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Water is poured on the head of an infant held over the baptismal font of a Roman Catholic church. Infant baptism [1] [2] (or paedobaptism) is the practice of baptizing infants or young children. Infant baptism is also called christening by some faith traditions. Most Christians belong to denominations that practice infant baptism.
The Roman Catholic view is that baptism is necessary for salvation and that it frees the recipient from original sin. Roman Catholic tradition teaches that unbaptized infants, not being freed from original sin, go to Limbo (Latin: limbus infantium), which is an afterlife condition distinct from Hell. This is not, however, official church dogma.
In Christian theology, baptism of blood (Latin: baptismus sanguinis [1] [2]) or baptism by blood, also called martyred baptism, [3] is a doctrine which holds that a Christian is able to attain through martyrdom the grace of justification normally attained through baptism by water, without needing to receive baptism by water.
One of the earliest of the Church Fathers to enunciate clearly and unambiguously the doctrine of baptismal regeneration ("the idea that salvation happens at and by water baptism duly administered") was Cyprian (c. 200 – 258): "While he attributed all the saving energy to the grace of God, he considered the 'laver of saving water' the instrument of God that makes a person 'born again ...
Detail from the Seven Sacraments Altarpiece by Rogier van der Weyden.In the lower left the priest is anointing an infant before it is baptized. The oil of catechumens, also known as the oil of exorcism, is the oil used in some traditional Christian churches during baptism; it is believed to strengthen the one being baptized to turn away from evil, temptation and sin.
Catholic Baptism using a scallop. In Catholic teaching, baptism is stated to be "necessary for salvation by actual reception or at least by desire". [226] Catholic discipline requires the baptism ceremony to be performed by deacons, priests, or bishops, but in an emergency such as danger of death, anyone can licitly baptize.
Baptism by affusion (pouring) was allowed in exceptional circumstances in the early church, being allowed by the Didache: And concerning baptism, baptize this way: Having first said all these things, baptize into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, in living water.
Emergency baptism of an infant in Finland, 1920. An emergency baptism is a baptism administered to a person in immediate danger of death. This can be a person of any age, but is often used in reference to the baptism of a newborn infant. The baptism can be performed by a person not normally authorized to administer the sacraments.