Mary Baptized

[colbus]

I was wondering, since Christ was baptized would Mary have also been baptized. Were Jewish women also baptized?

 

[Verbum]

Hi Colbus,

Jesus was not “baptized” in the Christian sense. He received the baptism of penance administered by John the Baptist, to give a good example.

Neither Jesus, who was God, nor Mary, who was free from original sin, needed a Christian baptism. And they did not go through it.

Verbum

 

[Leopard]

…Mary… did not go through [baptism]…

Actually, we do not know this. While it is not explicitly recorded in the Scriptures or sacred tradition that Mary was baptized, we do know that both Jesus and the Apostles baptized many, many people whose names we do not know today. While Mary did not need baptism for the remission of sin, it is not unthinkable that she may have been baptized anyway, as that was the outward sign professed by all who would be members of her Son’s Body.

 

[Verbum]

Hi Leopard,

Like Jesus, Mary could have received a baptism of penance (John the Baptist type). But, just like we cannot receive a true Christian baptism twice, neither Jesus nor Mary would have gone through what would really be a travesty.

Verbum

 

[colbus]

Thanks for the replies. We were discussing Baptism in my RCIA class and the thought occurred to me about Mary, particularly since she would have no need for Baptism being without sin in the first place.

Peace and Grace

 

[Leopard]

Hi Leopard,

Like Jesus, Mary could have received a baptism of penance (John the Baptist type). But, just like we cannot receive a true Christian baptism twice, neither Jesus nor Mary would have gone through what would really be a travesty.

It would not have been a travesty. It would have been just as sacramental as any other Christian baptism, The effect of the remission of sins would merely have been superfluous.

Worthy reception of the Eucharist is also effective for the forgiveness of venial sins. The Church affirms that Mary was entirely free of venial sin, thus would not need forgiveness for this, but we do not for that reason presume that Mary never received the Eucharist.

 

[Verbum]

Hi Leopard,

Christian baptism is not a sacramental (pious devotion); it is a sacrament with permanent effects… Receiving it twice is just playacting.

Verbum

 

[GandalfTheWhite]

I was wondering, since Christ was baptized would Mary have also been baptized. Were Jewish women also baptized?

Well, since she might not have known that she was immaculately conceived, she might have been baptized. I guess we will never know.

 

[Leopard]

Christian baptism is not a sacramental (pious devotion); it is a sacrament with permanent effects…

I know.

I did not say baptism was a sacramental, I said baptism was sacramental. I used the word sacramental as an adjective, not a noun. As an adjective, the word means “having the qualities of a sacrament”, which all sacraments, including baptism, do have. Please see definition 3 here.

…Receiving it twice is just playacting.

I did not say Mary was baptized two times.

What I said was we do not know as a fact that she was baptized zero times.

 

[japhy]

It would have been just as sacramental as any other Christian baptism, The effect of the remission of sins would merely have been superfluous.

Christian baptism is not a sacramental (pious devotion); it is a sacrament with permanent effects… Receiving it twice is just playacting.

Verbum, you misunderstood Leopard who said that the baptism “would have been just as sacramental” – just as much a sacrament – “as any other Christian baptism”.

 

[Leopard]

Verbum, you misunderstood Leopard who said that the baptism “would have been just as sacramental” – just as much a sacrament – “as any other Christian baptism”.

Thank you. You explained that better than I did, and with fewer words.