I’ve often seen people ask, in threads about Confirmation, what’s the deal with taking a new Confirmation name, and why does it seem to be done in some places and not others. I thought I’d post this 1749 entry from the
Decreta Authentica, which shows that the practice existed, but was not universal and, apparently, not covered by the rubrics, then as now. Here is
the item:
2. An confirmandus tempore Confirmationis, quando Episcopus dicit: N. signo te [signo] crucis, etc., praeter nomen suum baptismale, possit aliud nomen sancti sibi imponi curare?
Resp.: Posse.
In eadem causa ad. 9. (
4056.)
My translation:
2. If a confirmand, at the time of the Confirmation, when the bishop says: N. I sign you [with the sign] of the cross, etc., can, beyond his baptismal name, impose upon himself another name of a saint?
Resp.: He can.
In the same matter , to 9. (4056.)
