Author Topic: Conditional Baptism  (Read 2028 times)

Offline barryd

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Conditional Baptism
« on: Monday 21 January 19 00:59 GMT (UK) »
Durham Records OnLine has just released a new set of records from Wallsend. One example is a child with a "conditional baptism". I have seen many parish records in my time but never a conditional
baptism. Does that mean that if the "conditions" were not met the baptism will be snatched back.

Offline jaybelnz

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Re: Conditional Baptism
« Reply #1 on: Monday 21 January 19 01:04 GMT (UK) »
Could it mean that the parents weren't married, but had to get married before being permitted to have their child baptised??
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Offline Ruskie

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Re: Conditional Baptism
« Reply #2 on: Monday 21 January 19 03:09 GMT (UK) »
Google throws up some results including:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conditional_baptism

Offline Maiden Stone

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Re: Conditional Baptism
« Reply #3 on: Monday 21 January 19 03:40 GMT (UK) »
Basically it was a "belt & braces" approach in case the person hadn't been baptised previously or there was  doubt about whether the original baptism was valid.
If it was a baby the original baptism may have been an emergency one at home because the child was frail or ill and not expected to survive. This may have been carried out by a member of the family, a midwife or doctor, or any Christian who was there and knew what to do.  Should the child recover it may have been taken to church later for the rest of the baptism ceremony, with godparents, and other extras it didn't get first time. (The doctor baptised several babies in a rural parish in Lancashire which I looked at.)
 
In the case of a conditional baptism of an adult, s/he may have been:
 converting to a different denomination;
 joining a church and unsure whether they had been baptised as an infant;
 about to marry in church and wishing to be baptised into the church beforehand, perhaps not knowing if they had been baptised when a baby. (Meghan Markle was baptised in C. of E. prior to her marriage to P. Harry.)

Conditional baptism in Catholic Church - explanation for family historians.
www.ottawavalleyirish.com/2010/09/conditional-baptism.html
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Offline stanmapstone

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Re: Conditional Baptism
« Reply #4 on: Monday 21 January 19 08:43 GMT (UK) »
Just to say that if you put "conditional baptism" into RootsChat Search you will see 42 posts explaining the term.

Stan
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Offline Maiden Stone

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Re: Conditional Baptism
« Reply #5 on: Monday 21 January 19 15:53 GMT (UK) »
Just to say that if you put "conditional baptism" into RootsChat Search you will see 42 posts explaining the term.

Stan
Does that mean that you have explained it 42 times?  :)
3 of my great-aunts had conditional baptisms on the same day as small children when their family swopped denominations.
The link I gave was posted by someone last week. It's a useful site. Another topic on it is marriage dispensations in the Catholic Church. It has links to 2 other sites which have degree of consanguinity tables.
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Offline stanmapstone

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Re: Conditional Baptism
« Reply #6 on: Monday 21 January 19 16:30 GMT (UK) »

Does that mean that you have explained it 42 times?  :)

 NO it does not, it means various posters have replied, why do you think I meant just me?

A lot of the queries to RootsChat have been answered in the past, and it is always worth searching RootsChat

Stan
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Offline stanmapstone

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Re: Conditional Baptism
« Reply #7 on: Monday 21 January 19 16:59 GMT (UK) »
I have checked and 10 of the 42 posts are by me.

Stan
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Offline Geordie Mag

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Re: Conditional Baptism
« Reply #8 on: Tuesday 22 January 19 20:57 GMT (UK) »
The key thing, for both the Anglican and Catholic churches, was that the person had to have been baptized a) with water and b) with the specific words "In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost" The 1662 Prayer Book says that if the family, on bringing the child to church, aren't sure if this happened (as they no doubt wouldn't be if they had been trying to cope with a sick baby and probably a sick mother as well) then the priest must baptize the baby but using the form of words "If thou art not already baptized, N, I baptize thee in the name of...etc". If the midwife or family member had used water and the correct wording, then there isn't a baptism. The child is received into the congregation and the godparents make their promises on its behalf.
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