Moving Confirmation to go with first Communion

[Margaret_Ann]

I am Ukrainian Greek Catholic and was confirmed when I was a baby. A few years ago, a man told me that even though he was confirmed in the Byzantine Rite, the Catholic school that he went to as a kid made him go through Confirmation again because Confirmation by a priest “doesn’t count” (his words). Now Baptism, Confirmation and Holy Orders impart a character on the soul. Now if there’s a question of validity then these sacraments can be administered conditionally. Otherwise it is a sacrilege to repeat them.

Ever since he told me that, I’ve had doubts about my confirmation because I was confirmed by a Ukrainian Greek Catholic priest.

And this is my Baptism & Confirmation day:
http://w2.vatican.va/content/paul-v...ents/hf_p-vi_motu-proprio_19680630_credo.html

 

[babochka]

If it helps ease your doubts, I was also confirmed as a baby, by the priest who baptized me. I went to Catholic School and there was no question as to the validity of my Chrismation. They did have me stand with my class and receive a blessing from the bishop after everyone else was confirmed.

My six children have also received Chrismation as infants. I have witnessed countless other babies as they were baptized, sealed with the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and received their First Holy Communion. It is a beautiful sight to witness the abundance of God’s grace in these ceremonies. It is also a beautiful sight to witness the flowering of faith in my children as they grow, to see the gifts of the Holy Spirit growing within them.

 

[Augustinian]

A few years ago, a man told me that even though he was confirmed in the Byzantine Rite, the Catholic school that he went to as a kid made him go through Confirmation again because Confirmation by a priest “doesn’t count” (his words)

Not every priest is as informed as they should be. Although I would hope that the priest wasn’t in a place like Pittsburgh with a relatively high Greek Catholic population.

 

[Margaret_Ann]

Thank you. Please pray for me.

 

[Angel_Gabriel]

My husband was confirmed by a priest…he is a convert and was confirmed at the Easter vigil. Thats sad that that priest told him that! Confirmation by a priest happens frequently in the Latin church too…

 

[HeDa]

It is very common for bishops to give permission to the priests to confirm especially during the Easter vigil. This is very common if the diocese is large and difficult to travel around or if all the catechumens and candidates (in the diocese) being received into the Church during Easter vigil can’t fit easily into the cathedral as well as the rest of the people.

When I received the Sacrament of Confirmation, my parish priest told me that he would ask for permission to confirm if the bishop couldn’t come.

 

[Dovekin]

While priests would not do it without the bishop’s permission, the rite itself authorizes the priest to confirm. Whether it is baptizing an adult or receiving into full communion, the priest is required to confirm them.

Someone who was baptized as a Roman Catholic otoh does need special permission from the bishop to be confirmed.

 

[tafan2]

At what modern point did the West move it from infants?

I believe that confirmation was done shortly before first communion in most of the west until 1910. When Pope Pius X moved first communion to the age of reason (from 10-14 years of age) he did nothing about confirmation. That is when it got out of order. For the most part, in the US at least, it stayed around the age of 10 until, from what I can tell the late 70s and early 80s. Since then it has moved progressively later, solely as a means to get kids to go to CCD. Which, does not really work.

There were always instances, particularly when a Bishop could not easily travel long distances that it was also delayed.

I do know of 2 people from Mexico who were confirmed as infants, one in 1970 and the other in the late 70s. So there has been variance even in the West.

 

[Phemie]

At what modern point did the West move it from infants?

I believe that confirmation was done shortly before first communion in most of the west until 1910. When Pope Pius X moved first communion to the age of reason (from 10-14 years of age) he did nothing about confirmation. That is when it got out of order. For the most part, in the US at least, it stayed around the age of 10 until, from what I can tell the late 70s and early 80s. Since then it has moved progressively later, solely as a means to get kids to go to CCD. Which, does not really work.

There were always instances, particularly when a Bishop could not easily travel long distances that it was also delayed.

I do know of 2 people from Mexico who were confirmed as infants, one in 1970 and the other in the late 70s. So there has been variance even in the West.

As I said previously, when I was growing up Confirmation took place the first time the Bishop came after you’d received your First Communion. I was confirmed when I was 7, at the end of 2nd grade, as I’d received Communion the previous year. (At least I think they were two separate years, I had the same teacher both years and after 58 years the memory fades.)

Back then in my neck of the woods we went through another ceremony in our teens: Solemn Communion. There was special religious education preparation for that one too. In my parish that was taught by the Pastor in the evening.

My research revealed that Solemn Communion originated in France after Pius X’s 1910 decree that children could receive Communion at the age of reason. It seems that, like in my diocese, Confirmation happened shortly afterward and the people wanted something that signaled the end of religious ed and the beginning of adulthood, something Communion had been before. Presto: Solemn Communion with all it’s pomp and circumstance. Like other things French, it migrated to Canada, particularly in areas with a large Francophone population.

This ceremony disappeared in the late 60s when Confirmation started being pushed back to the teen years.

Around 1999, our bishop returned the sacraments to their original order. That lasted about 8 or 9 years but religious ed teachers thought it was too much to teach. When our diocese was merged with one that had Confirmation in grade 11, the bishop went tried a happy medium. He set Confirmation at anytime between 6th and 10th grade.

 

[dochawk]

At what modern point did the West move it from infants?

Which?

for confirmation, I’d have to research, but it would be medieval. Communion was about seven or so centuries ago, when the Cup was suppressed to flush out heretics, and infant Communion became impossible.

Various countries and individual priests have had permission to return to infant confirmation for at least five centuries (but that is a return, not separation).

hawk