medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
The Latin quotation is from the Rituale Romanum, so it's not clear how
far back that bit goes.
John Briggs
On 28/06/2013 22:24, George Brown wrote:
>
> You say John."it was only the head which could be baptized," but the sentence following says any other body living member that should insteadfemerge should be baptized if danger is determined.
>
> GHB
>
>
> On Jun 28, 2013, at 2:10 PM, John Briggs wrote:
>> On 28/06/2013 21:32, Ms B M Cook wrote:
>>>
>>> I have always understood that not only could Baptism be administered in
>>> an emergency by a layman, it could also be administered by a WOMAN, the
>>> only sacrament which carried this permission. This meant that a midwife
>>> - or any other female attendant - could baptise a live new born infant
>>> which looked about to expire, and that a midwife was even permitted to
>>> baptise the protruding limb of a half-born child if there was a risk the
>>> baby might not survive the birthing experience - a breeches birth or the
>>> dreaded umbillical-cord-about-the-throat being the obvious hazards.
>>> But. A baby born dead could not be retrospectively baptised.
>>
>> Strictly speaking, it was only the head which could be baptised. Of course, you wouldn't then know the sex, so the general-purpose names "Creatura" and "Vitalis" would be used.
>>
>> (I only have to hand Ernest Weekley, Jack and Jill: A Study of Our Christian Names, 1948 and Charles W. Bardsley, Curiosities of Puritan Nomenclature, 1888. Neither gives references, but Bardsley does helpfully quote the following:
>>
>> "Nemo in utero matris clausus baptizari debet, si infans caput emiserit, et periculum mortis immineat, baptizetur in capite, nec postea si vivus evaserit, erit iterum baptizandus. At si aliud membrum emiserit, quod vitalem indicet motum in illo, si periculum pendeat baptizetur,")
>>
>> John Briggs
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