What does immemorial tradition mean ? Attached is the quote

[Boxerdog]

I am talking to a non Catholic and he asked me what immemorial tradition is? We are discussing infant baptism and he wanted to know what the term specifically meant. thanks

1252 The practice of infant Baptism is an **immemorial tradition **of the Church. There is explicit testimony to this practice from the second century on, and it is quite possible that, from the beginning of the apostolic preaching, when whole “households” received baptism, infants may also have been baptized.[53]

 

[Todd_Easton]

According to Webster’s Dictionary,* immemorial* means: extending back beyond memory or record; ancient.

 

[Tomster]

I am talking to a non Catholic and he asked me what immemorial tradition is? We are discussing infant baptism and he wanted to know what the term specifically meant. thanks

1252 The practice of infant Baptism is an **immemorial tradition **of the Church. There is explicit testimony to this practice from the second century on, and it is quite possible that, from the beginning of the apostolic preaching, when whole “households” received baptism, infants may also have been baptized.[53]

The traditional practice of the Church is a running stream of witness to her belief. And when we find the earliest written references to it speak of it as the traditional and unquestioned practice of the Church, we have an argument to show that the doctrine has been believed and acted on from the time of the Apostles.