CATECUMENATO and CATECUMENO. — The catechumenate may be defined as the novitiate of Christian life, imposed by the Church upon those aspiring to Baptism. A catechumen is the aspirant who attends the catechumenate. Both terms derive from κατηρέω (I teach orally). This immediately indicates that doctrinal formation is the foundation of the catechumenate.
I. THE CATECHUMENATE IN THE EARLY PERIODS OF THE CHURCH
In the first centuries of the Church, the catechumenate comprised a set of rites, moral obligations, and instruction, from which no one could escape.Its development varied in the different Churches of the West, whereas its substance was common to the Churches of the East. From Justin (I Apol., 61: PG 6, 420) we learn that three conditions were necessary in order to receive Baptism: to be convinced of and believe the truth of the Church’s teaching, to undertake to live as a good Christian, and to repent of past sins. The period of preparation was spent in prayer and fasting. Thus there did not yet exist a catechumenate such as that described for us by the Egyptian Apostolic Constitution, attributed today to Hippolytus, lasting three years, though this period could be shortened. Its universal and complete establishment resulted from a complex of causes, including the spread of Christianity, the need for greater formation in the face of the efforts of heretics, and perhaps also, indirectly, the influence of pagan mystery cults. At first Baptism was administered throughout the year, preferably on Sunday, and consequently there was no definite period for the discipline of the catechumenate.
When it became customary to administer Baptism at Easter, those enrolled, while following during Lent the penitential discipline practised by the faithful, devoted themselves in particular to the three practices that together constituted baptismal training: 1) catechesis (v.); 2) exorcisms: these consisted of various ceremonies and sacred initiations by which those aspiring to Baptism renounced Satan and his works and were gradually sanctified and prepared for the Sacrament of regeneration; 3) scrutinies: a kind of examination in which the competent were questioned about what they had to know and promise with regard to the faith and Christian life in order to be declared fit to be enrolled in the Christian family. There were three of them, celebrated on the Sundays preceding the one we call Palm Sunday, which in the ancient order was also assigned to the competent, who solemnly celebrated the handing over of the Creed (traditio Simboli). In the sixth century this was preceded by the handing over of the Gospels (aperitio aurium) and followed by that of the Pater noster. When, in the seventh century, the Baptism of adults became no more than a liturgical reminiscence, the rites of the catechumenate passed from the sphere of actuality and reality, slipping predominantly into that of symbolism, where they developed remarkably. The scrutinies, for example, definitively became seven, «secundum formam septem donorum Spiritus Sancti». The catechumenate survived only in the memory of rites substantially preserved in the Ordines for the administration of Baptism; in some Churches, however, the future godparents were summoned to attend them, so that they might renew those notions of faith which one day they would have to help instil in their spiritual children: this continued until approximately the fourteenth century. Since antiquity, the catechumens, not yet initiated into the Eucharistic rites, had been dismissed after the first part of Mass (called that of the catechumens).
II. CATECHUMENATE IN THE MISSIONS
In the missions, the catechumenate has not always had the importance and development it deserved. Toward the middle of the sixteenth century, the Jesuits and others sought to react against the inadequate preparation of catechumens, as did certain councils and synods, but without great success. Thus, we had examples of catechumenates in China and, even more successfully, in Africa through the work of the Italian Capuchins.Pontifical documents in general, and especially the prescriptions issued by Propaganda and the Holy Office, insisted on the necessity of the catechumenate, recommending a pro-
found pre-baptismal preparation. In the instruction of 1669 to the French apostolic vicars of the Far East, the Congregation of Propaganda established a duration of forty days for the catechumenate, while in that of 1801 it left the apostolic vicars the faculty of determining its length. At present, the duration of the catechumenate in the various missions varies greatly, ranging from several months to four or five years, especially in the African missions. This diversity in practice depends on numerous subjective and environmental factors, which may delay or hasten the individual’s preparation for Baptism. Mission territories present such diverse particularities that it is impossible to establish fixed criteria in this regard; a flexibility is therefore necessary which, for the more willing, will not needlessly delay the day of Grace.
Modern methodology has introduced the pre-catechumenate, or postulancy, during which candidates acquire the dispositions indispensable for entering the catechumenate properly so called. Priority seems to belong to Cardinal Carlo M. Lavigerie, who, concerned by the difficulties involved in the conversion of Muslims, thought in this way to subject them to the influence, if not to the yoke, of the Gospel. According to this principle, he distinguished three classes of catechumens: the postulants, to whom it was necessary to teach only the fundamental truths of the natural order, illumined by the light of Revelation (admission to this instruction, which constituted the pre-catechumenate, required neither commitment nor sacrifice); the catechumens, who formed the second class; and the faithful. This was the practice introduced by the White Fathers, founded by Cardinal Lavigerie himself, and imitated by others.
The pre-catechumenate must be organized outside and independently of the catechumenate, with regular meetings in places distinct from the church. The true catechumenate, on the other hand, is the period of preparation for Baptism and begins when the pagan postulant is entered on the list of those to be baptized. In China, India, and Africa, where it is most widely practiced, admission is accompanied by a public ceremony that includes instruction; solemn renunciation of fetishism, idolatry, and polygamy; the profession of faith; and the formal request for Baptism.
In many missions, it is customary to gather catechumens for several days, often even for many months, at a central mission station or indeed at the missionary’s residence, in a kind of boarding school or closed catechumenate. Catechumenate houses were introduced in the Portuguese colonies on the initiative of St. Ignatius, who had seen them in London and had himself established one in Rome for converted Jews. In certain missions, all preparation for Baptism takes place in these houses; in others, they are used only for immediate preparation, while the catechumens first undergo a trial in their villages. Elsewhere, they are brought there repeatedly: at the beginning of the catechumenate, after several months, and at its conclusion, for the final preparation. Moreover, some missionaries want all catechumens to spend several weeks there, while others are content for each catechumen family to send one of its members. Nor are there lacking those who require this only of isolated converts; when groups of families are involved, the missionary himself goes to them.
In the Congo and Rhodesia, the Jesuits introduced fermes-chapelles as early as 1805, in order to gather children there and remove them from the corrupt pagan environment. In 1933, because of the Government’s hostility, the fermes-chapelles ceased to function altogether. Nevertheless, even today the Jesuits apply similar systems, seeking to establish new villages in Rhodesia with candidates for Baptism.
The multiplicity of initiatives in this area and the varying length of the catechumenate depend on the goals one wishes to achieve, as well as on the urgency of remedying the not inconsiderable disadvantages arising from closed catechumenates, especially when they are prolonged for a considerable period. Short-term, repeated periods of residence are preferable. The method of the fermes-chapelles and of Christian villages
is not free from difficulties, both because of the complex organization it requires and because, in many regions inhabited by individuals from different tribes, it is doomed to failure, since it runs contrary to the principle of respecting the ethnological and moral units of the territories.
BIBLI: Regarding the catechumenate in the missions, V. the provisions of Propaganda in Collectanea S. C. de Propag. Fide, 2 vols., Rome 1907, and in the continuation: Sylloge praecipiorum documentarum etc., ibid. 1939 (in the respective indexes). G. Rommerskirchen and G. Dindinger, Bibliografia missionaria, ibid., from 1936 onward, provide a list of numerous publications and studies on the c. (in the respective indexes. Cf. also: F. Marnas, Notes sur le rôle important des c., Lyon 1891; L. Kervyn, Méthode de l'apostolat moderne en Chine, Hong Kong 1911; J. Schmidlin, Kath. Missionale, 2nd ed., Aachen 1923, p. 294 ff.; H. Dubois, Répertoire africain, Rome 1932, pp. 118–22. P. G. Mensaert, La préparation des adultes au Baptême en terre polienne, Rome 1938; S. Pavanti, La Chiesa missionaria. Mawale di missionologia dottrinale, ibid. 1949, pp. 388–98, 436–38. Savesio Pavanti