
Can. 861.2. If the ordinary minister is absent or impeded, a catechist or some other person deputed to this office by the local Ordinary, may lawfully confer baptism; indeed, in a case of necessity, any person who has the requisite intention may do so. Pastors of souls, especially parish priests, are to be diligent in ensuring that Christā€™s faithful are taught the correct way to baptize.ā€

Can. 865 Ā§1. For an adult to be baptized, the person must have manifested the intention to receive baptism, have been instructed sufficiently about the truths of the faith and Christian obligations, and have been tested in the Christian life through the catechumenate. The adult is also to be urged to have sorrow for personal sins.
Ā§2. An adult in danger of death can be baptized if, having some knowledge of the principal truths of the faith, the person has manifested in any way at all the intention to receive baptism and promises to observe the commandments of the Christian religion

The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches in paragraph 1240 that a proper form for administering baptism is ā€œI baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.ā€

 
A friend of mine was baptised by his father because he was in imminent danger of death. He did it in a sink in the hospital. His father was in fact a former seminarian, so I guess would have been fully aware of how to perform a baptism and under what circumstances he should do so.
 
My children were baptised by a relative who thought it was an emergency that they were not baptised.
 
Yikes. I know priests Do not like it when that happens. But I canā€™t imagine someone doing something spiritually to my kid either in secret or against my will!
 
The Church has given the OK since the earliest days going back to Pentecost. Its a documented teaching.

Also if someone does it to your relative when youre not around (in an emergency Im talking here where they might die) I really dont get the uproar here. In the end their soul (Like yours and mine) will be standing before judgement before God. If the person has good intentions - which they obviously do because they are baptizing them and baptism washes away all sin - its a beautiful thing. Dont be a pessimist.
 
We learned how to baptize in primary school back in the 60s. Luckily, Iā€™ve never had to use that knowledge. I did think I might have the occasion once when I was working as a nurse and a friend delivered a 6 month preemie. When I heard sheā€™d delivered at report on the morning shift I made a point to enquire whether the child had been baptized or not. They couldnā€™t get a medevac due to weather and it was unlikely he would survive. But they had called the priest through the night and heā€™d conferred Baptism.

Many years later, hubby was posted to the same Base and I was working at the local parish. I received a phone call from a priest in a parish on the other side of the country. He was looking for a certificate of Baptism. When he said the babyā€™s name I asked it if was M. & W.'s child. He was surprised but I told him I knew them and remembered the birth and subsequent death. Thatā€™s when he informed me that births of babies who donā€™t live past 24 hours are not recorded as births in my province. The parents were unable to avail of a birth certificate and had no tangible record of their sonā€™s birth.

I looked but found no record of Baptism in our register. Because theyā€™d been military I figured the Baptism had been recorded in the now-closed military parishā€™s register and was able to direct him to the appropriate office at NDHQ.
 
The OB and I baptized my first son. He was born with a terrible birth defect and not expected to live long. The OB is the ā€œofficialā€ on the baptismal certificate.

My son ended up living 3 years.
 
It wouldnā€™t have been considered an emergency but my mother baptized me and all five of my brothers and sisters. I was baptized again by a Protestant minister at my request when I was 18. One brother converted to Catholicism in 1979 and was baptized at his request. My youngest son asked if I could baptize him when he was in his teens. We were going to do it at the lake that summer but he never asked about it again. He remains a devout Christian and church-goer (Salvation Army) but the Army does not consider baptism necessary other than by intent.
 
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