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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 January 2024
In response to accusations leveled against the integrity of confirmation as a distinct sacrament, the author searches magisterial documents for a theology of confirmation. Two main theological explanations of the sacrament are explored: the ecclesial significance of the bishop's office as the original minister of confirmation; and the grace of the sacrament – that is, the gifts and Gift of the Holy Spirit. This grace is characterized as both defensive and offensive, from the perspective of defending the faith of the individual and the Church, and sharing in Christ's mission to evangelize the world. In a final section, the author addresses several popular but mistaken or one-sided approaches to explaining confirmation that have had negative pastoral consequences in recent decades.
1 Bausch, William J., A New Look at the Sacraments (Mystic CT: Twenty-Third, 1983), p. 92Google Scholar: “Among the scholars, confirmation is often called the sacrament in search of a theology.”
2 For an extended treatment of the “problems” regarding confirmation in twentieth-century scholarship, see Triacca, Achille M., ‘Per una trattazione organica sulla “confermazione”: verso una teologia liturgica’, Ephemerides Liturgicae 86 (1972), pp. 128–81Google Scholar; see also Rahner, Karl, A New Baptism in the Spirit: Confirmation Today (Denville NJ: Dimension, 1974), p. 10Google Scholar; Powers, Joseph M., ‘Confirmation: The Problem of Meaning’, Worship 46.1 (1972), pp. 26–27Google Scholar.
3 Council of Trent, Sessio VII (3 mart. 1547), Canones de sacramento confirmationis 1–3, in Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils, vol. 2, Trent to Vatican II, ed. and trans. Tanner, Norman P. (Washington DC: Georgetown University Press, 1990), p. 686Google Scholar.
4 Luther, Martin, The Babylonian Captivity of the Church, trans. Steinhäuser, Albert T. W., rev. Ahrens, Frederick C. and Wentz, Abdel Ross, Luther's Works 36 (Philadelphia: Muhlenberg, 1959), pp. 91–92Google Scholar, here 92: “we seek sacraments that have been divinely instituted, and among these we see no reason for numbering confirmation,” emphasis in original.
5 For a strident example, see Mitchell, Nathan, ‘Christian Initiation: Decline and Dismemberment’, Worship 48.8 (1974), pp. 458–79Google Scholar.
6 See, e.g., Davis, Charles, Sacraments of Initiation: Baptism and Confirmation (New York: Sheed and Ward, 1964), p. 107Google Scholar.
7 A critical assessment of confirmation's historiography is a distinct and hefty topic of investigation. On this topic, see Neunheuser, Burkhard, Baptism and Confirmation, trans. Hughes, John J. (New York: Herder, 1964)Google Scholar; Austin, Gerard, ‘The Essential Rite of Confirmation and Liturgical Tradition’, Ephemerides Liturgicae 86 (1972), pp. 214–24Google Scholar; Riggio, Giuseppe, ‘Liturgia e pastorale della confermazione nei secoli XI–XII–XIII’, Ephemerides Liturgicae 87 (1973), pp. 445–72Google Scholar and 88 (1974), pp. 3–31; Fisher, J. D. C., Christian Initiation: Confirmation Then and Now (Chicago IL: Hillenbrand, 2005)Google Scholar. See also the collection of texts gathered by Turner, Paul, Sources of Confirmation: From the Fathers through the Reformers (Collegeville MN: Liturgical Press, 1993)Google Scholar.
8 Second Vatican Council, Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy Sacrosanctum concilium, §71 (4 December 1963), in Tanner, vol. 2, pp. 833–34.
9 Second Vatican Council, Sacrosanctum concilium, §71, in Tanner, vol. 2, p. 833; the renewal of baptismal promises is in Rite of Confirmation, 23, in The Rites of the Catholic Church, vol. 1, prepared by the International Commission on English in the Liturgy (Collegeville MN: Liturgical Press, 1990), pp. 23–24; Introduction, Rite of Confirmation, in The Rites, vol. 1, §13, p. 483: “Confirmation takes place as a rule within Mass in order that the fundamental connection of this sacrament with all of Christian initiation may stand out in clearer light.” Catechismus Catholicae Ecclesiae (Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1997)Google Scholar [henceforth CCC] 1298: When celebrated apart from baptism, confirmation begins with the renewal of baptismal promises and the profession of faith.
10 Accordingly, Pope Paul VI made provision for integrating confirmation within the Mass one month after the promulgation of Sacrosanctum concilium: Paul, Pope VI, Litterae Apostolicae Motu Proprio Datae, Sacram liturgiam, norm 4 (25 January 1964), in Acta Apostolicae Sedis 56, series 3, vol. 6 (1964), pp. 141–42Google Scholar: “Eam art. 71 partem vim suam statim obtinere statuimus, ex qua Sacramentum Confirmationis, pro opportunitate, intra Missam, post lectionem Evangelii et homiliam, conferri potest.”
11 Pope Paul VI, Divinae consortium naturae, in Enchiridion documentorum instaurationis liturgicae, vol. 1, (1963–1973), ed. Kaczynski, Reiner (Rome: C.L.V.-Edizioni Liturgiche, 190), no. 148Google Scholar, §2591, p. 808; my translation.
12 Thomas Aquinas, Summa contra gentiles IV, 58, in Summa contra gentiles, vol. 4, Salvation, trans. O’Neil, Charles J. (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1957), pp. 249–50Google Scholar.
13 Pope Paul VI, Divinae consortium naturae, in Kaczynski, vol. 1, no. 148, §2594, p. 809.
14 Innocent I, Letter to Decentius, Bishop of Gubbio, in The Christian Faith in the Doctrinal Documents of the Catholic Church, ed. Neuner, J. and Dupuis, J., 7th ed. (New York: Alba House, 2001), §1406, p. 581Google Scholar.
15 Second Vatican Council, Decree on the Pastoral Office of Bishops in the Church Christus Dominus, §2 (28 October 1965), in Tanner, vol. 2, p. 921: “Episcopi autem et ipsi, positi a Spiritu sancto, in apostolorum locum succedunt ut animarum pastores …”; see also Christus Dominus, §4 and §6, p. 922.
16 Council of Basel-Ferrara-Florence-Rome, Session 8 (22 November 1439), Bull of Union with the Armenians, in Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils, vol. 1, Nicaea I to Lateran V, ed. Norman P. Tanner (Washington DC: Georgetown University Press, 1990), p. 544: “Ordinarius minister est episcopus. Et cum ceteras unctiones simplex sacerdos valeat exhibere, hanc nonnisi episcopus debet conferre, quia de solis apostolis legitur, quorum vicem tenent episcopi, quod per manus impositionem Spiritum sanctum dabant, quemadmodum actuum apostolorum lectio manifestat … . Loco autem illius manus impositionis in ecclesia datur confirmatio. Legitur tamen aliquando per apostolice sedis dispensationem ex rationabili et urgenti admodum causa simplicem sacerdotem crismate per episcopum confecto hoc administrasse confirmationis sacramentum.”
17 Council of Trent, Sessio VII (3 mart. 1547), Canones de sacramento confirmationis, 3, in Tanner, vol. 2, p. 686: “Si quis dixerit, sanctae confirmationis ordinarium ministrum non esse solum episcopum, sed quemvis simplicem sacerdotem: a.s.” John Jerome Coleman, The Minister of Confirmation: An Historical Synopsis and Commentary, The Catholic University of America Canon Law Studies 125 (Washington DC: Catholic University of America Press, 1941), p. 103: “Moreover, though a statement on the priest-minister seemed more or less called for at the Council of Trent, it might only have confirmed heretics in their errors if the Council had asserted that the priest could in any circumstances administer confirmation.”
18 Congregatio de Disciplina Sacramentorum, Decretum de confirmatione ministranda iis qui ex gravi morbo in mortis periculo sunt constitute Spiritus Sancti munera (14 September 1946), in Documenta ad instaurationem liturgicam spectantia 1903–1963, ed. Carlo Braga and Annibale Bugnini (Rome: CLV-Edizioni Liturgiche, 2000), no. 38, §1812, p. 542: “Definitae doctrinae est solum Episcoporum esse ordinarium confirmationis ministrum.”
19 Second Vatican Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen gentium, §26 (21 November 1964), in Tanner, vol. 2, p. 871: “Ipsi [episcopi] sunt ministri originarii confirmationis …”
20 Francis Arinze, ‘Active Participation Reconsidered: The Liturgy and the Sanctifying Office of the Bishop. Reflections Proposed to Bishops of Recent Nomination, in Rome, September 17, 2004’, Adoremus (Online Edition) 10.7 (October 2004).
21 Congregation for Bishops, Directory for the Pastoral Ministry of Bishops Apostolorum successores, §144 (22 February 2004), (Ottawa: Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2004), p. 159.
22 Second Vatican Council, Christus Dominus, §11, ed. and trans. Tanner, vol. 1, p. 924.
23 Max Thurian, Consecration of the Layman: New Approaches to the Sacrament of Confirmation, trans. W. J. Kerrigan (Baltimore: Helicon, 1963), pp. 98: “The idea of having confirmation reserved to the bishop, chief ecclesiastic of a given region, results from a legitimate desire to manifest in the case of each of the faithful (in his integration into the ministry of the Church) the ecumenical unity of which the bishop is the representative par excellence … . It is right that, when the faithful offer their disposability in confirmation, the ‘ecumenical’ authority in the Church, should manifest to them the unity of the Church organization which is enrolling them.” For Thurian, this reflection follows upon biblical evidence regarding the connection between confirmation and the apostles. See also Austin P. Milner, The Theology of Confirmation (Notre Dame IN: Fides, 1972), pp. 90–99.
24 Second Vatican Council, Lumen gentium, §11, in Tanner, vol. 2, p. 857: “Sacramento confirmationis perfectius ecclesiae vinculantur, speciali Spritus sancti robore ditantur, sicque ad fidem tamquam veri testes Christi verbo et opera simul diffundendam et defendendam arctius obligantur.”
25 Pope John Paul II, Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation On the Bishop, Servant of the Gospel of Jesus Christ for the Hope of the World Pastores gregis, §38 (16 October 2003), in Acta Apostolicae Sedis 96 (2004), p. 876: “Quod denique ad sacramentum spectat Confirmationis, videbit Episcopus, qui primus est eius minister, ut plerumque ipsemet illud conferat. Praesens enim ipse paroecialem apud communitatem, quae propter Baptismatis fontem ac Mensam Eucharisticam locus naturalis est ordinaries itineris initiationis christianae exstat, evocat vehementer Pentecostes mysterium ac maximam addit utilitatem ad vincula ecclesialis communionis inter pastorem ac fideles firmanda”; translation from Pope John Paul II, Apostolic Exhortations (Trivandrum, India: Carmel International Publishing House, 2005), pp. 57–58. Earlier in the same section (p. 875), John Paul II describes the bishop as the “first dispenser” of confirmation: “Baptismate enim renati fideles participesque effecti sacerdotii roborantur Confirmatione, cuius primarius est Episcopus dispensator, sicque unicam recipiunt Spiritus donorum profusionem.”
26 CCC 1292, 1318. The strength of the eastern practice, by contrast, is greater emphasis on the unity of Christian initiation: see CCC 1318.
27 Coleman, The Minister of Confirmation, pp. 22–31, here p. 31, concludes that the priest is “but the extraordinary minister of confirmation, as indeed seems to be implied in a canon which the Council of Trent enacted on the minister of confirmation. The Church's lifelong practice also warrants the conclusion that a very grave cause is required in order that a simple priest may be delegated to administer confirmation.” Although Coleman is writing in 1941, his overview of ancient practice remains helpful.
28 The Second Vatican Council restored the eastern churches’ ancient practice, whereby priests confer the sacrament of confirmation, in the Decree on the Eastern Catholic Churches De ecclesiis orientalibus [Orientalium ecclesiarum], §§13–14 (21 November 1964), here §13, in Tanner, vol. 2, p. 904: “The practice concerning the minister of confirmation which has been in force from the earliest times in the eastern churches is to be fully restored. Thus priests can confer this sacrament (presbyteri hoc sacramentum conferre valent), using chrism blessed by a patriarch or a bishop.” See also Khaled Anatolios, ‘The Decree on the Eastern Catholic Churches, Orientalium ecclesiarum’, in Vatican II: Renewal within Tradition, ed. Matthew L. Lamb and Matthew Levering (New York: Oxford University Press, 2008), pp. 345–46. On the legislation of the Holy See regarding the minister of confirmation in eastern rites up to the early twentieth century, see Herman, E., ‘Confirmation dans l’église orientale’, in Dictionnaire de droit canonique, vol. 4 (Paris: Letouzey et Ané, 1949), cols 124–26Google Scholar.
29 Thomas Aquinas, Summa theologiae IIIa, q. 72, art. 11, in S. Thomae Aquinatis doctoris angelici Summa theologiae, ed. De Rubeis, Billuart, et al., vol. 5 (Turin: Marietti, 1933), pp. 96–98Google Scholar.
30 On this question, see Coleman, The Minister of Confirmation, pp. 106–111; Eloy Tejero, Commentary on Can. 882, in Exegetical Commentary on the Code of Canon Law, vol. 3.1, ed. Ángel Marzoa, Jorge Miras, and Rafael Rodríguez-Ocaña (Chicago IL: Midwest Theological Forum, 2004), pp. 516–17; and several studies by A. Mostaza Rodríguez, including most recently ‘En torno al ministro de la confirmación’, Revista española de derecho canónico 36 (1980), pp. 494–98Google Scholar.
31 Council of Basel-Ferrara-Florence-Rome, Session 8 (22 November 1439), Bull of Union with the Armenians, in Tanner, vol. 1, p. 544, quoted above.
32 S. Alphonsus Maria de Ligorio, Theologia moralis VI, tract. II, cap. II, dub. II, ed. P. Leonard Gaudé, vol. 3 (Rome: Typis Polyglottis Vaticinis, 1909), §170, p. 156: “Dubium autem fit: an ex concessione Pontificis possit simplex sacerdos confirmare, tamquam minister extraordinarius?… Idque hodie non amplius dubitandum ex bulla nostri Summi Pontificis Benedicti XIV, incipiente Eo quamvis tempore, edita 4 Maji 1745.”
33 Kevin T. Hart, Commentary on Book IV Title II, in New Commentary on the Code of Canon Law, ed. Beal, John P. et al. (Mahwah NJ: Paulist Press, 2000), p. 1077Google Scholar.
34 Pope Paul VI, Motu proprio Pastorale munus, §13 (30 November 1963), in Enchiridion documentorum instaurationis liturgicae, vol. 1, (1963–1973), ed. Reiner Kaczynski (Rome: C.L.V.-Edizioni Liturgiche, 190), no. 4, §151, p. 33.
35 Praenotanda, , Ordo confirmationis, editio typica (Vatican City: Typis Polyglottis Vaticanis, 1971), §7, pp. 17–18Google Scholar: “Praeter Episcopum facultate confirmandi ipso iure gaudent: a) Administrator Apostolicus, qui non sit Episcopus, Praelatus vel Abbas nullius, Vicarius et Praefectus Apostolicus, Vicarius Capitularis, intra limites sui territorii et durante munere; b) presbyter, qui ex officio sibi legitime tribute adultum aut puerum aetatis catecheticae baptizat, vel adultum iam valide baptizatum in plenam communionem Ecclesiae admittit; c) In mortis periculo … .”; see Hart, New Commentary on the Code, p. 1077.
36 Ordo initiationis christianae adultorum, editio typica (Vatican City: Typis Polyglottis Vaticanis, 1972)Google Scholar.
37 Second Vatican Council, Sacrosanctum concilium, §71, in Tanner, vol. 2, p. 833: “Ritus confirmationis recognoscatur etiam ut huius sacramenti intima connexio cum tota initiatione Christiana clarius eluceat … .”; my translation.
38 Introduction, Rite of Confirmation, §13, in The Rites, vol. 1, p. 484: “When confirmation is given during Mass, it is fitting that the minister of confirmation celebrate the Mass … .”
39 Ordo confirmationis (1971), §8, p. 17: “Confirmationis minister orignarius est Episcopus. Sacramentum ex more ab ipso administratur, quo apertius referatur ad primam effusionem Spiritus Sancti in die Pentecostes.” The rite approved for use in the USA specifies, in Introduction, Rite of Confirmation, §8, in The Rites, vol. 1, p. 481: “The diocesan bishop is to administer confirmation himself or to ensure that it is administered by another bishop. But if necessity requires, he may grant to one or several, determinate priests the faculty to administer this sacrament.”
40 Introduction, Rite of Confirmation, §18, in The Rites, vol. 1, pp. 485–86; I have changed “a minister who is not a bishop” to “an extraordinary minister,” in accordance with the Latin text, Ordo conrifmationis (1971), §18, p. 21: “Cum Confirmatio a ministro extraordinario, aut ex concessione iuris generalis aut ex peculiari indulto Sedis Apostolicae, confertur, convenit ut ipse in homilia mentionem habeat de Episcopo ministro originario sacramenti, ac rationem illustret cur etiam presbyteris facultas confirmandi a iure vel ab Apostolicae Sedis indulto tribuitur.”
41 Ordo confirmationis (1971), §22, p. 21, trans. Rite of Confirmation, §22, in The Rites, vol. 1, p. 488.
42 CCC 1313.
43 Code of Canon Law: Latin-English Edition, trans. Canon Law Society of America (Washington DC: Canon Law Society of America, 1998) [henceforth 1983 Code of Canon Law], can. 880 §2. On the necessity of using oil consecrated by the bishop, see Aquinas, Summa theologiae IIIa, q. 72, art. 2, ed. De Rubeis, Billuart, et al., vol. 5, p. 87.
44 CCC 1312–13; Second Vatican Council, Orientalium ecclesiarum, §13, in Tanner, vol. 2, p. 904.
45 Congregatio de Disciplina Sacramentorum, Decree Spiritus Sancti munera, in Braga and Bugnini, no. 38, §1813, p. 542; §1818, p. 543; §§1823–24, p. 544; see Hart, New Commentary on the Code, p. 1077. See also CCC 1314.
46 Praenotanda, Ordo initiationis christianae adultorum (1972), §46, p. 18, trans. Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults, §14, in The Rites of the Catholic Church, vol. 1, prepared by the International Commission on English in the Liturgy (Collegeville MN: Liturgical Press, 1990) [henceforth RCIA], pp. 40–41.
47 1983 Code of Canon Law, can. 882–88; see also CCC 1313–14.
48 1983 Code of Canon Law, can. 882: “Confirmationis minister ordinarius est Episcopus.” On the reasons why those who drafted the 1983 Code chose ordinarius rather than originarius, see Tejero, Commentary on Can. 882, pp. 513–15.
49 1917 Code of Canon Law, can. 782, in Codex Iuris Canonici Pii X Pontificis Maximi, ed. Pietro Gasparri (Westminster MD: Newman, 1963): “§1. Ordinarius confirmationis minister est solus Episcopus. §2. Extraordinarius minister est presbyter, cui vel iure communi vel peculiari Sedis Apostolicae indulto ea facultas concessa sit.” See Coleman, The Minister of Confirmation, pp. 104–5.
50 Congregatio de Disciplina Sacramentorum, Instructio de presbytero sacramentum confirmationis ministrante Sacramenti confirmationis disciplina (20 May 1934), ed. Braga and Bugnini, vol. 1, no. 30, §1362, p. 379: “Quod ad ministrum prae primis attinet Sacramenti Confirmationis, dogmaticam definitionem Concilii Tridentini mutuatus Codex I.C., canone 782 ordinarium huius Sacramenti ministrum solum Episcopum edicit, extraordinarium vero ministrum presbyterum, cui vel iure communi vel peculiari Sedis Apostolicae indulto facultas huiusmodi concessa sit.”
51 Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches: Latin-English Edition (Washington DC: Canon Law Society of America, 2001), cans 694 and 696 §1: “All presbyters of the Eastern Churches can validly administer this sacrament either along with baptism or separately to all the Christian faithful of any Church sui iuris, including the Latin Church.”
52 Praenotanda, Ordo initiationis christianae adultorum (1972), §46, p. 18; trans. RCIA, §14, in The Rites, vol. 1, p. 40.
53 Congregatio de Disciplina Sacramentorum, Decree Spiritus Sancti munera, in Braga and Bugnini, no. 38, §1808, p. 541.
54 Pope Leo XIII, Encyclical on the Holy Spirit Divinum illud munus, §9 (9 May 1897); where no printed source for a magisterial document is cited, the text was consulted on the web site of the Holy See, <www.vatican.va>.
55 Rabanus Maurus, De clericorum institutione, I.30 (PL 107:344–46).
56 One who argues that confirmation adds nothing to the effects baptism might logically deny also that any other sacraments add anything to baptism, or offer any peculiar sacramental grace of their own. Then “the only real difference between the sacraments would be material, namely, a difference of rite or ceremony,” as is pointed out by Lawrence P. Everett, The Nature of Sacramental Grace, Catholic University of America Studies in Sacred Theology, 2nd series 7 (Washington DC: Catholic University of America Press, 1948), p. 131.
57 For example, Eucharistica, Prex III, Missale Romanum, editio typica tertia (Vatican City: Typis Vaticanis, 2002), §113, pp. 587–88Google Scholar: “concede, ut qui Corpore et Sanguine Filii tui reficimur, Spiritu eius Sancto replete, unum corpus et unus spiritus inveniamur in Christo.”
58 CCC 1294.
59 Connell, Francis J., De sacramentis ecclesiae: tractatus dogmatici, vol. 1 (New York: Pustet, 1933), p. 169Google Scholar.
60 Leo XIII, Divinum illud munus, §9.
61 Pope Paul VI, Divinae consortium naturae, in Kaczynski, vol. 1, no. 148, §2595, p. 810.
62 See Aquinas, Summa theologiae I, q. 38, arts 1 and 2, ed. De Rubeis, Billuart, et al., vol. 5, pp. 252–54.
63 CCC 1303, discussing the effects of confirmation, includes “increases (auget) the gifts of the Holy Spirit” as a way in which confirmation “brings an increase and deepening (augmentum et altiorem penetrationem affert) of baptismal grace.” This assumes that the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit are conferred previously, presumably at baptism.
64 Ordo confirmationis (1971), §42, p. 17: “Deus omnipotens, Pater Domini nostri Iesu Christi, qui hos famulos tuos regenerasti ex aqua et Spiritu Sancto, liberans eos a peccato, tu, Domine, inmitte in eos Spiritum Sanctum Paraclitum; da eis spiritum sapientiae et intellectus, spiritum consilii et fortitudinis, spiritum scientiae et pietatis; adimple eos spiritu timoris tui. Per Christum Dominum nostrum”; trans. Rite of Confirmation, §42, in The Rites, vol. 1, p. 500.
65 Leo XIII, Divinum illud munus, §9.
66 CCC 1717.
67 generalia, Praenotanda, christiana, De initiatione, in Ordo baptismi parvulorum, editio typica altera (Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1986), §2, p. 7Google Scholar: “Donatione autem eiusdem Spiritus in Confirmatione signati, ita perfectius Domino configurantur et Spiritu Sancto implentur, ut, testimonium eius coram mundo perferentes, corpus Christi quamprimum ad plenitudinem adducant”; trans. Christian Initiation, General Introduction, §2, in The Rites, vol. 1, p. 3.
68 Daniélou, Jean, The Bible and the Liturgy (Notre Dame IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 1956), p. 119CrossRefGoogle Scholar; see also Michael Kevin O’Doherty, The Scholastic Teaching on the Sacrament of Confirmation, Catholic University of America Studies in Sacred Theology (Second Series) 23 (Washington DC: Catholic University of America Press, 1949), pp. 61–62.
69 Connell, De sacramentis ecclesiae, vol. 1, p. 169.
70 Council of Vienne, Decrees, 1, in Tanner, vol. 1, p. 361: “sanctifying grace and the virtues are conferred in baptism on both infants and adults.” On this point, the Council of Vienne is cited by the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Instruction on Infant Baptism Pastoralis actio (20 October 1980), §7, in Acta Apostolicae Sedis 72 (1980), p. 1141. Considering the grace of baptism, CCC 1266 discusses sanctifying grace, the ability to believe in God, to hope in God, and to love God, along with an ability to grow in the moral virtues. See also Ludwig Ott on the effects of baptism in Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma, trans. Patrick Lynch (Rockford IL: TAN, 1974), p. 354: “inner sanctification by the infusion of sanctifying grace, with which the infused theological and moral virtues and the gifts of the Holy Ghost are always joined.”
71 John A. Hardon, History and Theology of Grace: The Catholic Teaching on Divine Grace (Ann Arbor MI: Sapientia, 2005), pp. 374–75; the Epitome theologiae Christianae, 8 (PL 178:1740), sometimes attributed to Peter Abelard, also portrays the grace of confirmation as counteracting the seven deadly vices.
72 See Hardon, History and Theology of Grace, p. 375, who follows St Thomas in considering the gifts of the Holy Spirit to be necessary for salvation.
73 Second Vatican Council, Lumen gentium, §11, in Tanner, vol. 2, p. 858: “Tot ac tantis salutaribus mediis muniti, christifideles omnes, cuiusvis conditionis ac status, ad perfectionem sanctitantis qua Pater ipse perfectus est, sua quisque via, a Domino vocantur.”
74 Pope Paul VI, Divinae consortium naturae, in Kaczynski, vol. 1, no. 148, §2600, p. 812: “Accipe signaculum Doni Spiritus Sancti.”
75 Since sanctifying grace is already received at baptism, confirmation increases or augments sanctifying grace. See Aquinas, Summa theologiae IIIa, q. 72, art. 7, ed. De Rubeis, Billuart, et al., vol. 5, pp. 92–93; H. Lennerz, De sacramento confirmationis, 2nd ed. (Rome: Gregorian University, 1949), p. 47; O’Doherty, Scholastic Teaching on Confirmation, pp. 65–66; Ott, Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma, pp. 365–66.
76 Joh. B. Umberg, ‘Confirmatione baptismus “perficitur”,’ Ephemerides Theologiae Lovanienses 1 (1924), pp. 514–15.
77 1983 Code of Canon Law, can. 879.
78 Second Vatican Council, Lumen gentium, §11, in Tanner, vol. 2, p. 857: “Sacramento confirmationis perfectius ecclesiae vinculantur, speciali Spiritus sancti robore ditantur, sicque ad fidem tamquam veri testes Christi verbo et opere simul diffundendam et defendendam arctius obligantur”; my translation. Pope Paul VI cites this passage in Divinae consortium naturae, in Kaczynski, vol. 1, no. 148, §2595, p. 810; it is also cited in CCC 1285.
79 Council of Basel-Ferrara-Florence-Rome, Session 8 (22 November 1439), Bull of Union with the Armenians, in Tanner, vol. 1, p. 544. O’Doherty, Scholastic Teaching on Confirmation, p. 72, observes that the council's description of the effects of confirmation represents “an official recognition of the scholastic teaching” that he outlines in the preceding pages.
80 Congregatio de Disciplina Sacramentorum, Decree Spiritus Sancti munera, in Braga and Bugnini, no. 38, §1809, p. 541: “quum admirabili sit adiumento ad acriter decertandum contra diaboli nequitiam, mundi et carnis illecebras; ad gratiae virtutumque omnium in terris, gloriaeque maius incrementum assequendum in coelis.” Davis, Sacraments of Initiation, p. 157, dismisses out of hand the notion that confirmation is “the sacrament of our personal struggle with sin,” arguing instead that the Eucharist and penance “provide the help to overcome sin after baptism.” This argument, however, is spurious; all of the sacraments are oriented towards overcoming sin, either by imparting sanctifying grace, preserving it, or restoring it.
81 Pope Pius XII, Encyclical on the Mystical Body of Christ Mystici Corporis Christi (29 June 1943), §18, Acta Apostolicae Sedis 35, ser. 2, vol. 10 (1943), p. 201: “Confirmationis vero chrismate credentibus novum robur inditur, et Ecclesiam Matrem et quam ab ea acceperint fidem, strenue tueantur ac defendant.”
82 Aquinas, Summa theologiae IIIa, q. 72, art. 5, ed. De Rubeis, Billuart, et al., vol. 5, p. 91.
83 The Roman Catechism: The Catechism of the Council of Trent for Parish Priests, trans. McHugh, John A. and Callan, Charles J. (Rockford IL: TAN, 1982), p. 209Google Scholar.
84 Roman Catechism, p. 211.
85 CCC 1523: “illa Confirmationis nos ad huius vitae proelium roboraverat.”
86 S. Alphonsus Maria de Ligorio, Theologia moralis, VI, tract. II, cap. II, dub. I, ed. Gaudé, vol. 3, §169, p. 155: “Gratia, id est robur speciale at praelianda praelia Domini”; see also O’Doherty, Scholastic Teaching on Confirmation, pp. 62–63.
87 Second Vatican Council, Decree on the Apostolate of the Laity Apostolicam actuositatem (18 November 1965), §3, in Tanner, vol. 2, pp. 982–83.
88 Leeming, Bernard, Principles of Sacramental Theology, 2nd ed. (Westminster MD: Newman, 1960), p. 237Google Scholar.
89 CCC 1294. Max Thurian, also writing before the council, expounds confirmation as a “new kind of consecration to the service of Christ and the Church,” in Consecration of the Layman, pp. 83–94, here p. 83.
90 CCC 1303, referencing Lumen gentium, §11.
91 Second Vatican Council, Lumen gentium, §33, in Tanner, vol. 1, p. 876.
92 Pope John Paul II, Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation On the Vocation and Mission of the Lay Faithful in the Church and in the World Christifidelis laici, §14 (30 December 1988). Cf. Christifidelis laici, §22: “These ministries express and realize a participation in the priesthood of Jesus Christ that is different, not simply in degree but in essence, from the participation given to all the lay faithful through Baptism and Confirmation.” See also John Paul II, Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Ecclesia in America, §66 (22 January 1999).
93 On the use of olive oil for the sacrament of confirmation in light of its natural qualities and biblical precedents, see Lang, David P., Why Matter Matters: Philosophical and Scriptural Reflections on the Sacraments (Huntington IN: Our Sunday Visitor, 2002), pp. 95–123Google Scholar.
94 Daniélou, Bible and Liturgy, p. 118.
95 Pope Paul VI, Divinae consortium naturae, in Kaczynski, vol. 1, no. 148, §2600, p. 812: “Sacramentum Confirmationis confertur per unctionem chrismatis in fronte, quae fit manus impositione, atque per verba: ‘Accipe signaculum Doni Spiritus Sancti’”, my translation. See also CCC 1300.
96 CCC 1304–5.
97 CCC 1322: “Qui ad dignitatem sacerdotii regalis sunt per Baptismum elevati et profundius Christo per Confirmationem configurati, ipsum sacrificium Domini cum tota communitate per Eucharistiam participant.”
98 CCC 1305, citing Thomas Aquinas, Summa theologiae III, q. 72, art. 5, ad 2.
99 See Triacca, ‘Per una trattazione organica’, p. 147.
100 More often than not, however, theologians who appeal to the anthropological sciences do not demonstrate direct contact with those sciences, but rather presuppositions regarding them. Consider, for example, Fourez, Gerard, Sacraments and Passages: Celebrating the Tensions of Modern Life (Notre Dame IN: Ave Maria Press, 1983)Google Scholar. Despite Fourez's professed use of “social sciences as well as theology” (p. 10), one is hard-pressed to find a single reference to an actual study from the field of social sciences; certainly the chapter on confirmation (pp. 87–96) is bereft of any such citation.
101 Kavanagh, Aidan, ‘Confirmation: A Suggestion from Structure’, in Living Water, Sealing Spirit: Readings on Christian Initation, ed. Johnson, Maxwell E. (Collegeville MN: Liturgical Press, 1995), pp. 148–58Google Scholar; the article originally appeared in Worship 58 (1984), pp. 386–95.
102 Perhaps most influentially, Fisher, Confirmation Then and Now, pp. 126–36; for a more recent statement of the Protestant consensus, see Whyte, James A., ‘Confirmation/Admission to the Lord's Supper’, in The Westminster Handbook to Reformed Theology, ed. McKim, Donald K. (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2001), p. 40Google Scholar: “Once the rite of confirmation had been separated from Baptism, the problem was to find a meaning for it.” By contrast, consider the markedly Catholic history of confirmation in Coleman, The Minister of Confirmation, pp. 9–35, and the patristic witnesses gathered in Lennerz, De sacramento confirmationis, pp. 9–16.
103 See, e.g., Bausch, A New Look, p. 104.
104 Robinson, Geoffrey (Bishop of Sydney), ‘Confirmation: A Bishop's Dilemma’, Worship 78 (2004), pp. 50–60Google Scholar.
105 Syllabus Condemning the Errors of the Modernists Lamentabili sane (3 July 1907), §44, in The Popes Against Modern Errors, ed. Mioni, Anthony J. Jr. (Rockford IL: TAN, 1999), pp. 177–78Google Scholar.
106 Divinae consortium naturae, in Kaczynski, vol. 1, no. 148, §2594, p. 809; trans. International Commission on English in the Liturgy, The Rites of the Catholic Church, vol. 1 (Collegeville MN: Liturgical Press, 1990), pp. 473–74Google Scholar.
107 Karl Rahner is more perspicacious in A New Baptism in the Spirit: Confirmation Today, trans. Salvator Attanasio (Denville NJ: Dimension, 1975), p. 11: “… the Spirit-conferring imposition of hands cannot be related to any express mandate of Jesus. This of course is bound to be of lesser moment today than it was in the age of the Reformation, because from the viewpoint of the history of dogma and in the light of the decisions made by the Council of Trent, we cannot today deny the institution of the Sacrament of Confirmation by Jesus in the Catholic understanding of things.” In the final analysis, however, Rahner like Kavanagh appears to consider confirmation superfluous, since the grace of confirmation – the promise and the Word – is already received in baptism (p. 27).
108 This point is not lost, for example, in the ‘Pastoral Guidelines for Celebrating the Sacrament of Confirmation’ of the Archdiocese of St Louis (1998), 6: “An integral part of preparation for this sacrament is the candidate's engaging in Christian service … . To offset the impression that Confirmation marks a ‘graduation’ or end point rather than a beginning of fuller Christian life, service should be continued during the eighth grade,” following confirmation in the seventh grade.
109 Bishop Alvaro Corrada, Pastoral Reflection on the Sacrament of Confirmation (7 October 2005), 21, on <dioceseoftyler.org>.
110 Council of Trent, Canones de sacramento confirmationis, 1, ed. and trans. Tanner, vol. 2, p. 686.
111 Hellwig, Monika, The Meaning of the Sacraments (Dayton OH: Pflaum, 1972), pp. 27–28Google Scholar.
112 Hellwig, Meaning of Sacraments, p. 28.
113 See Davis, Sacraments of Initiation, p. 140.
114 Corrada, Pastoral Reflection, 22.
115 Corrada, Pastoral Reflection, 22.
116 1983 Code of Canon Law, can. 889.
117 CCC 1310, 1319.
118 Pope Benedict XIV, Encyclical on the Observance of Oriental Rites Allatae sunt, §22 (26 July 1755), in The Papal Encyclicals 1740–1878, ed. Ihm, Claudia Carlen (Wilmington NC: McGrath, 1981), p. 59.Google Scholar
119 1983 Code of Canon Law, can. 891; Congregatio de Disciplina Sacramentorum, Decree Spiritus Sancti munera, in Braga and Bugnini, no. 38, §1810, p. 541: “Quamquam nihil intentatum relinquunt vigiles animarum rectores ut, quantum fieri potest, baptizati omnes hoc sacramento rite muniantur et quidem vix cum ad aetatem rationis participem pervenerint, scilicet circa septennium: quod profecto septennium antevertere licet, prout expresse cavetur canone 788 … .”; see also CCC 1307. For a fuller listing of relevant magisterial texts, see Moudry, Richard P., ‘A Parish Resource for Confirmation: What Does Vatican II Say?’ in Confirmed as Children, Affirmed as Teens, ed. Wilde, James A. (Chicago: Liturgy Training Publications, 1990), pp. 27–33.Google Scholar
120 Introduction, Rite of Confirmation, §11, in The Rites, vol. 1, p. 483; 1983 Code of Canon Law, can. 891.
121 National Conference of Catholic Bishops, Canon 891 - Age for Confirmation, US Bishops’ Complementary Norm, signed by Bishop Joseph A. Fiorenza (21 August 2001).
122 Crichton, J. D., Christian Celebration: The Sacraments (London: Chapman, 1979), p. 111.Google Scholar
123 See the letter of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, Prot. N. 2607/98/L (18 December 1999), signed by Cardinal Jorge A. Medina Estévez and printed in Notitiae 35 (November – December 1999); in addition to the canons on confirmation, the decision references 1983 Code of Canon Law, can. 843 §1.
124 CCC 1308.
125 Corrada, Pastoral Reflection, 17.
126 See Turner, Paul, Confirmation: The Baby in Solomon's Court, rev. ed. (Chicago: Hillenbrand Books, 2006), pp. 97–102Google Scholar.
127 Dacey, John S. and Travers, John F., Human Development across the Lifespan, 5th ed. (Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2002), p. 246Google Scholar.
128 Dacey and Travers, Human Development, pp. 249, 253–55.
129 Santrock, John W., Children, 7th ed. (Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2003), pp. 42, 540Google Scholar.
130 Dacey and Travers, Human Development, p. 330.
131 Santrock, Children, pp. 42, 540.
132 The author of this article is the father of six children, and so claims personal experience in this regard.
133 I have been unable to determine the original source of this quotation.
134 Santrock, Children, p. 549.
135 See, for e.g., Beaudoin, David M., ‘Celebration of Passage: Childhood to Adolescence’, in Confirmed as Children, Affirmed as Teens, ed. Wilde, James A. (Chicago: Liturgy Training Publications, 1990), pp. 35–42Google Scholar.
136 The question of the order of the sacraments of initiation arises, although it is beyond the scope of this paper. My research supports efforts to lower the age of reception of confirmation for those baptized as infants – a pastoral move that naturally might be accompanied by the administration of confirmation before the reception of first holy communion. A number of dioceses have initiated this process: see Wilde, James A. (ed.), When Should We Confirm? The Order of Initiation (Chicago: Liturgy Training Publications, 1989)Google Scholar, and Jeffrey, Stella Maria, ‘Christian Initiation: A Pastoral Perspective on Restored Order’, Antiphon 9.3 (2005), pp. 245–52Google Scholar.
137 Pope Paul VI, Divinae consortium naturae, in Kaczynski, vol. 1, no. 148, §2591, p. 808.
138 Breuning, Wilhelm, ‘Baptism and Confirmation: The Two Sacraments of Initiation’, in Adult Baptism and the Catechumenate, ed. Wagner, Johannes et al., Concilium: Theology in the Age of Renewal 22 (New York: Paulist Press, 1967), p. 99.Google Scholar
139 Council of Basel-Ferrara-Florence-Rome, Session 8 (22 November 1439), Bull of Union with the Armenians, in Tanner, vol. 1, p. 542: “Inter haec sacramenta tria sunt, baptismus, confirmatio et ordo, que caracterem, id est spirtuale quoddam signum a ceteris distinctivum imprimunt in anima indelebile. Unde in eadem persona non reiterantur.”
140 CCC 1296, see also 1295 and 1317.
141 Alphonsus Liguori lists this as the third effect of confirmation, after the character and grace, in Theologia moralis, VI, tract. II, cap. II, dub. I, ed. Gaudé, vol. 3, §169, p. 155: “Effectus est Cognatio spiritualis, eodem modo quo dictum est de Bapt.”
142 Introduction, Rite of Confirmation, §5, in The Rites, vol. 1, p. 480.
143 1983 Code of Canon Law, can. 892.
144 Colman E. O’Neill, Sacramental Realism: A General Theory of the Sacraments (Wilmington DE: Glazier, 1983), p. 201. O’Neill continues: “The abiding sacrament possesses that dynamic quality that the person who bears it gives it; in this way it is related to the constantly recurring sacrament of the Eucharist … .”
145 I express my thanks to colleagues who have reviewed drafts of this essay: Dr Robert Fastiggi, Dr John Gresham, Msgr James Ramaccotti, Fr Samuel Weber o.s.b., and Dr Lawrence J. Welch. Helpful comments were received from the audiences to whom earlier versions of this essay were presented, first at the Gateway Liturgical Conference of September 2008 in St Louis, and subsequently to the members of the St Louis Society of Catholic Theologians in November of the same year.
146 Connell, De sacramentis ecclesiae, vol. 1, p. 166: “susceptio Confirmationis in aetate infantile est valde utilis, ut per gratiam roborantem Spiritus Sancti praeveniantur etiam primi incursus mundi et diaboli.”
147 Second Vatican Council, Lumen gentium, §5, in Tanner, vol. 2, p. 851.
