Infant Baptism and Constantine

[kyled]

One of my RCIA leaders has repeatedly linked Constantine’s influence on the Church with its practice of baptizing infants. I know the Catechism plainly states that there is evidence for the practice dating from the second century (well before Constantine), and I have read Stephen Ray’s excellent compendium of patristic evidence on the same issue. Can someone help me understand, then, why the RCIA leader continues to drop hints (without really explaining himself) that it was Constantine who was the primary motivating force behind the practice of infant baptism?

 

[Fidelis]

kyled:

Can someone help me understand, then, why the RCIA leader continues to drop hints (without really explaining himself) that it was Constantine who was the primary motivating force behind the practice of infant baptism?

No, because unless he or she can present evidence backing up this claim, it sounds like your RCIA leader is (to give them the benefit of the doubt) misinformed. Ask him or her where they got that information and go from there.

 

[prodromos]

kyled:

it was Constantine who was the primary motivating force behind the practice of infant baptism?

Hardly likely seeing as he himself was not baptised until his death bed.

John

 

[Deacon_Ed]

I suspect that your RCIA leader is, like many people, of the opinion that Constantine made the Church the official Church of the empire (he didn’t; the Edict of Milan simply gave the Christian Church the same rights as other religious traditions). However, the consequences of this thinking is that because this was now the “official Church” millions of people (including lots of infants) flocked to the Church. Nothing could be further from the truth.

As you rightly noted, infant baptism has been practiced from the very beginning of the Church. As another poster noted, Constantine was baptized on his death bead. To be fair, this was becuase he took Christianity seriously and was aware that, as emperor, he might have to do things that were not in keeping with the Christian teachings and, because the sacrament of confession was not yet fully taught, he waited for baptism until he was pretty sure he was no longer capable of sin.

Deacon Ed

 

[kyled]

Thanks very much for the responses. Deacon Ed, I think, has probably intuited my RCIA leader’s presuppositions about Constantine’s influence on the early Church. Nothing I have read thus far accords with his somewhat cynical view. I have read a couple of shorter histories of the Church (Alan Schreck and H.W. Crocker), but I was wondering if anyone could recommend a Church history, or other book, that specifically treats the issue of Constantine’s influence with balanced rigor.

 

[hlgomez]

Well, your RCIA leader doesn’t know Church history that much. He must be reprimanded by your parish priest and he should read Church history before going into that subject of infant baptism.

Pio