Private baptism

[ggrocott]

I have been looking through the records for Easthampstead, Berks in search of Bowyer/Boyer and Giles families.  In the baptisms I found several that said 'private baptism brought to church'. 

At first I thought they were sickly babies who were baptised at birth 'just in case'.  However, if this was the case one particular family had an awful lot of sickly babies who survived!

Is it actually an indication of social class or religious convictions? Or is there actually no significance at all?

I am intrigued.

[linmey]

Hi there,
  Just intrigued to know how many babies you actually mean by several in one family. Certainly does sound as if they could have been urgent baptisms. Perhaps the wife had a tendency to give birth to very premature babies and then had them baptised just in case and then presented them in church at a later date.
          Best wishes.

[Myfi!]

The only Private Baptism I have come across (so far) was for an illegitimate birth.

myfi

[linmey]

Hi  Myfi, Was that because the baby was illegitimate do you think? I am not sure what the the church laws were on the baptism of such children.

[Carra]

Hi there,
I spotted this on a record when searching parish records and became intrigued.  I googled 'What was private baptism?' (or something simliar) when I got home.  All the entries seem to suggest that these were done when the child was ill and likely to die.  If they survived they were then 'Received into church'.  It seems to be still in practice today.

Carra

[linmey]

Indeed it is Carra. Anyone can perform a baptism in a emergency situation and as I am a nurse I know of colleagues who have done so. I havnt had to do it yet. I think this is probably the most likely reason for a private baptism with a church service later.

[Guy Etchells]

It is possible that the family had been non-conformists and changed to C of E. A person is only supposed to be baptised once in their life and it is possible the vicar noted a previous baptism outside of the church as private.
They would then be received into the church.

There is nothing to stop illegitimate children being baptised most parish registers show hundreds of illegitimate infants being baptised. After all the child has done no wrong in being born out of wedlock so why punish the child for the sins of its parents?

The most common reason for private baptisms is as others have said due to the child being sickly and not thought strong enough to survive until being baptised in church. Any unbaptised person is unable to enter the kingdom of God, therefore if the infant died prior to baptism he/she was condemned to purgatory.
Cheers
Guy

[Carra]

Hi,
I recalled reading something towards the end of last year describing how the catholic church believed that unbaptised children who died weren't condemned to purgatory but where in 'limbo'.  Good old Google came up with the goods again!  Unbaptised children who died do go to limbo ( 'the permanent home in the afterlife of the unbaptised who die in infancy without having been freed from original sin) The reason it was in the news was that the vatican was considering replacing the concept with something more "compassionate".  I realise this is only applicable to the Catholic church and wonder how this differs in other faiths.  I'm afraid that my knowledge of theological matters is rather weak.
Carra

[linmey]

And that was only last year! Scary or what! It seems amazing in this day and age that these ideas still exist.