Common Agreement on Mutual Recognition of Baptism - National ...

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theology and practice in the West in two ways: first, his argument for infant baptism based on the
need to be cleansed of original sin led to an emphasis on early infant baptism as the norm (De
peccatorum merities er remissione et de baptismo parvulorum and De spiritu et littera) Second,
his argument with the Donatists over the practice of rebaptism led to a focus on the sacramental
elements (water, wine, bread) and their objective validity apart from the moral character of the
one administering them (Contra epistulam Parmeniani, PL 43) As a result, medieval Western
baptismal practice included baptizing infants as soon as possible, the permission for anyone to
baptize (not only a priest), and a focus on the validity of the sacrament rather than the extended
drama of the fourth century rites.
The baptismal rite for infants in the medieval era became in essence a compressed
version of the rite for adults. Godparents or ministers responded to the questions on behalf of the
children who could not do so themselves. The rituals of handing over the creed and the Lord‘s
Prayer eventually were eliminated, while other elements of the fourth century rites (admission to
the catechumenate, exorcisms, administration of salt and the clothing with the white garment)
remained, but adapted for use with an infant. Other elements of the baptismal rites were
reinterpreted. The timing of baptism also shifted; though Easter and Pentecost had been the
preferred occasions for baptism in the fourth century, the emphasis on baptizing infants as soon
as possible led to the practice of administering baptism within a few days of an infant‘s birth, no
matter the season of the year. Gregory the Great (540-604 C.E.) even allows for a single
immersion of adult or child in water, accompanied by the Trinitarian formula (Epist.1.43). By the
eighth century, the Missale Gothicum, [260] called for the use of a declarative baptismal
formula, taken from Mt. 28.19-20, marking a definitive end to the previous question and answer
style of the Latin fathers.
A final significant development in baptismal rites in the West was the separation of three
liturgical acts: baptism, the anointing that came to be known as confirmation, and first
communion. Once the post-baptismal anointing became a sacrament reserved for the bishop, it
was commonly celebrated at a time separated—sometimes by several years—from the water
baptism. This rite of confirmation was interpreted differently by writers in the medieval period,
but gradually came to be associated with the giving of the Holy Spirit. Though the rite of
confirmation was celebrated as a separate sacrament, however, priests continued to anoint the
baptized with chrism immediately following water baptism, symbolizing participation in the
royal and priestly anointing of Christ. The timing of first communion varied considerably: in the
early medieval period it was usually given at the time of baptism, but in the eleventh century first
communion was usually postponed until age seven or later, because of increasing reverence for
the sacramental species. In 1281, the Archbishop of Canterbury, John Peckham, insisted that no
one should come to communion until they had been confirmed, while in Spain and southern Gaul
for a time the unity of the three rites of initiation was preserved in their original order (see
Concilia Magnae Britanniae et Hiberniae II: Constiutiones Peckham, p. 54).
At the dawn of the sixteenth century, though there was not absolutely uniform practice in
the Western church, a common baptismal order looked like this:
Sarum Rite of Baptism (1543)
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