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Archiver > DEVON > 2001-06 > 0993512513


From: "Barbara Lupton" <>
Subject: Baptism or christening?
Date: Tue, 26 Jun 2001 00:41:53 +0100
References: <022b01c0fd6b$f485a0a0$f74b7bd5@default>


There isn't any difference between a baptism and a christening for all
practical purposes. The terms are interchangeable. However, baptism strictly
involves the pouring or sprinkling of water, or in some churches, total
immersion. 'Christening' is the anointing with oil which is part of a
baptism service carried out in some denominations in the normal way. (It
really means 'making like Christ'.) In the case of a baptism 'in danger of
death' only the water would be used, there being no minister present.
Sometimes, or perhaps usually, a 'conditional' baptism was carried out later
by the minister, just in case it wasn't done 'properly' by the lay person. A
person can only be baptised once and such an emergency baptism is easy
enough. All that is required is to pour the water over the person's head
(usually a new-born baby) saying at the same time, "I baptise you in the
name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit" (or in the old days 'Holy
Ghost'). But of course the minister couldn't assume that it was done at
all.

I have come across several instances of this. One of the reasons for
conditional baptism was that the person could not receive the other
sacraments or get married in church without a baptismal certificate. One of
my relations had to send away for his certificate (which I now have) in
1854 from Sussex to Oxfordshire so that he could get married.

I don't know about any extra service in church. Probably different churches
and denominations have different practices, but it would seem to be a way of
welcoming the child or the adult into the community of that particular
church. Otherwise it is perhaps being confused with the practice of
'churching' when the ceremony centred on the mother, not the child, when she
returned to church after her confinement. As far as I know churching is
never done now.

Regards,
Barbara


----- Original Message -----
From: Louise Cartwright <>
To: <>
Sent: Monday, June 25, 2001 11:54 AM
Subject: Re: Entry in parish records


> Just to further confuse the issue.
>
> I've had a private bapt. at home - presumably when the child was ill, as
Chris mentions below, but the subsequent bapt. in church was recorded as
"Received only" (indicating an earlier baptism) and was 10 years later, not
even when the next sibling was baptised.
>
> What is the difference between a baptism & christening?
> Louise
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Chris Burgoyne <>
> To: <>
> Sent: Monday, June 25, 2001 12:55 AM
> Subject: Re: re Entry in Parish Records
>
>
> > There seem to be two circumstances when a private baptism would be
followed by a
> > public ceremony. The first is when the family were well-to-do, when it
was
> > usual to have a private ceremony at home. The other is when the child
was
> > sickly and needed to be baptised quickly to save its soul in the event
of
> > death. In both circumstances, custom (if not the law?) required that
the infant
> > be brought to church to be presented to the congregation on a suitable
occasion,
> > hence the "publicly admitted to the church" note in the register that
you
> > found. It is sometimes also called a christening. I have tried, in
vain, to
> > get a proper distinction between baptism and christening; today they are
> > synonyms, but in days gone by they clearly had distinct meanings.
> >
> > Regards
> >
> > Chris Burgoyne
> >
> >
> >
> > Jon Frayne wrote:
> >
> > > Hi Mary,
> > >
> > > It just occirred to me that there could have been a public baptism in
the
> > > July after a private one in February? Was this an adult baptism?
> > >
> > > Just ideas.
> > >
> > > jon
> > >
> > > >From: "Mary Voller" <>
> > > >Reply-To: "Mary Voller" <>
> > > >To:
> > > >Subject: re Entry in Parish Records
> > > >Date: Sun, 24 Jun 2001 23:13:12 +0100
> > > >
> > > >Hallo Listers,
> > > >Please can anyone enlighten me. There is a curious entry below the
baptism
> > > >of my possible G-G-Grandfather which reads:-
> > > >
> > > >'Publicly admitted into the church July 12th 1863.'
> > > >
> > > >He was baptised on 4th February 1863.
> > > >
> > > >Mary ()
> > > >in beautiful Dorset
> > > >
> > > >Research Interests:
> > > >Bedfordshire THOROGOOD
> > > >Channel Islands AUBIN and LE TISSIER.
> > > >Devon DENNER, HURD, PANTER (also in Cornwall),SATCHWELL
> > > >Dorset BETTS, HART, NEWMAN and TIZARD.
> > > >Hampshire CHANDLER, DAYNER, (DENNER ?), FOX, REED VOLLER, BOLTON
> > > >Leicestershire THOROGOOD
> > > >London Area VOLLER, GROSS, HARRIS
> > > >Northamptonshire THOMPKINS
> > > >Radnorshire BETTS, BLACKWELL
> > > >Staffordshire BETTS, BLACKWELL, TUNDLEY
> > > >Sussex REED (Chichester)
> > > >
> > > >
>
> >
>
> ______________________________

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