Confirmation

CRESIMA. It is the term commonly used in Italy to indicate the sacrament of Confirmation.

I. DOGMATIC THEOLOGY OF CONFIRMATION.

I. NOTIONS

The word C. derives from the Greek word χρῶμα, used to express both the act of anointing and the matter with which the anointing is performed. It is precisely to this rite that the name of C. has been applied, since it is the most visible and the most significant among those required for the administration of this Sacrament. This designation, however, is neither of general use nor does it go back to antiquity. The same may be said of the term Confirmation, which rather expresses the effect of the Sacrament. The term consignatio (consignation), which is older and which for a long time was used in the Latin liturgy, expresses the sacramental act better and with greater precision. It indicated the whole complex of ceremonies following Baptism properly so called, with which the bishop completed and in a certain sense made definitive the admission of the baptized person into the flock of Christ, marking him with the sign of the Cross. The Sacrament thus described is today totally distinct, in the Latin Church, from that of Baptism. In the Greek Church the distinction is less visible, because the anointing that constitutes this Sacrament is performed immediately after Baptism and is not reserved to the bishop: it is habitually performed by the same priest who administers Baptism.

II. HISTORY

Such a diversity of names and customs, however, does not prevent the corresponding sacramental reality from going back to the beginnings of the Church. This reality consists, essentially, in a specific sign, destined to signify and at the same time to confer a special communication of the Holy Spirit. Now, the existence of a rite destined to produce this effect is found in the early Church. The Apostles were still in Jerusalem when they learned that in Samaria the Gospel had been preached and Baptism administered, and that those baptized had not, however, received the Holy Spirit. This clearly indicates that the deacon Philip, who had proclaimed the Gospel to them, did not possess the power to confer it. Peter and John were therefore sent to perfect the entry of those Christians into the Church. They went, imposed their hands on the new Christians, and these received the Holy Spirit (Acts 8:14-18). From another passage it is gathered that such was the usual custom: none of those who administered Baptism had the faculty to give the Holy Spirit. Those baptized therefore had to wait, in order to receive it, for some apostle to come. For this reason St. Paul, having arrived in Ephesus and having come upon some of the faithful whom he believed already baptized, asked them whether they had received the Holy Spirit. Astonished at hearing them answer that they did not even know whether the Holy Spirit existed, he understood that they had not received the Baptism of Christ. He therefore promptly saw to having them baptized, and through the imposition of hands they received the Holy Spirit (Acts 19:1-7).

The gift of the Holy Spirit was then followed, in many, by extraordinary graces that in some way testified to its presence. It was customary to call them "charisms," or special gifts of "tongues," of "prophecy," or of "miracles." Such exceptional favors were not, however, the essence of the gift of the Holy Spirit that the Apostles intended to confer. The great benefit was the "diffusion in souls" of the Holy Spirit (Rom. 5:5). This, and not the "charisms," made Christians "temples of the Holy Spirit" (1 Cor. 3:16) and gave to all the benefit of divine filiation (Gal. 4:6; Rom. 8:14).

For this reason, subsequently, once the "charisms" had ceased, the successors of the Apostles continued to confer the Holy Spirit through a special rite, distinct from that of Baptism. This is deduced from the most ancient literary testimonies of Christian initiation. Tertullian, at the beginning of the 3rd century, notes, without ambiguity, after the strictly baptismal rite, the imposition of hands imploring the descent of the Holy Spirit: "Dehinc manus imponitur, per benedictionem advocans et invitans Spiritum Sanctum" (De Baptismo, 8: PL 1, 1207). At the same time, the Traditio apostolica of St. Hippolytus, the most ancient liturgical description that has come down to us, shows us those baptized who, after receiving Baptism by immersion, put on their garments again and re-enter the church to receive from the bishop the imposition of hands. From then on the use of this special conferral of the Holy Spirit is found in all the Churches, in Milan and in Rome, in Jerusalem and in Carthage, in Gaul and in Africa. The Catecheses of St. Cyril of Jerusalem (Cat. 21, mystag. 3: PG 33, 1088-94) and those of St. Ambrose (De mysteriis, 7, 34-42; De Sacramentis, 3, 2, 8-10: PL 16, 399-403; 434-36) illustrate its meaning to the neophytes; the Sacramentaries contain a minute description of the related ceremonies, and the abundant documents of the first centuries lead us to conclude that at that time in the Latin Church it was a common thing to turn to the bishop in order to receive the Holy Spirit.

Not that such a crowning of Christian initiation was considered indispensable. The sick baptized in danger of death, for example, did not receive it at all, and St. Cyprian absolutely does not tolerate any doubt being cast on the efficacy of Baptism thus administered (Epist., 69, 14-16). Nevertheless, according to Cyprian himself, everything possible was done so that those baptized might not lack what Peter and John had done for the Christians of Samaria: "Those who have been baptized are presented to the leaders of the Church and through our prayer and the imposition of our hands receive the Holy Spirit and the seal of the Lord which gives the crowning to their initiation" (Epist., 73, 9). Cyprian himself, on the other hand, makes a very clear distinction between this gift of the Holy Spirit and the regeneration of Baptism: "One is not born when one receives the Holy Spirit through the imposition of hands; the birth takes place in Baptism, but one receives the Holy Spirit when one is already born" (Epist., 74, 7). Thus the separation of the two rites becomes ever more accentuated, at least in the Latin Church. While in the earliest times the bishop, when present, also proceeded to the properly baptismal rite, there later gradually prevailed the custom that the bishop reserved to himself only that of the conferral of the Holy Spirit. A letter of Pope Innocent I at the beginning of the 5th century bears witness to this; alluding to that passage of the Acts in which the baptized of Samaria are spoken of, he says expressly that only the bishop has the power for what he calls the consignatio of children: "De consignandis infantibus manifestum est non ab alio quam ab episcopo fieri licere" (PL 20, 554). From the same period is the testimony of St. Jerome, according to which bishops used to go to distant places to give the Holy Spirit to those who had already been baptized by priests or deacons (Dial. cont. Lucif., 9: PL 23, 164). The Council of Orange (441) confirms the same custom (can. 2). It establishes that when someone goes to the bishop to be confirmed, the bishop must be given advance notice if at the time of Baptism the chrismation was omitted, which normally should have taken place (Mansi, VI, 435).

In effect, all too soon the ceremony of Christian initiation was overloaded with anointings destined to symbolize the various effects of Grace that were expected from it. These, of whatever kind they were, had been presented by biblical language globally as a spiritual anointing and as the work of the Holy Spirit. "Spiritus Domini super me, propterea unxit me" (Is. 61:1): Christ had applied these words to himself (Lk. 4:18). "Unxit eum Deus Spiritu Sancto," St. Peter had said of him (Acts 10:18), and the Epistle to the Hebrews had likewise referred to Christ the verse of Ps. 44:8: "Unxit te Deus, Deus tuus, oleo exultationis." In this oleum exultationis all antiquity recognized the Holy Spirit, because, according to the explicit statement of St. Augustine (Cont. Maximumum, II, 16, 3: PL 42, 782), it is a figurative expression to indicate the Holy Spirit. He is also called the author of the anointing, of Grace. St. Ambrose speaks of the Holy Spirit who "anointed" John the Baptist in his mother's womb (In Lc., II, 25 and 29: PL 15, 1561 and 1562). He habitually indicates him with the appellation of unguentum spirituale, of signaculum spirituale (De Spiritu S., I, 9, 103; I, 6, 79: PL 16, 729). The Holy

Spirit is the signaculum spirituale, received in Baptism, lost with sin and regained with Penance (De Paenit., II, 3, 8: PL 16, 500D).

Thanks to this conception the Christian, like Christ, is, according to the language of the Church, an "anointed" of the Spirit. In Baptism he is the object of a twofold intervention of the Holy Spirit, who snatches him from the devil and consecrates him to God. It is to symbolize these two actions that two anointings have been introduced into the rite of regeneration, the one before and the second after Baptism. Especially the second, because of the prayer that follows it and that recalls the memory of the anointing once received by priests and kings, has attracted the attention of theologians. They wished to see symbolized in it the insertion of the baptized into the genus electum, into the regale sacerdotium, into the gens sancta of which St. Peter speaks (1 Pt 2:9). For the same reason, in the Greek Church it has been considered constitutive of the sacrament of Confirmation: very early it would have been substituted for the apostolic rite of the imposition of hands.

Equally in the Latin Church, ever since there has been a wish to distinguish with precision the rites proper to the two Sacraments, some theologians have thought and still think that it must be connected with that of C. They have been struck, or allow themselves to be struck, by the forms and texts that attribute to the Holy Spirit the effect symbolized by this anointing, without noticing that such an intervention of the Holy Spirit is universal and is expressed in the anointing and in the various rites that precede the baptismal ablution. "Accipe Spiritum Sanctum et in corde teneas," says the Missal of Bobbio with regard to the insufflatio (PL 74, 500). For further particulars cf. P. Galtier, La Consignation dans les Eglises d'Occident, in Rev. d'hist. eccl., 13 [1912], pp. 265-70; id., Imposition des mains, in DThC, VII, coll. 1369-74). Therefore the question does not concern the importance attached to the post-baptismal anointing, nor even whether it could have sufficed to constitute a true and proper sacramental rite: no doubt on that. The question is another: namely, whether such an anointing with its spiritual symbolism has been considered from the beginning, or never, as corresponding to the sacrament of C. Now, it is precisely on this point that such a theological conception clashes with an undeniable fact, namely that in distributing the rites of initiation between the priest and the bishop (cf. the table in DThC, VII, coll. 1351-54) the post-baptismal chrismation is regularly connected with those that belong to the simple priest and clearly distinguished from the imposition of hands, reserved ab antiquo to bishops. It seems, then, that in the Churches of the West the gift of the Holy Spirit, corresponding to that which the Acts of the Apostles shows us as reserved to bishops, was considered ab immemorabili as communicable through the imposition of hands.

In the West, however, to this primitive rite there was furthermore added an anointing. This appears for the first time at the beginning of the 3rd century in the Traditio apostolica of St. Hippolytus; St. Cyprian, however, does not speak of it at all, nor does St. Ambrose; at least they do not insist on it. The imposition of hands concludes, according to them, with a sign of the Cross on the forehead of the new Christian, and this is called the consignatio. This sign of the Cross, however, does not take long to be made with the thumb dipped in "chrism," and thus a chrismation comes to be added to the imposition of hands. Unlike that which follows Baptism, which is made on the head, this one is made on the forehead. Pope Innocent I, in emphasizing this diversity, reserves the latter solely to bishops. After Pope Innocent, it is found everywhere: the Gelasian and Gregorian Sacramentaries cite it; however, it appears to us with its original character of a sign of the Cross concluding the ceremony of C. "Signum Christi in vitam aeternam," says the bishop in making it. One must note the meaning and the purpose proper to the gesture, which are those, namely, of completing Christian initiation. The rubric of one of the Ordines Romani edited by Mabillon, precisely the 7th, suggests such an observation.

There one reads in fact that, as soon as the prayer of the imposition of hands imploring the outpouring of the Holy Spirit is finished, the bishop, with his thumb dipped in "chrism," makes a sign of the Cross on each of the confirmed, saying: "In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti, pax tibi," to which is answered "Amen," because that is the sign of Christianity that sets the seal on every legitimate Baptism: "quia tunc omne baptisma legitimum christianitatis nomine confirmatur" (PL 78, 500).

It was, then, a simple sign of greeting, this sign of the Cross, accompanied by the Pax tibi. But the anointing that is added to it causes it slowly to acquire a more notable importance. Despite the traditional persistence of the imposition of hands with the invocation of the Holy Spirit, and although ecclesiastical writers, faithful to the thought and language of the Fathers, persist in seeing in it the rite with which the Apostles had conferred the Holy Spirit, the chrismation that follows it is also placed in relation to the gift of the Spirit. Rather than considering it as a simple sign of the Cross, the anointing made with chrism is emphasized in it, and it is considered as the rite properly so called of C.: "Signo te signo Crucis et confirmo te chrismate salutis in nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti." This is the form used and prescribed even today in the Latin Church, a form whose origins it would be difficult to discover. And thus, even without having done so on purpose, this form is very similar to the form of the Greek Church "Signaculum doni Spiritus Sancti," which accompanies the chrismation that came to replace the imposition of hands.

Here, one might say, is how the evolution of the ceremonies of C. ends. The additions and alterations made have left the primitive elements intact. Never in the Church has there been any doubt that the essential of what the Apostles wished to do in conferring the Holy Spirit on the baptized has not been perpetuated. When in the 14th century there was a wish to classify the rites of the Church having a true and proper sacramental value, C. was by all considered as a Sacrament distinct from Baptism and capable of conferring by itself a special grace. The Council of Florence officially consecrated this doctrine: it placed C. in the number of the seven Sacraments of the New Law, declaring it to be of apostolic times (Denz-U, 697). A new occasion for reproposing this teaching was given to the Church by the Protestant denial of the 16th century. While Luther, with the doctrine of external justification, excludes any idea of interior transformation of the soul through Grace, the Council of Trent defines the existence of 7 Sacraments ordained to confer Grace, and among them is found precisely C. (Denz-U, 844). With three special canons, moreover, the same Council excludes any Protestant interpretation of C. It does not wish that there be seen in the C. received by the baptized a superfluous ceremony (otiosa), but rather a Sacrament in the technical sense of the word. Nor does it wish that there be discerned in it merely a catechesis, during which adolescents would, so to speak, give an account of their faith before the Church. Finally it condemns those who offend the Holy Spirit by excluding any efficacy from the chrismation, and those who do not hold that the bishop alone is the ordinary minister of C., but would wish it to be any priest (Denz-U, 871-73).

From the Council of Trent onward the Church has had no other occasion to return to the subject, except for proposition 44 of the decree Lamentabili (Denz-U, 2044). However, the new CIC made a clarification on the manner of administering C. While the Council of Florence had limited itself to saying that the "matter" is Sacred Chrism and the "form" the words already cited, can. 780 expressly declares (cf. however a hint in the letter of Leo XIII of 13 Sept. Apostolicae curae [Denz-U, 1963]) that C. must be conferred "per manus impositionem cum unctione christmatis in fronte" and through the words prescribed by the Pontificals approved by the Church. On the one hand, therefore, it formally approves the "form" used by the united Greek Churches, and on the other it manifests the intention of not wishing to depart from the use traditional laying on of hands, joining it with the chrismation on the forehead.

In this regard, however, the question arises concerning the laying on of hands intended here by the Code. One asks whether it refers precisely to that laying on of hands which consists in resting the hand on the head of the confirmand, whose thumb makes the unction on the forehead. From the rubric of the new Roman Pontifical it seems so. In that case, the form preserved would apply to anything but the laying on of hands to which reference was made in the time of the Apostles. Which laying on of hands, although it has remained accompanied by an invocation to the sevenfold Spirit, would in fact be only a preliminary ceremony, nor would it any longer be part of the strictly sacramental rite. These premises introduce into the theology of C.

III. DOGMA

The first question raised about Confirmation is in fact that of whether or not it was instituted by Jesus Christ. What has been set forth above concerning the origins of this Sacrament leaves no room for doubt: in conferring the Holy Spirit, the Apostles did and intended to do nothing other than what they had been commanded by their Master. Nevertheless, the diversities, variations and additions introduced over the following centuries in the specific manner of conferring the Holy Spirit make this question legitimate: is the Sacrament, today, the same one that the Apostles intended? In permitting or authorizing such changes, has the Church not altered the substance of the Sacrament? The Church maintains that she cannot do this, nor has she ever intended to do so with regard to any Sacrament. And so, how are the changes introduced to be explained and how are they justified? The answer must be sought in the very concept of the "substance of the Sacraments." This must not be confused with the liturgical rites used to administer them; nor must it be confused with what in theological language is customarily called the "matter" and the "form" of the Sacrament: it consists therefore in a "sensible sign apt to symbolize the special grace that Christ wishes to confer by means of this or that sign." It thus happens that of signs referring to the same grace there is more than one; for example, the imposition of hands with the prayer annexed to it can equally signify the most diverse graces, whether that of Confirmation or that of Orders or of the remission of sins. The same may be said of anointing. It is well suited to symbolize the profound action of God in souls. In adopting it for this purpose, the Church indeed recognizes this fitness in it, but does not confer upon it any particular efficacy by her own will. Such a power is above the Church: it belongs to God alone. The Church has at her disposal only that freedom which has been granted her to choose for certain Sacraments that sign or that rite which she deemed opportune to signify the grace willed by Christ. This is the explanation that can be given for the additions and modifications introduced over the course of the centuries and according to places into what is called the "matter" and the "form" of certain Sacraments: the "substance" has not been altered at all, because, through these changes, the meaning and the purpose remain identical. The efficacy remains unaltered in that connection which it pleased Christ to establish between the different signs of Grace and the Grace itself that He wishes to give in this manner to souls.

Now, it is well known what the Grace conferred by Confirmation is. It consists in a participation in the Holy Spirit, which is, as it were, the "perfection" of the regeneration of Baptism. It seals the baptized person's insertion into the mystical body of Christ and imprints upon him an indelible mark, which, by making the man a perfect Christian, develops his capacity to enjoy all rights, assume all responsibilities and fulfill all the duties proper to a Christian. This consecration to the worship and service of Christ and of the Church constitutes what is customarily called the "character" of Confirmation.

Such is the specific and principal effect of Confirmation, an effect that is produced irrevocably even if one approaches without the proper dispositions. Precisely for this reason, Confirmation, together with Baptism and Orders, is distinguished from the other Sacraments: it is a Sacrament that cannot be repeated, as it was defined by the Council of Trent (Denz-U, 852) and as it has always been held by the Church. From this point of view, it has never been dissociated from Baptism. Customarily administered one after the other, both were considered either both valid or both invalid.

This is, however, a question of fact on which there has been and still is some uncertainty and some diversity of opinion. Since in the Latin Church the reconciliation of heretics took place by means of an imposition of hands, which involved an invocation of the Holy Spirit similar to that of Confirmation and which, moreover, is often described as being done in Spiritum Sanctum, many have wished to maintain and still maintain that this was a reiteration of Confirmation. This was beyond dispute for St. Cyprian and for all those who like him denied the validity of baptismal rites performed in heresy. It is evident, however, that for these authors it was by no means a matter of reiterating a Confirmation validly received.

The question, then, arises only for those who, like Pope St. Stephen and gradually the whole Latin Church, while admitting the validity of the Sacrament of Christian initiation received in heresy, denied its efficacy as regards the conferral of Grace. For these cases many theologians think that, despite the material similarity of the rites, the purpose and effect of the reconciliation of heretics were other than those of Confirmation. These theologians base their opinion on the fact that Pope St. Stephen, in laying down the principle of the non-repetition of Baptism, spoke expressly of an imposition of hands in paenitentiam (Cyprian, Epist., 74, 1). For their part, St. Augustine, St. Fulgentius and St. Gregory the Great always saw in the reconciliation of heretics a penitential absolution that granted them the forgiveness of sins which they had not been able to receive outside the Church (cf. P. Galtier, L'Eglise et la rémission des péchés aux premiers siècles, Paris 1932, pp. 106, 234-35, 406-407). Moreover, and it is undoubtedly from here that the misunderstanding arises, it was common in antiquity to consider the reconciliation of sinners as having the effect of "recovering" the Holy Spirit lost through sin; it was a manner of speaking proper to the time, whereas today we would say: restoring sanctifying Grace. Thus thought St. Cyprian himself (Epist., 57, 4), when he exhorted that absolution be granted to them (cf. P. Galtier, in DThC, VII, coll. 151-53).

It seems, therefore, that on this point one must insist in order to dispel a misunderstanding that has persisted for a long time and, consequently, draw the conclusion that the Church has never thought of repeating Confirmation once it has been validly received.

The "character" is not, however, the only effect of the Sacrament. To it must be added, for those who approach Confirmation with the proper dispositions, that is, in a state of grace, another effect, called sacramental Grace. This Grace, in a certain sense, as in the other Sacraments, consists in an increase of sanctifying Grace; it is distinguished from it, however, by the graces or actual helps to which it gives a right. Such helps tend to strengthen faith and to make attachment to the Church more firm. Giving Himself with all His gifts, the Holy Spirit assures the baptized of the supernatural strength necessary to thwart the snares set against the simplicity of faith and to secure for them fidelity to the commitments of Baptism. In a certain sense, one could say that it makes a combatant of the Christian. Having become a son of God and of the Church, Confirmation arms him with strength and courage to defend himself against all that would tend to make him renounce his status as a Christian.

Paolo Galtier

II. MORAL THEOLOGY AND CANON LAW OF CONFIRMATION.

I. MATTER

1. Remote matter

It is the Holy Chrism, composed of olive oil mixed with balsam, which the bishop consecrates during the Mass of Holy Thursday. For the validity of the Sacrament the oil must be olive oil, while balsam is certainly necessary by necessity of precept. Only in danger of death is it lawful to administer Confirmation with oil alone, if it is not possible otherwise. Balsamic substances are products that flow spontaneously or by incision from plants and contain volatile substances, which give a particular aromatic value. Natural balsams and also artificial ones, used also for medicinal purposes, are more or less colored mixtures; neither the quality nor the quantity of the balsam required for Confirmation is determined. The Chrism must be blessed by the bishop, not only by necessity of precept (can. 781 § 1), but, according to the more probable doctrine, also for the validity of the Sacrament, as appears from the most ancient documents. The Chrism, for liceity, must be recent, that is, blessed on Holy Thursday of the current year; the old one may be used only when the new one cannot be had in time and there is urgency to administer Confirmation, or when a papal dispensation intervenes.

2. Proximate matter

The proximate matter of Confirmation is the anointing with Chrism performed by the minister in the form of a cross on the forehead of the confirmand, with the imposition of hands (cans. 780-781). The anointing with Chrism on the forehead belongs to the essence of the Sacrament, as appears from the most ancient tradition from the 6th century onward. This anointing must be done not with some instrument, but with the hand of the minister; otherwise there would be no true and proper imposition of the hand. It must furthermore be done in the form of a cross and on the forehead. For the validity of Confirmation the imposition of hands with which the minister accompanies the anointing on the forehead is certainly necessary: the first imposition of the hands, which the minister performs over the confirmands, invoking the Holy Spirit, is not essential. The Holy Office (17 Apr. 1872, 22 March 1892) expressly declared that for the validity of the Sacrament it is not required that all the confirmands be present at the first imposition of hands, nor at the end, when the bishop gives the final blessing, since these are simple ceremonies.

II. FORM

The form of Confirmation among the Latins consists of the words that the minister pronounces together with the imposition of hands and the holy anointing: "Signo te signo Crucis et confirmo te chrismate salutis, in nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti," as appears from the Roman Catechism (De Confirm., n. 11 ff.), from the decree of Eugene IV for the Armenians (Denz-U, 697) and from many other ecclesiastical documents. In this form of Confirmation, as St. Thomas observes (Sum. Theol., 3a, q. 72, a. 4), there is adequately explained what this Sacrament contains: namely the sign of the militia of Christ, to which the confirmed person is enrolled by the words "signo te signo crucis"; the effect of the Sacrament, that is, spiritual strength, by the words "confirmo te chrismate salutis"; the cause of Grace, that is, the Holy Trinity, by the words "in nomine Patris, et Filii et Spiritus Sancti." Among the Greeks the form is expressed with the words: "Signaculum doni Spiritus Sancti." This form has been repeatedly declared valid by the supreme pontiffs (cf. the encyclical of Benedict XIV, Ex quo primum, 1 March 1756).

III. MINISTER

1. Ordinary minister is only the bishop, insofar as he can validly confer this Sacrament by virtue of his ordination and his office, without a special mandate from the Roman Pontiff.

The bishop in his own diocese lawfully administers this Sacrament even to outsiders, unless an express prohibition of their Ordinary stands in the way. Outside his own diocese he needs the license of the local Ordinary, at least reasonably presumed, except in the case of his own subjects, to whom he may administer Confirmation privately and without pastoral staff and mitre (can. 783). To confirm outsiders, when there is no express prohibition to the contrary, within one's own territory is lawful also for a priest who is furnished with a local apostolic privilege (can. 784). The bishop is obliged to confer this Sacrament upon subjects who reasonably request it and, according to the law, especially at the time of the visitation of the diocese. The same obligation binds the priest who holds the apostolic privilege, toward those in whose favor the faculty is granted. The Ordinary, if legitimately impeded or lacking the faculty to confirm, must, as far as possible, provide that at least within every five years the administration of this Sacrament take place for his subjects (can. 785). The bishop is bound to administer Confirmation to the dying when he does not find it difficult to do so.

2. Extraordinary minister of Confirmation is the priest to whom, either by common law or by special indult of the Holy See, the faculty of conferring it has been granted. By common law such faculty belongs to cardinals without territorial limits; and furthermore to abbots or prelates nullius and to apostolic vicars and prefects, within the scope of their territory and for the duration of their office (cans. 782 §§ 2-3). By special indult the Holy See can confer even upon a simple priest the faculty of administering the sacrament of Confirmation (Denz-U, 573, 697). And in fact the Holy See conferred it from the first centuries down to our own times, especially in mission lands, where the observance of the common law is very inconvenient and sometimes impossible owing to circumstances that are altogether exceptional, whether of persons or of places (AAS, 21 [1929], p. 554). Oriental priests, with the exception of the Italo-Greeks and the Maronites, by most ancient custom administer Confirmation to children immediately after Baptism.

Considered on the one hand the disciplinary evolution regarding the conferral of Confirmation, and, on the other, the occurrence of motives of a distinctly spiritual nature, to which the Holy See subordinates the indult granted to the simple priest to confer it, in derogation of the principle of reserving it to the bishop, finally, after long study, also seconding the wishes of eminent jurists and moralists, the Sacred Congregation of the Sacraments, by decree of 14 Sept. 1946 (AAS, 38 [1946], pp. 349-358), approved in specific form by the Holy Father, granted the faculty of administering Confirmation also to parish priests having their own territory, to actual vicars, to vicars economus, and to perpetual vicars. Those invested with such faculty can validly and lawfully confer Confirmation only personally, without the possibility of delegation. They may avail themselves of it only within their own territory, whether in regard to subjects or to outsiders, not excluding places exempt from parochial jurisdiction. For validity and lawfulness it may be administered to all those faithful who are in a state of grave illness, such that the danger of death is certainly foreseen. This faculty may be used both in the episcopal city and outside it, provided that the diocesan bishop cannot be had for the conferral of Confirmation because he is legitimately impeded, or the see is vacant and recourse cannot be had to another residential or titular Catholic bishop without grave inconvenience. Confirmation must be administered free of charge, carefully observing the rites and ceremonies prescribed in the Roman Pontifical. The extraordinary minister has the duty of registering in the book of the confirmed the Sacrament conferred and must moreover immediately, on each occasion, inform the diocesan Ordinary thereof.

By this decree those uncertainties are dispelled that have been felt in the history of theology regarding delegation to the simple priest, on account of the prejudice that the simple priest does not possess the summit of the priesthood and is not in the proper sense a successor of the Apostles (DThC, III, col. 1048).

IV. SUBJECT

It is every baptized person not yet confirmed (can. 786). Confirmation imprints the character (v.) on the soul and therefore can be received only once. For validity, the use of reason is not necessary.

1. Age

Even today in some regions of the Latin Church itself, such as Spain and especially South America, the custom prevails of conferring Confirmation on children before the use of reason and even immediately after Baptism: a custom held legitimate by a response of the Sacred Congregation of the Sacraments approved by the Holy Father at the audience of 2 March 1932 (AAS, 24 [1932], pp. 271-72), although it is the intention of the same Sacred Congregation that even in such regions, when grave and just causes do not oppose it, the discipline of the Code be practiced, that is, to confirm around the age of seven. In fact, in the Latin Church, around the year 1000, people began to defer Confirmation until the age of reason, about 7 years, except in case of danger of death or of having to defer Confirmation too long either because of the distance of the bishop or because of other circumstances. This use was sanctioned first by the Roman Catechism of the Council of Trent and finally by the CIC, which precisely in can. 788 prescribes: « Licet sacramenti Confirmationis administratio convenienter in Ecclesia Latina differatur ad septimum circiter aetatis annum, nihilominus etiam antes conferri potest, si infans in mortis periculo sit constitutus, vel ministro id impedire ob iustas et graves causa videatur ». The Pontifical Commission for the Interpretation of the CIC on 16 June 1931 confirmed that, with the exception of the case of danger of death or of a long absence of the bishop, can. 788 was to be understood in the sense that Confirmation « in Ecclesia Latina ante septimum circiter aetatis annum conferri non possit, nisi in casibus de quibus in eodem canone ».

It is advisable and fitting that C. be conferred before Communion, since it is, as it were, the complement and perfection of Baptism; however, it may also be lawfully received afterward.

2. Requirements

For the validity of C. it is required that the candidate have received the Baptism of water, which is the door of all the Sacraments (can. 786). It is further required that the confirmand, when capable of it, have at least the interpretative intention of receiving it. For liceity, the state of grace is required, since C. is a Sacrament of the living. The state of grace required for C. can also be obtained by perfect contrition alone: in practice, however, one must insist that the confirmand approach the sacrament of Penance. The confirmand who in good faith receives Confirmation in a state of mortal sin with attrition alone (v.), receives this Sacrament validly and even fruitfully, at least according to a quite probable opinion (cf. A. Piscetta-A. Gennaro, Elementa theologiae moralis, V, Turin 1931, p. 11). The confirmand must finally be sufficiently instructed in the truths of the faith and of Christian morality "pro suo captu" (can. 786). The Roman Ritual specifies this by saying that confirmands must be diligently instructed "on the nature, dignity, effects and dispositions required to receive this Sacrament worthily" (Append. De Sacr. Confirmationis). The confirmand is not obliged to be fasting. The canonical laws that in ancient times prescribed this have fallen into desuetude.

3. Obligation

Although this Sacrament is not of necessity of means for salvation, no one, however, is permitted, when the occasion offers itself, to neglect to receive it; indeed, parish priests have the duty to strive so that the faithful approach it at the opportune time (can. 787). Authors do not agree on the gravity of the obligation to receive C. Some affirm it, with St. Antoninus, St. Alphonsus and Benedict XIV. Others, more numerous, deny it, following St. Thomas (Sum. Theol., 3ª, q. 72, a. 1 ad 3; a. 8 ad 4), excepting the three cases of contempt, scandal and a special danger for salvation. Given the controversy, if a Christian of advanced age, in places where C. is customarily received by children, were to find great difficulty or shame in receiving C., he cannot be obliged sub gravi, but rather should be persuaded to receive it. There naturally remains the obligation for parents to see to it that their children, given the occasion, receive the sacrament of C. Spouses before marriage and ecclesiastics before receiving the tonsure are expressly obliged by ecclesiastical law to receive C., if they have not yet received it (cann. 993 n. 1 and 1021 § 2).

V. TIME AND PLACE

The most suitable time for the administration of Confirmation is the week of Pentecost: it may, however, be administered on any day of the year (can. 790). In ancient times it was customary to administer Confirmation only in the morning: at present it is administered at any hour of the day: morning is, however, to be preferred. The proper place is the church, although for a just reason, at the judgment of the minister, it may be conferred in any decent place (can. 791).

VI. GODPARENTS

According to a very ancient custom of the Church, as in Baptism, so also in Confirmation there must be a godparent, if one can be had (can. 793). According to the common opinion the obligation is grave, although some authors, basing themselves on the clause of can. 793 "si haberi possit," are of the opinion that it is a light obligation. In the same ceremony there may be godparents for only one or two of the confirmands, unless the minister, for plausible reasons, considers it opportune that there be godparents for a greater number. Each confirmand may have only one godparent (can. 794). For a godparent to be truly such it is required: a) that he himself be already confirmed, have the use of reason and have the intention of acting as godparent; b) that he not be enrolled in any heretical or schismatic sect, nor be excommunicated; c) that he not be the father, mother or spouse of the confirmand; d) that he be designated by the confirmand or by his parents and guardians or by the bishop or the pastor; e) that he physically touch the confirmand, personally or through a proxy, placing his right hand on the latter's shoulder while the minister confers Confirmation. For a person to be a godparent licitly it is required: a) that he be different from the godparent of Baptism, unless for a just cause the minister permits it, or that Confirmation be conferred immediately after Baptism; b) that he be of the same sex as the confirmand, unless the minister, in some particular case, considers that for a just cause he must dispose otherwise; c) that he have reached the age of 14; d) that he not be unworthy; e) that he know the principal truths of the faith; f) that he be neither a novice nor a professed religious, unless he have the license of his superior, to be granted only in case of necessity; g) that he have not received Sacred Orders, unless he have the permission of his Ordinary.

Between the godparent and the confirmed there arises a spiritual relationship, by which the godparent is obliged to attend to the Christian education of the confirmed (can. 797). The cognatio spiritualis that arises from Confirmation no longer constitutes a matrimonial impediment (can. 1079).

VII. REGISTRATION

The parish priest has the duty to record in the appropriate book of the confirmed the name of the minister, of the confirmed, of the parents, of the sponsors, the day and place of the C.: he must moreover make an annotation in the baptismal register of the name of the confirmed (can. 798).

The obligation is a grave one. If in the C. administered in the parish candidates from outside have also been admitted, the parish priest of the place, or whoever acts in his stead, having signed and stamped the cards of the non-parishioners, sends them at once to their respective parish priests for regular registration (can. 799).

To prove that the C. was administered, unless this would prejudice someone, a single witness is sufficient, provided he is beyond reproach and reliable, or even the oath of the confirmed person himself, unless he was confirmed in infancy (can. 800).

Giuseppe Sette

VIII. THE CONFIRMATION IN THE MISSIONS

The decree of the Sacred Congregation of the Sacraments could have no practical application in very many mission territories, because the juridical persons of which the aforementioned decree speaks are not to be found there. For this reason Propaganda, on 18 Dec. 1947, issued a decree of its own with fundamentally opposite criteria, giving to the local Ordinaries dependent on it the faculty of permitting their own priests to administer Confirmation to adults and to children in danger of death.

In the granting of such a faculty it is required that the priests be subjects of the Ordinary, that they be within the territory of his ecclesiastical circumscription, that is, a diocese or quasi-diocese, and that they exercise the care of souls in any manner. This broad faculty does not intend to prejudice the other indults in the matter granted through the decennial faculties and extraordinary faculties, as, for example, in the Plenary Council of Shanghai (1924). The difference between the title and the body of the text is worthy of note, because the title speaks of danger of death "ex gravi morbo," but the body of the text does not carry the addition "ex gravi morbo." It seems clear that one must follow the body of the text, which was certainly submitted to the approval of the Pope.

Saverio Paventi

III. ASCETICS OF CONFIRMATION

As with Baptism, so too with Confirmation the Fathers, theologians and ascetical writers have lingered to point out its intimate contribution to the integral and effective formation of the Christian. The natural life, in fact, after birth grows, develops, is strengthened and perfected up to full manhood; so too must it be with the supernatural life. This life, which is born in the soul through the sanctifying Grace conferred by Baptism, must therefore grow, like every other life, until it reaches "the perfect manhood," as St. Paul says, "the measure of the age of the fullness of Christ" (Eph. 3, 13; cf. Sum. Theol., 3a, q. 72, a. 5). On the other hand, in Baptism the Christian has committed himself to renounce evil, the devil and all the enticements of which the latter makes use; it is necessary for him therefore to understand and to resist; and this cannot be done unless one is enlightened and strong. At the first awakening of the intellect in the child, he does not delay to understand that life is a struggle; and this hour, in which he becomes conscious of his duty as a Christian and of the resistance that he finds in fulfilling it within himself and outside himself, can sometimes become tragic and disorient a whole life. Therefore Jesus Christ willed to strengthen it with a Sacrament. Consequently it is necessary:

I. LIVING ONE'S CONFIRMATION

This means becoming ever more conscious of its value and cooperating in the twofold task it must carry out in the Christian, whether considered in himself or considered in his social dimension (Sum. Theol., 3a, q. 72, a. 2): 1. to every Christian considered individually, C. gives in fullness the Holy Spirit, with his gifts, offering: a) a greater penetration of revealed truths (gift of understanding). These, in fact, are not a mere external baggage, sometimes burdensome, but must penetrate into the depths of the heart, become rooted convictions, according to which one is to orient one's life, beset by deviations and passions; b) a more loving inclination toward the things of God, toward worship, toward the divine service (gift of piety); c) the vigor and constancy to translate convictions into practice (gift of fortitude). Having good convictions is only a first step and an insufficient one; it is necessary to pass to action, which imposes overcoming and victories over the daily difficulties that arise, which make life like a sailing against the current. It is the eternal struggle between the law of the spirit and that of the flesh, between the law of Grace and that of sin (cf. Rom. 7, 15-25). St. Paul offers precisely the example of a prayer to the Father that he may obtain for the Christian, through the Holy Spirit, the strengthening of the inner man, the rooting of the divine life in his heart, and consequently the acquiring of the taste and savor of the divine mysteries (Eph. 3, 14-21). 2. To the Christian considered in his social dimension, C. gives the strength always to do honor to his own flag; never to blush at his own faith; to know how, when the occasion arises, to spread and defend it against every human respect and every danger of struggle and contradiction. The charge of Jesus Christ to his Apostles: "you will bear witness to me... to the ends of the earth" (Act. 1, 8) can at certain moments cost dearly and lead to imprisonment and death.

II. THE DEVOTION TO CONFIRMATION

Various practices and norms are recommended to keep alive or rekindle the thought and remembrance of the great gift of Confirmation and of the commitments that derive from it, which can be summed up by saying that the confirmed person is at the same time a "soldier" and an "apostle." Therefore: 1. Before receiving the Sacrament a good preparation is required; the ancient pages, before being armed as knights, prepared themselves for the solemn ceremony with exercise and prayer. 2. Afterwards, one should solemnize its date and take advantage of the feasts of Pentecost for a more intense devotion to the Holy Spirit. - See plate LII.