Emergency baptism

Scholars such as Everett Ferguson believe this was not a routine practice, and instead, anyone in immediate danger of death could be baptized, regardless of their age.

[2] Multiple instances of emergency baptisms survive in the form of epitaphs in Rome, Naples, Greece, North Africa, and elsewhere.

[1] Perhaps one of the earliest examples of an emergency baptism was recorded at the Catacomb of Callixtus and dates to c. 268 CE, in which Marcianus, aged 12, was baptized and died the next day.

For many Christians, it was preferable to push baptism as close to the time of death as possible, in order to cleanse the soul of as many sins as possible.

In Nuremberg, midwives were held to the Jachtauffen, the midwifery ordinance dealing with emergency baptisms, and swearing their oath included confirmation of their confidence in it.

[3] This scrutiny continued into the next century; 17th-century midwifery reforms in the Schwarzburg provinces required midwives to be approved by the town's pastor, and they were expected to be pious and unwaveringly spiritual.

[4] Elsewhere in the Holy Roman Empire, Anabaptist families consciously refused to perform infant baptisms, even in case of imminent death; for this and other beliefs that deviated from Catholic teachings, they were subject to heavy discrimination, which could include banishment or execution.

Although they held similar views on emergency baptism, Dutch Reformed customs relied on geography, as they tried to distance themselves from Anabaptists to avoid punishment.

By contrast, in areas where the Reformed church was not held under such scrutiny, priests encouraged parents to bring the ailing newborn to the next Sunday Mass for the baptism.

The Ritual further says that when the water can flow upon the head of the infant the sacrament is to be administered absolutely; but if it can be poured only on some other part of the body, baptism is indeed to be conferred, but it must be conditionally repeated in case the child survives its birth.

After the Cæsarean incision has been performed, the fetus may be conditionally baptized before extraction if possible; if the sacrament is administered after its removal from the womb the baptism is to be absolute, provided it is certain that life remains.

In cases of delivery where the issue is a mass that is not certainly animated by human life, it is to be baptized conditionally: "If thou art a man.

Other prayers, such as the following, may be added Heavenly Father, we thank you that by water and the Holy Spirit you have bestowed on upon this your servant the forgiveness of sin and have raised him to the new life of grace.

[citation needed] In 1858, Edgardo Mortara, then reportedly six years old, was taken from his Jewish parents by the police of the Papal States.