> Does anyone know, generally, when the baptism of catechumens stopped
> being a regular part of the Easter liturgy? This had a great deal to
> do with the practice of baptizing infants at all times of the year,
> rather than converts just at Easter. Presumably, too, this changed
> the ritual of baptism?
> Curiously,
> Jim Bugslag
No, as the history of infant baptism show us, the two are not connected with
each other. The practice of baptizing adults stopped only because the
majority of the population was already converted to christianity. Infant
baptism was however already practised in old time of early christianity,
although some members had the custom to delay their baptism (for example a
Constantine the Great who was baptized on his death bed). The ritual of
baptism didn't change at all. The questions and answers (like asked for an
adult) are still in the old Latin ritual (prae-Vatican II or so-called
Tridentine rite). We can find an old witness of almost the same ritual in
the live of St. Bonfatius (the evangelisator of the Netherlands - Holland
and Belgium). Now however, an adult is responding in stead of the child.
S.V.
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