Christening Dates

[aggiebagwash]

I'm researching a family from Killorglin for a friend and noticed that each of the children was Baptized either the day they were born or within a few days, does anyone know why this would be as it appeared to be the norm for the family going back a few generations?

Margaret

[ballydw]

This indeed was the case as I suppose a lot of births were at home in those days and children were always christened as soon as possible after birth it was tradition and also I think for health reasons - facilities werent great in those times . Also if a newborn wasnt very robust often they were christened at home by a lay person maybe midwife if in attendance & then taken to Church later.

[aggiebagwash]

Thank you ballydw I thought it may be tradition but can't understand why the mother would be excluded from the Baptism.

Margaret

[ballydw]

Yes Margaret tradition yes and also in the RC church mothers went to Church  after births at some stage to be what they called "churched" a special blessing for new mothers. I stand to be corrected on this but this is what I knew growing up

[aggiebagwash]

How strange I'm Catholic and I had to be Churched before my daughters were Baptized. When my eldest girl was Baptized I was taken to the altar before the ceremony and had to say a few prayers. Can't remember what they were it was many years ago) With my second daughter it was all incorporated into the service but that was in a different Parish a few years later.


Margaret

[ballydw]

You have had the experience Margaret I wasnt sure when the "Churching" took place but I now know learn something everyday

[aggiebagwash]

I've just remembered an incident that happened on the day I left hospital after the birth of my daughter I walked up to my in-

[Sinann]

Churched has come up before and it seems it was very misunderstood here.
I grew up thinking a mother couldn't go into a church without been churched first, my mother was churched on the doorstep of the priests house, she wasn't at any of our christenings but when I read up about it this appears to be totally the incorrect way. It should be done as aggiebagwash has said, it was a blessing not a cleansing as we were given to understand.
I was born at home and baptised the next day in the sixties!!  But to be fair that was to suit my godmother, the midwife.

[myluck!]

On the original topic
Most children were baptised quickly in case they died in the main
The rules of the catholic church stated an unbaptised baby could not be buried in sacred ground
They were headed for limbo, neither heaven nor hell and could not have a christian burial.


On Churching:
Vatican II changed the rules and Churching became a blessing only and then faded away....

Prior to that Churching referred to a ceremony that was a requirement for women to reenter the church or any sacred place. Only married women were eligible following their recovery from childbirth. She would thank God for the safe delivery of her child and receive a blessing from the priest. My mother described the ceremony she went through on the steps of her church on a very cold day.  If you were to ask any of my older relatives about this, you would not get a pleasant description of what it was, how it was offered/explained or indeed administered.

You had to be appropriately dressed, carry a lighted candle, and confess to your sin of sexual activity.

Many people considered that childbirth made a woman unholy or unclean; sexual abstinence and virginity being equated to holiness. People considered the purification rite, or rite of churching to be very important as it allowed the ‘unclean’ woman to re-enter the church in a ‘state of grace’.  There are biblical references that are quoted and there was also a time frame that was in place if I remember correctly that differed whether you had had a son or a daughter!

In the same way that unbaptised babies were not given christian burials, some women who died in childbirth were also not given christian burials as they were not "without sin".