Baptismal
Confusion
XXXXXXX
What the Fight Over
‘Baptism of
Desire’ vs. ‘Water
Only’ Is All
About
and
Where Both Sides
Get It
Very Wrong, Falling
into Heresy
or Schism as a Result
XXXXXXX
“…Jesus [said to His
Apostles]… ‘All power is given to me in heaven and in earth. Going
therefore, teach ye [every one of you] all nations; baptizing them in
the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Teaching
them to observe [obey] all things whatsoever [absolutely everything] I have
commanded you…” (Matthew 28:18-20a DRC. All emphasis &
annotations added in this and the next eight quotations.)
“…[Jesus] said… ‘Go ye into the
whole world, and preach the [Catholic] gospel to every creature. He that
believeth [believes] and is baptized, shall be saved: but he that
believeth not [doesn’t believe] shall be condemned.’” (Mark
16:15-16 DRC]
“These apostles Jesus sent:
commanding them, saying… ‘Every one therefore that shall confess
me before men [admits he’s Catholic when asked by other people], I
will also confess him before my Father who is in heaven [I’ll say
he’s Catholic, and thus belongs to me, in front of my Heavenly Father].
But he that shall deny me before men, I will also deny him before my father who
is in heaven.” (Matthew 10:5a, 32-33 DRC)
“For if thou [you] confess
with thy mouth the Lord Jesus [if you publicly acknowledge as true
everything that Jesus teaches in His Catholic Religion], and believe in thy
[your] heart that God hath [has] raised him up from the dead [truly believe
what you say you believe by the words of your mouth], thou shalt [will] be saved.” (Romans 10:9 DRC)
“For you are all the children of God
by [His Catholic] faith, in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized
in Christ, have put on Christ.” (Galatians 3:26-27 DRC)
“…and behold [look] waters
issued [came] out from under the threshold [entrance] of the house
[God’s Temple] toward the east… but the waters came down to
the right side of the temple to the south part of the altar… And by
the torrent [next to the river of water from God’s Temple] on the banks
thereof [on the riverbanks] shall grow all trees that bear fruit: their leaf
shall not fall off, and their fruit shall not fail [to grow]: every month shall
they bring forth firstfruits, because the waters
thereof [the river water] shall issue [come] out of the sanctuary: and the
fruits thereof [of the riverbank trees] shall be for food, and the leaves
thereof [of these trees] for medicine.” (Ezechiel
47:1b, c, 12 DRC)
“And now why tarriest
thou [why do you wait]? Rise up [get up], and be baptized, and wash away your
sins, invoking his [Jesus’] name.” (Acts 22:16 DRC)
“And he [Jesus] said…
‘To him that thirsteth [thirsts], I will
give of the fountain of the water of life,
freely.’” (The Apocalypse 21:6b DRC)
“Jesus answered: ‘Amen, amen I
say to thee [you], unless a man be born again of
water and the Holy Ghost, he cannot enter into the
COMPOSED & EDITED JANUARY 2012 TO DECEMBER 2018.
XXXXXXX
Intended by the
Author of This Book
for the
Greater Glory of the Adorable Triune Catholic God,
for the
Worship of the Sacred Heart of King Jesus Christ of
for the
Praise of the Immaculate Heart of Queen Mary, the Blessed Ever-
Virgin Mother of
God,
unto the
Protection & Propagation of the Holy Roman Catholic Church &
Her Most
Precious Heavenly Dogmas,
and
under the
Euphonious Patronage of St. Cecilia, the Eloquent Patronage
of St.
Catherine of
Ven. Mariana de
Jesus Torres, Virgins &
Martyrs.
XXXXXXX
Domine, non est exaltatum cor meum, neque elati sunt oculi mei. Neque ambulavi in
magnis, neque in mirabilibus super
me. Si non humiliter sentiebam, sed exaltavi animam
meam; sicut ablactatus est super matre sua, ita retributio in anima mea.Speret
in Domino,
ex hoc nunc et usque in saeculum. (Psalmus CXXX,Vulgata)
St. Francis
Xavier, Patron of Catholic Missioners, Ss. Catherine of Alexandria &
Francis of Sales, Patrons of Catholic Philosophers & Apologists,
respectively, and St. Peter of Verona, the Glorious Martyr, may you be pleased
to guide this arrow to its target, either unto eternal life or eternal death! Now
thanks be to God, who always maketh us
to triumph in Christ Jesus, and manifesteth the odour of his knowledge by us
in every place. For we are the good odour of
Christ unto God, in them that are saved, and in them that perish. To the
one indeed the odour of death unto death: but
to the others the odour of
life unto life. (2 Corinthians 2:14-16b DRC)
St. Francis of
Assisi, Humble Seraph of the Incarnate God, and St. Dominic the Preacher,
Dogged Cherub of the Triune Deity, pray for your children that they may not
fail the test but suffer the malice of the wicked gladly and so gain the Crown
of Life!
XXXXXXX
+++ 1. What the
Confusion Over Baptism Is Not About +++
The confusion over the Sacrament of Baptism is not about
‘no Salvation outside the Church’.
Most people who call themselves Catholic and consider themselves
traditional mix the two things up. These two very different topics are indirectly
related but otherwise wholly separate.
The ‘no Salvation outside the Church’ fight is about
whether or not someone has to be Catholic to save his soul. Those who think
non-Catholics can be saved without believing in Catholicism or intending
to enter Her Body often tout the idea of an ‘implicit
baptism’ to bolster their argument.
An ‘implicit desire for baptism’ --- as the phrase is
used during the last one or two hundred years --- is an entirely imaginary
baptism, a baptism that a person doesn’t even know he wants and
that is combined with both a total lack of belief in and total lack of any
real & visible intent to join the Most Holy Roman Catholic
Church… which is not what we’re talking about here!
+++ 2. The
Actual Confusion, Part 1: +++
‘Baptism
of Desire’ vs. ‘Water Only’… Which Is It?
So what is the real confusion over the Sacrament of
Baptism all about?
Some Catholics say catechumens can die without being baptized in
water and might still get into Heaven. A catechumen is someone who wants
to be Roman Catholic and is learning what the Church teaches --- but who is
usually not yet baptized, which is how he joins the Church.
This hypothetical catechumen was trying to become Catholic. He
intended to be baptized. It wasn’t his fault he died too soon. Hence, say
these folks, he wanted to obey God’s command and God can make an out-of-the-ordinary
exception for him. He has a so-called ‘baptism of desire’.
Other Catholics say if a catechumen dies without being baptized in
water then he won’t ever get into Heaven. There are never any
exceptions to this requirement.
According to them, God makes water baptism an absolute necessity
and will always give good-willed catechumens water to be baptized --- even
miraculously --- along with someone to baptize them, no matter what else
happens before their eternal judgment. This is the ‘water only’
stance.
+++ 3. The
Actual Confusion, Part 2: +++
Has the Church
Ruled Infallibly in This Dispute?
Both ‘baptism of desire’ (BOD) folks and ‘water
only’ (WO) people claim the One True Church has spoken infallibly on this
topic… which only adds to the confusion. Because if the
Church has decreed infallibly, then anyone who disagrees with the decree
is obviously in heresy.
Of course, there’s still the question of whether this
putative heresy is fully intentional and therefore formal (you’re
guilty of the sin since you know better) or only accidental and hence purely material
(the sin exists yet you aren’t to blame since you couldn’t know to
avoid it), but neither side cuts the other side any slack. Patience and mercy
are not their strong points.
BOD folks treat WO people with a fierce disdain, as if they have a
plague of idiocy, whilst WO devotees react to BOD adherents with cold disgust,
like they’re filthy lepers. There is no reasonable meeting of minds. A
calm, respectful & factual debate never seems to happen.
As a result, new converts to Catholicism --- what few there are
nowadays --- tend to get sucked up mindlessly into one position or the other.
It is a matter of prejudice for them, not fact or intelligence. This continues
the confusion and also the conflict.
+++ 4. (More
Catholic Than Thou) Everybody +++
Wants to Have
the Council of
Strangely enough, both sides invoke the Council of Trent.
This is because even a Vatican II liberal knows how
Thus, if the Council of Trent upholds your stance, then your
position must be the infallible position of the Roman Catholic Church...
and your stance is totally unassailable.
Period.
There’s just one catch.
Because an infallible (never wrong) council can’t be
explicitly & infallibly saying one thing as well as its exact opposite and
still be infallible.
But
As a result, either BOD is infallibly correct or WO is infallibly
correct, but not both at the same time --- or else neither of them
is correct.
Indeed, one suspects it is neither. After all, how can an
infallible council speak clearly and not be clearly understood?
So why should
The answer is stark:
People are reading into
+++ 5.
‘Baptism
of Desire’ Justified?
For instance, BOD folks like to cite the Council of Trent from
Chapter 4 of Session 6, which is where the Tridentine
Fathers made the following Decree on Justification:
“And this translation [this spiritual adoption as a child of
God], since the promulgation of the Gospel [since the Roman Catholic Faith has
been preached], cannot be effected [put into effect] without the laver of regeneration
[water baptism] or the desire thereof [or desire for baptism in water], as it
is written: ‘Unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost, he
cannot enter into the kingdom of God.’ [John 3:5]” (Translated from
the original Latin into English by Canon Waterworth
as of 1848. Published by Devin-Adair Company in 1912 in
“See,” say BOD enthusiasts, “
This is what they say. Is it really so?
At first glance, the evidence looks impressive. But
only if it’s your first glance and only if you’re already
determined to believe in BOD without looking any further at evidence
for the opposite side.
In other words, it’s only convincing if you think
you’re infallible and couldn’t be wrong!
The point is this:
The honest man always looks carefully at the evidence for
the other side --- especially when the topic is important --- and in
spite of his opinion about things to start with. This is wisdom &
justice since, before we investigate carefully, any one of us can have a mistaken
opinion.
+++ 6. A Dubious
Desire +++
The first thing to realize is this --- that
the translation quoted above is not necessarily a very good translation. The Tridentine Fathers (the bishops at the Council of Trent)
wrote in Latin, the language of the Church. The English quote above is here
given in
“…quae quidem translatio post Evangelium promulgatum sine
lavacro regenerationis aut eius voto
fieri non potest, sicut scriptum est:
‘Nisi quis renatus fuerit ex aqua et Spiritu Sancto, non potest introire in regnum Dei.’” (Enchiridion Symbolorum by Denziger & Bannwart, S.J., as published by Herder & Co. in 1922 at
Note from the highlighted clause the following phrase,
“…lavacro regenerationis
aut eius voto…” This is what, rendered in
English --- “the laver of regeneration or the desire
thereof” --- a BOD enthusiast cites, emphasis on
‘voto’, thinking it proves ‘baptism
of desire’ infallibly.
Next examine ‘voto’ in that
phrase. This is just a form of the Latin word, ‘votum’.
A classic Latin textbook tells us that ‘votum’
means a “vow; prayer, desire”. (Latin Grammar by Scanlon
& Scanlon, A.M., as originally published by B. Herder Book Co. in 1944 at
St. Louis, Missouri. Later republished by TAN Books &
Publishers in 1976 & 1982 in
Do you see how ‘desire’ is in last place in this
definition, after ‘vow’ and ‘prayer’? Do you
also see how ‘vow’ is first and followed by a semicolon? The
order of the list tells us ‘vow’ is most likely to be a correct
rendering, the semicolon that ‘vow’ is almost always the best
translation.
Additional proof of this is easy to see. In the Most Holy Mass we
see this sentence in Latin, “…tibíque
reddunt vota sua aetérno Deo, vivo et vero.” Did you
notice the highlighted word, which is “vota” and thus a plural form of the word
‘votum’? Now we read the English version
of this Latin sentence in a well-known missal of the past century,
“…who now pay their vows to Thee, the eternal, living
and true God.” (The St. Andrew Daily Missal, Prayers of the Mass, Part
Four, p.972. Originally published by E.H. Lohman
Co. in 1945. Republished by St. Bonaventure
Publications in
There you have it. No pretense about “vota”
being ‘desires’ in this rendering. It is simply “vows”
--- solemn resolutions or intents --- the most common & correct
translation of ‘votum’.
In other words, the term ‘desire’ is almost certainly not
a very good choice for a translator to make in rendering the Latin words
‘voto’ or ‘votum’. It would,
in fact, normally be the last choice to make and only rarely ever the
best choice for ‘votum’. Hence, while we
can use the term ‘desire’ in this or other cases without totally
mangling the actual meaning of the Latin word, realize how misleading it
can be, lending itself easily to heretical interpretation.
Realize, too, how medieval Catholics did not use the phrase
so popular nowadays in English, ‘baptism of desire’. Instead, they
would say ‘baptism of spirit’ --- which in Latin was ‘baptismus flaminis’ --- or
they would say ‘baptism of vow’, the proper and better translation
of ‘baptismus voti’,
while making it clear that this ‘baptismus voti’ was a distinct and separate thing from ‘baptismus aquae’ or ‘baptismus fluminis’ (both
of which mean ‘baptism of water’). The ‘baptism of
desire’ (BOD) terminology only originated or later became common amongst
English-speaking Catholics after
The upshot?
+++ 7. What
Infallibility Is, and What It Is Not +++
Nevertheless, it is likely that
The problem is, an opinion is only an
opinion… not infallible certainty.
“Yet isn’t everything stated in the Council of Trent
infallible?” a reader might protest.
And the answer:
Everything in
This is why it is crucial that the Tridentine
Council did not address BOD explicitly & directly. To do this they’d
have had to say something explicit about ‘baptism of spirit’ (BOS)
or explicitly ruled out that water baptism is an absolute necessity, the idea
being that God makes an exception to His usual baptismal rule so that,
even without water, a catechumen can still receive the miraculous indwelling of
the Holy Spirit.
Consequently, when the meaning of the infallible words of the
Church’s Magisterium is unclear and not perfectly explicit
--- even for those Roman Catholics who are learned & well-instructed, so
much so that these learned Catholics cannot agree on what it means --- and
these words can be interpreted in a way that is both logical & orthodox,
then that interpretation is an acceptable interpretation. That is to
say, you may be able to legitimately disagree with this interpretation, but you
cannot condemn it as if it were certainly wrong. Yet if these
same infallible words can be interpreted in yet another way that is both
logical & orthodox, then that interpretation is also an acceptable
interpretation.
Which leads to a very sensible question…
So which way is the correct way? Which interpretation is the right
interpretation?
This is why the gift of infallibility is only as useful as it is
plain & clear. Remember --- the Holy Ghost in providing infallibility
does not dictate text or put words into the mouths of the Church’s
Magisterium. The Third Person of the Divine Trinity merely prevents
these men from saying something that is an indisputable error. As
for how useful it is, that’s another story.
So is there another way to interpret the words of the
Council of Trent here that is both logical & orthodox, a way that does not
seem to uphold the ‘baptism of desire’ position?
As a matter of fact, there is.
+++ 8. Taken
Literally, the ‘Or’ in +++
This Quote Can’t
Work Both Ways for Adults
BOD folks want to think that, when
Now think about it. If this is true (that “or the desire
thereof” means desire alone suffices for justification of an adult
in God’s Holy Sight, even without water) then why isn’t the opposite
true, too? To wit, that the laver all by itself can justify a man, even
without desire for it?
You can’t pull this desire of theirs (pun intended) out of
thin air. To be honest & logical, if it works one way with the
“or” for a grown adult then there’s no grammatical reason it
can’t work the other way, too. That is to say, if Trent meant
grammatically that desire alone is good enough to save you, without
the water of baptism, then, logically speaking, the statement in and of
itself gives no reason to think Trent didn’t mean by “or”
that the laver all by itself is good enough to save adults as well, without
having to intend or desire the water of baptism at all.
Unfortunately for BOD devotees, this is impossible.
Because the Church has never taught that an adult can
be justified merely by getting water baptism without also desiring and
intending to receive that baptism. Not even babies can escape this requirement
totally; a guardian or caretaker must intend water baptism on a
baby’s behalf. Indeed, a water baptism given to an adult without his
consent is an invalid baptism, a baptism that is forced and
thus not legitimate or real.
Which, to recap, leads us to conclude the following two points:
One, that even if someone wants to think Trent was talking
about BOD here (or BOS, as it was called then), his interpretation of
“or” grammatically requires him --- to be perfectly logical --- to
admit that Trent could also have been teaching that water all by itself
can save an adult as well.
But, two, since it’s impossible for the laver of
regenerating water all by itself to justify an adult without intent to receive
it, then saying the “or” works in only one direction for an adult
--- that of desire alone without water --- is, all by itself, an arbitrary
interpretation pulled out of thin air. I.e., the grammar doesn’t
demand it, and nothing in the statement explicitly requires it. To
say otherwise is to assume out of thin air what was supposedly (think
most BOD enthusiasts) just then at that time in the history of infallibility stated
‘explicitly’ for the very first time.
Which is nonsensical. Because since
when do assumptions ever ‘prove’ anything explicitly, let
alone doing so infallibly?
+++ 9. Another
Way to Interpret +++
This Passage in
an Orthodox Fashion
So what orthodox point could
It’s pretty simple, my dear soul. The Council of Trent was
dealing with newly arisen Protestant heresy --- not with the notion of
BOD or BOS, which they never mention anywhere directly by name.
Many of these Protestants condemned infant baptism as a violation
of free will. For while a baby’s guardian or caretaker must intend
to have the baby receive water baptism, the baby itself cannot, of course, have
any such intention. The baby’s mind is incapable of knowing any better.
Thus, if
It wasn’t even on
Hence why they could have chosen the word
“or” instead of “and”. And hence,
ironically, we see after all that
The word “and” could not convey this nuance of
meaning, allowing for both adults and babies to be included in the
decree’s statement, without misinterpreting the Council of Trent to deny
the validity of infant baptism.
The word “or” could.
It’s that simple.
+++ 10.
One’s Opinion of How to Interpret an +++
Infallible But Unclear Statement Is Not Infallible
This is also not the only alternative orthodox interpretation of
this passage from
For instance, at least two groups of traditionalists think the Tridentine Fathers intended the “or” to be
understood as meaning either without water baptism itself
(“the laver of regeneration”) or without a solemn resolution
to receive it (“the desire thereof”) you cannot be justified
--- and not that either the one alone or the
other alone is sufficient for justification & salvation.
This, too, is both a grammatically logical and doctrinally orthodox
interpretation.
Which is not to say that I think this interpretation is
probable. However, neither your opinion nor my opinion --- of
what an infallible statement means about something that is not perfectly
clear from the words used in the infallible statement --- carries the charism
of infallibility!
We cannot drive this home too pointedly:
When an infallible statement is not clear enough for all
honest men of at least adequate intelligence & learning to come up with the
same interpretation of what it means, then those words cannot infallibly
solve a rational & learned dispute over their meaning. The charism of
infallibility does not apply to the non-papal interpreters of
this infallible yet ultimately unclear statement… only popes can
propound dogma without error!
Consequently, if two or more logical & orthodox interpretations
of an unclear infallible statement exist, then these non-papal interpretations cannot
be taken as infallible in and of themselves. They each could be correct, there
is no infallible way to know for sure without a further and more explicit
exercise of papal infallibility on this particular subject to be absolutely
certain.
We repeat:
If two or more logical & orthodox interpretations of an
infallible statement exist regarding a topic that is not explicitly
& clearly addressed in this infallible statement, then these non-papal
interpretations cannot be taken as infallible in and of themselves. Either
non-papal interpretation could be correct, we just cannot know for sure until
the pope gets more explicit and infallibly defines the disputed topic further
and more clearly.
Meanwhile, the unclearness of an infallible statement does not
nullify its infallibility.
Again, remember --- infallibility is not the Holy Ghost
speaking through a pope like he’s a puppet, or making his words perfectly
all-encompassing and informing him of all disputes or confusions to come.
To the contrary, infallibility merely guarantees that a papal
pronouncement is not erroneous.
Which means, when you get right down to
it, that there will always be a way to interpret an infallible statement
--- no matter how unclear that infallible statement may be originally --- in an
orthodox manner. Hence, intelligent & learned
dispute over what an unclear infallible statement means can never destroy
its infallibility. As long as any logical & orthodox interpretations of
this statement exist, then the unclear statement cannot be directly
responsible for spreading error.
(Although if a pope should have known better and yet still
approves an infallible statement that is unclear, then that unclear infallible
statement is indirectly spreading error by not grappling with the subject
clearly, and thus such a careless or wicked pope indirectly permits
error to fester.)
The BOD controversy is just such an example.
Yes, pretty much all Catholics since the time of Thomas Aquinas up
until recently have believed in BOD. So, yes, in my opinion,
Thus, BOD is not a slam dunk, being protectively
taught via the charism of the Holy Ghost.
Yet would any of this matter if every Catholic still assumed BOD to
be true?
Not likely. But when most excellent & sound arguments against
BOD now exist (please read further in the book to see what I am talking about),
then the controversy is neither needless nor impious. Far from it! Because
rational & learned supporters of WO are operating from a most pious concern
for the
+++ 11.
‘Water
Only’ Canonized?
Nonetheless, it’s not just BOD people who like to invoke
For example, they love to quote Canons 2 & 5 about Baptism from
Session 7:
“Canon II. If anyone saith [says]
that true and natural water [real water, not beer or milk or some other liquid]
is not of necessity for baptism [is not necessary for an actual baptism] and,
on that account [for that reason], wrests to some sort of metaphor [turns it
into a metaphor, something that’s not really what it sounds like it
means] those words of our Lord Jesus Christ: ‘Unless a man be born again
of water and the Holy Ghost;’ let him be anathema [let him be
cursed]… Canon V. If anyone saith
[says] that baptism is free [optional], that is, not
necessary unto salvation [not needed to be saved]; let him be anathema.” (Translated from the original Latin into English by Canon Waterworth as of 1848. Published
by Devin-Adair Company in 1912 in
“See,” say the WO folks, “
This is what they say. Is it really so?
At first glance, the evidence looks impressive. Indeed, so
impressive I was a WO advocate for a few years back in the early
’00s… but only if it’s your first glance and only if
you’re already determined to believe in WO without looking
any further at evidence for the opposite side. In other words,
it’s only convincing if you think you’re infallible and
couldn’t be wrong!
The point once again is this:
The honest man always looks carefully at the evidence for
the other side --- especially when the topic is important --- and in
spite of his opinion about things to start with. This is wisdom &
justice since, before we investigate carefully, any one of us can have a mistaken
opinion.
+++ 12. Swimming
in the Riptide +++
Again, the first thing to realize is this --- the Council of Trent
says nothing straight out about BOD. Neither the term ‘baptism of
desire’ nor the term ‘baptism of spirit’ (BOS, or, in Latin,
‘baptismus flaminis’)
is mentioned explicitly by name in the infallible text of its canons.
As a result, whatever
As a matter of fact, the opposite is true!
Because we know that St. Thomas Aquinas very plainly taught BOD ---
or, rather, BOS --- at least three times in his Summa Theologica
(please go to Chapter 42 in this book to see the exact references). This was in
the 13th century. We also know that, by the time of the Council of
Trent in the 16th century, Aquinas was so
highly respected as a doctor of the Church that, as the Catholic Encyclopedia
notes:
“…the chief and special glory of Thomas, one which he
has shared with none [not one other] of the Catholic doctors, is that the Fathers
of Trent made it part of the order of the conclave [part of the daily
process of the council] to lay upon the altar, together with the code of
Sacred Scripture and the decrees of the Supreme Pontiffs, the Summa [Theologica] of Thomas Aquinas, whence to [from where
they could] seek counsel, reason, and inspiration. Greater influence
than this no man could have.” (Catholic Encyclopedia, entry for St.
Thomas Aquinas, section on his doctrinal influence, 4th paragraph. Published by the Robert Appleton Co. of
Consequently, how could the Council of Trent via Canons 2 & 5
on Baptism have denied a ‘baptism of desire’ that they obviously
thought was true due to their massive respect for the Summa Theologica of Thomas Aquinas, a copy of which they laid
beside the Bible and a collection of papal decrees so as to guide them
doctrinally during their sessions?
At the very most, a WO aficionado can intelligently argue that
‘water only’ is at least one possible logical & orthodox
interpretation of these canons. But not that it is the sole
logical & orthodox interpretation, or that we can know --- with infallible
certainty --- that ‘water only’ is for sure a correct
orthodox interpretation of Canons 2 & 5. Indeed, to conclude that
‘water only’ is certain despite all of the evidence to the contrary
then requires the WO person to treat BOD folks of the orthodox variety as
if they are heretics. Which could only be true if the
very fallible WO interpretation of these canons is instead an infallible
certainty!
‘Water only’ devotees are swimming in exceedingly
dangerous surf. The perilous tide of their fierce prejudice against BOD clashes
with the unstoppable tide of cold hard fact that pretty much all learned
Catholics since the time of Thomas Aquinas --- except for most recent decades
--- have believed in BOD… including the fathers of the Council of
Are WO supporters prepared to anathematize the men who wrote the
canons to which they cling?
+++ 13. If BOD
Had Been Ruled Out, +++
Then Aquinas
Would Have Been Edited
Not only that, but consider this:
If the fathers of the Council of Trent had intended to rule out
BOD, then the popes after
And yet popes since the Council of Trent have done none of this!
Is this not a huge red flag, warning us about the error that WO
enthusiasts indulge?
Again, think about it.
It does not add up.
And this doesn’t even begin to mention how both the catechism
produced at Trent’s direction and a Roman cardinal soon after this same
council publically allowed for the very real existence of ‘baptism of
desire’… but more details
about this later in Chapters 91 to 103 of this book.
The point to realize right now is that vigilant leaders like those
at the time of
Period.
+++ 14.
‘Necessity of Precept’ +++
Versus ‘Necessity
of Means’
So what was
Very simple, my dear reader. We’ve
even said it before:
The Council of Trent was dealing with newly arisen Protestant
heresy --- not with the notion of BOD or BOS, which they never
mention anywhere by name.
Many Protestants taught that baptism is powerless to remit sins and
completely irrelevant for salvation. A mere symbol at best, they thought it a
public testimony that you choose to ‘follow’ their imaginary Jesus.
Thus, if baptized, the water doesn’t matter… any old liquid will
do. Thus, also, there was no need at all for baptism in order to enter
Heaven. Whereas Catholics know how baptism is --- at the very least --- a necessity of precept. I.e., you
must intend to know about it and obey it if possible. Yet if doing it is not
possible, then you can be excused for not
doing so.
This, by the way, is where most BOD folks go awry. They talk as if
BOD were another baptism, or a substitute for water baptism. This is
mistaken. To call it ‘baptism of desire’ or ‘baptism of
spirit’ is only a metaphor. It is no real baptism and cannot
‘take the place’ of water baptism --- although, if real, the
scholastic doctors teach that it is in some sense connected to baptism.
Rather, if true, then BOD is an exception
that God makes to His normal rule for baptism.
A supposed exception which is in contrast to the WO
stance. Because if WO is true, then water baptism is not
just a necessity of precept but a necessity of means.
I.e., there is no way around this rule --- you cannot be excused
from it for any reason at all. It is an absolute necessity.
+++ 15. Absolute
Language +++
and the Possibility
of Exceptions
And here is where the rubber meets the road.
Because this question of ‘necessity of precept’ vs.
‘necessity of means’ Holy Mother Church has never yet dogmatically
defined for water baptism, the proof being that She has tolerated --- even
fostered! --- the BOD opinion amongst Her doctors,
saints & leaders since the 5th century (please read further in
this book to find proof of this fact). Consequently, should it turn out that
water baptism is indeed a necessity of means, then the
Church’s leaders will have to use solemn, absolute & explicit
language to rule out all possibility of exceptions to this universal
rule.
Curiously, we can see the need for absolute & explicit language
--- in order to rule out all possibility of exceptions to a universal rule --- demonstrated
by the Council of Trent itself in Session 5. For, in explaining how Original
Sin infects the whole human race, they make an infallible anathema against
those who deny this teaching and cite
Now, are we to interpret “all” as meaning
every single human being with no exceptions possible… not even
the Blessed Virgin Mary?
If so, then we are Catholic fundamentalists (about which you may
read more
here
) and have not the patience or intelligence to consider
complexity & nuance in language. Something Trent confirms a little later
where they state:
“This same holy synod [council] doth [does] nevertheless
declare that it is not its intention to include in this decree, where
original sin is treated of [where original sin is talked about], the blessed
and immaculate Virgin Mary, the Mother of God…” (Ibid., p.18. Emphases & annotation added.)
And so we see that there can be exceptions --- even
with infallible statements! (because
“all” didn’t mean every single human has Original Sin,
since Mary is an exception) --- and that,
if the Church has tolerated Catholics believing in an exception (e.g., BOD),
then this same Church must go the extra mile, so to speak, in closing the
loopholes if they rule later to the contrary.
That is to say, if BOD is false, then --- given that the Hierarchy
has permitted and even fostered belief in ‘baptism of desire’, and
in order to avoid further controversy --- the Church must use solemn,
absolute & explicit language to rule out all possibility of
exceptions to water baptism.
The Church has not yet done so. We are hence free, thus far, to
believe in BOD for catechumens.
Be careful, though. One group of WO defenders (who really are
Catholic fundamentalists and go schismatic over this dispute) goes so far as to
pretend that, since the Council of Trent went out of its way to strike down the
notion that the Virgin Mary was sinful along with the rest of us, only if
the Magisterium explicitly mentions such an exception can such
exceptions then exist.
But stop and think:
Because if
May God forbid!
Because some three hundred years later Pope Pius IX infallibly
defined that Mary was indeed immaculate --- that is, without sin
--- from Her Conception. And if true that She
was entirely sinless at that moment of the infallible definition in 1854, then
it was true, too, well before Pius IX at the time of the Council of
End of story.
+++ 16. More
Magisterial Statements +++
That
‘Water Only’ Purists Try to Wield
However, Canons 2 & 5 are not the only
magisterial statements that WO enthusiasts try to use to support their
‘water only’ stance. For instance, they also quote
“‘By one man sin entered into the world,
and by sin death...’ [Romans 5:12a] so that in them there may be washed
away by regeneration [water baptism], what they have contracted by
generation [physical birth, which causes a human being to contract Original Sin
and hence the eventual punishment of both temporal and eternal death], for ‘unless
a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost, he cannot enter into the
kingdom of God.’ [John 3:5]” (Translated from the original
Latin into English by Canon Waterworth as of 1848. Published by Devin-Adair Company in 1912 in
And the Council of Florence where it states:
“Holy baptism, which is the gateway to the spiritual life,
holds the first place among all the sacraments; through it we are made
members of Christ and of the body of the Church. And since death entered
the universe through the first man [St. Adam], unless we are born again of
water [baptism] and the Spirit, we cannot, as the Truth says, enter into the
kingdom of heaven.” (Session
8, Paragraph 12, which is part of Pope Eugene IV’s
Exultate deo. Found in
Paragraph 696 of the 30th Edition of the Enchiridion Symbolorum by Denziger & Bannwart, S.J., as translated by Roy J. Deferrari
and published originally by Herder & Co. in 1954 at
Or Pope St. Leo the Great in his letter to Flavian,
the Patriarch of Constantinople, where he says:
“Let him listen also to the blessed Apostle Peter when he
declares, that sanctification by the Spirit takes place through the sprinkling
of the blood of Christ [1 Peter 1:2]… This is he that came by water and
blood, even Jesus Christ; not in water only, but in water and blood; and it is
the Spirit that beareth [bears, i.e., gives forth]
witness, because the Spirit is truth. For there are three that bear witness ---
the Spirit, the water, and the blood; and the three are one. [1 John 5:4-8]
That is, the Spirit of sanctification, and the blood of redemption, and the
water of baptism; which three things
are one, and remain undivided, and not one of them is
disjoined from connection with the others…” (Leo’s Lectis dilectionis tuae, with quote as found in The Seven Ecumenical
Councils, pg. 258, which is Volume 14 of Series II in the Nicene and
Post-Nicene Fathers as edited by Philip Schaff, D.D.,
LL.D., and Henry Wace, D.D., and printed by Wm. B. Eerdmans
Publishing Co. in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in, apparently, 1899. Emphases &
annotations added. Accessed online at
http://www.documentacatholicaomnia.eu/03d/1819-1893,_Schaff._Philip,_3_Vol_14_The_Seven_Ecumenical_Councils,_EN.pdf
as of 2 December 2014.)
+++ 17. The
Problem With the WO Quotes +++
These quotes are not necessarily comprehensive. I.e., WO adherents
may quote other statements, too, which they claim infallibly
‘prove’ their position. Notwithstanding, the quotes above easily
demonstrate the same problem with all such magisterial quotes by
‘water only’ purists.
To wit, that none of them explicitly & absolutely
rule out by literal name all possibility of God-given exceptions to
entering Heaven or being sanctified or getting redeemed --- or etc. --- apart
from the water of baptism. That is to say, none of these quotes use
the kind of explicit & absolute language that would make it
indisputably plain how water baptism is a totally inescapable necessity
of means and not just a crucial yet rarely unavailable necessity
of precept.
For example, to properly do so they would have to say something
like:
“Holy baptism, which is the sole gateway to the
spiritual life… through it alone we are made members of Christ and
of the body of the Church… unless we are born again of water [baptism]
and the Spirit, we absolutely cannot in any other way enter the Kingdom
of Heaven. This therefore rules out all possibility of justification and
salvation by baptism of spirit or baptism of blood. Which,
if anyone dares to believe otherwise after this our solemn declaration, let him
be anathema.” (Imaginarily derived from the
Council of Florence to very clearly demonstrate our point, any language of an
explicit & absolute nature being added in italics.)
This logically just requirement for explicit & absolute
language trumps all that I’ve seen thus far, as wielded by the WO camp.
Because the Church has not only tolerated the BOD opinion both before
and after the magisterial words that WO folks like to quote, but has even nurtured
it.
How, then, can the Magisterium have properly signaled its intent to
rule out every possibility of exception to water baptism if they don’t
use language that is explicit & absolute?
+++ 18. More
Magisterial Statements +++
That ‘Baptism
of Desire’ Partisans Try to Use
Unfortunately, ‘water only’ devotees are not the only
ones who misuse magisterial statements to try to make it look like
“If anyone says that the sacraments of the New Law are not
necessary for salvation but are superfluous, and that without them or
without the desire thereof men obtain from God through faith alone the
grace of justification, though all [of the sacraments] are not necessary for
each one [for every single person], let him be anathema.” (Translated from
the original Latin into English by Canon Waterworth as
of 1848. Published by Devin-Adair Company in 1912 in
And the Council of Florence where it states:
“Regarding children, indeed, because of danger of death,
which can often take place, when no help can be brought to them by another
remedy than through the sacrament of baptism, through which they are
snatched from the domination of the Devil and adopted among the sons of God, it
advises that holy baptism ought not to be deferred for forty or eighty
days…” (Session 11, Paragraph 12, which is part
of Pope Eugene IV’s Cantate domino. Found in Paragraph 712 of the 30th
Edition of the Enchiridion Symbolorum by Denziger & Bannwart, S.J., as
translated by Roy J. Deferrari and published
originally by Herder & Co. in 1954 at
Or Pope St. Pius V, where he chides the following
propositions of the theologian, Baius:
“31. Perfect and sincere charity, which is from a ‘pure
heart and good conscience and a faith not feigned’ [1 Timothy 1:5], can
be in catechumens as well as in penitents without the remission of
sins… 33. A catechumen lives justly and rightly and holily,
and observes the commandments of God, and fulfills the law through charity,
which is only received in the laver of baptism, before the remission of sins
has been obtained.” (Ex omnibus afflictionibus,
Propositions 31 & 33. Found in Paragraphs 1031 & 1033 of
the 30th Edition of the Enchiridion Symbolorum.
See publication data for quote just above for further
details. Emphases & annotations added.)
+++ 19. The
Problem with the BOD Quotes +++
These quotes as well are not necessarily comprehensive. I.e., BOD
adherents may quote other statements, too, which they claim infallibly
‘prove’ their position. But the quotes above easily demonstrate a
similar problem with all such magisterial quotes by ‘baptism of
desire’ purists.
As for the first quote --- from the Council of Trent --- BOD folks
do the exact same thing that they do to the Tridentine
quote we mentioned before. To wit, they seize on the poorly translated phrase
“or without the desire thereof” and then proceed to build a house
of mere ‘desire’ upon its foundation. When, in fact --- and as we
have already shown --- the statements need not be interpreted at all to uphold
desire alone as a means to receive justifying & saving graces.
What’s more, if this first of three magisterial statements as
quoted above supposedly ‘proves’ BOD, then how about the other
sacraments? For it speaks of “the sacraments of the New Law”
in the plural (in other words, all Seven of the Sacraments of the
Church) and not simply baptism in the singular (the one Sacrament
of Baptism all by itself). Yet since when have the ‘baptism of
desire’ people ever taught that there can be a ‘confirmation of
desire’, an ‘extreme unction of desire’, a ‘matrimony
of desire’ or --- even better still --- a ‘holy orders of
desire’?
The last example is particularly telling. Because can you imagine
the confusion if so-called Catholics (both men and women) went around claiming
to be priests merely because they desire to be priests and not because
they have actually received the Sacrament of Holy Orders from the very real
hands of a bishop, a thing by the New Covenant Law of God reserved solely for
men?
This is the kind of absurdity that belief in a mere
‘desire’ for the sacraments can lead to!
As to the second quote, the Council of Florence does hint of
“another remedy” apart from the laver of baptismal regeneration.
(This, at least, is how it’s translated for Denziger’s
Enchiridion. The quote is a little
different in other translations.) Which is what I mean by
saying that the Magisterium has left the doctrinal door ajar to the possibility
of BOD being infallibly affirmed. However,
Consequently, this fleeting phrase (“another remedy”)
is only a very strong possibility for BOD and not a specific
& infallible certainty. Ergo, a rational and learned man can, for example
--- if he’s determined to be skeptical about ‘baptism of
desire’ while remaining rational & learned --- interpret the phrase
as an example of hyperbole. That is, useful exaggeration to make an
intelligent point… and not as an extremely vague nod toward an
unnamed BOD.
(There is a demonstration of hyperbole in the Gospels. To wit,
where Christ says that if your eye causes you to sin, then gouge it out.
(Matthew 5:29, Mark 9:46) The Church has always taught that Jesus did not mean
these words to be taken literally, as if we must bloodily rip our eyes out of
their sockets; but, rather, was useful exaggeration to tell us how much we must
strive to avoid seeing that which can cause us to sin. And if this can be the
case with very plain words from Christ, then how much more with rather obscure
words from the Magisterium!)
In other words, death happens so often, quickly & unexpectedly
to little newborns that it is even more important not to delay water baptism
for any reason in their cases than it is for adults, whose constitutions are
generally stronger and less susceptible to sudden death, and who, in Catholic
countries at least, are usually already long ago baptized by water.
Not that I think this interpretation likely, mind you… but it
is logical and within the pale of orthodoxy. And one’s opinion
about what a vague infallible statement means is simply that --- an opinion.
An opinion that, however learned and intelligent, is not --- nor
can it ever be --- all by itself, in and of itself, infallibly certain.
Because the mere opinions of non-papal
interpreters are never infallibly certain.
End of sentence.
+++ 20. The
Specially Troublesome Case +++
of the Theologian,
Michel de Bay
Concerning the third quote, it also never mentions ‘baptism
of water’ explicitly by name.
Notwithstanding, if you can fathom its somewhat complicated &
obtuse language, you see it is talking about catechumens --- those normally not
yet baptized in water but seeking to learn the dogmas of the Church so that
they may enter Her Communion --- and that St. Pius V is chiding the notion that
remission of sins (which the Church teaches occurs with water baptism) cannot
happen before you are baptized. That is to say, he’s throwing cold water
--- no pun intended --- on the idea that God never forgives anyone his sins
(especially mortal sins, which, unforgiven,
condemn to everlasting hell) unless a person literally receives the water of
baptism.
On the surface, this would seem like a powerful argument on behalf
of BOD. Because this is what well-instructed ‘baptism of desire’
aficionados love to assert --- that an act of perfect contrition merits the
complete remission of mortal sins even before the catechumen is
baptized!
There’s just one catch.
Because in his dissing of the French
theologian, Michel de Bay (also known by his latinized
name of Baius), Pius V states at the end of the papal
document:
“These opinions have been carefully considered and examined
before us; although some of them could be maintained in some way, yet in the
strict and proper sense intended by those asserting them, we condemn them
respectively as heretical, erroneous, suspect, rash, scandalous, and as giving
offense to pious ears.”
Now think about it --- Pius admits that some of the condemned
statements (there are seventy-nine altogether) “…could be maintained
in some way…” I.e., some of the statements can be true &
orthodox if comprehended in the correct manner.
Well, which ones? And in what ways?
Pius doesn’t say.
Furthermore, he groups all the statements together without
distinction and condemns “…them respectively as heretical,
erroneous, suspect, rash, scandalous, and as giving offense to pious
ears.”
Yet to be ‘erroneous’ (only wrong) is not the same as
‘heretical’ (to oppose infallible dogma specifically). And to be
‘rash’ is not necessarily to be wrong (erroneous) or to oppose
dogma (heretical), while the term ‘suspect’ only means that someone
thinks --- maybe --- that you might be erroneous or heretical, but, then
again, you might not. We can’t know until we investigate.
Do you see the difficulty, dear reader?
To top it off, Pius never tells us which labels apply to which
statements. Hence, we’re left totally in the dark, guessing blindly
without any infallible guidance as to which ones are which… and how. It
is almost the ultimate in unclear infallible condemnation by a pope.
Hence, far from clearing up the matter --- telling us whether or
not BOD with infallible certainty is true --- we are left scratching our heads
in puzzlement and wondering why the pope bothered to issue such a document.
What actual purpose did it serve?
In reality, it served at least a political purpose. It
served to notify all Catholic bishops, priests and theologians during the 16th
century that Michel de Bay was a man who was not in favor with the
Beyond that, it did little of practical doctrinal consequence,
least of all in clearing up any debate over BOD vs. WO. It is an exercise in
theological obfuscation, not clarification.
+++ 21.
We’ve Examined Their Infallible Arguments;
+++
Everything
Else They Tout Is Without Doubt Fallible
These are the main arguments that ‘water only’ folks
and ‘baptism of desire’ people use for their sides, quoting from
documents where the Church is exercising Her Solemn Infallibility. Everything
else they cite is from sources that are fallible.
This cannot be stressed enough.
The most
powerful arguments from both sides have already been examined. Everything else
is less impressive --- fallibly so.
Which is not to say that the remaining arguments are
worthless. Far from it. Merely
that they cannot resolve the dispute with infallible certainty.
I.e., there will always remain the possibility that one’s conclusion is
mistaken --- and regardless of one’s intelligence, learning or effort.
What’s more, if the remaining arguments are relatively strong
& numerous for both sides of the dispute, then there cannot even be
a decisive moral certainty for either side… only opinions (not
infallible certainties!) passionately held in opposition to one another.
Yet what are the sources of infallibility when it comes to Church
Teaching?
+++ 22. The
Sources of Infallibility +++
Surprisingly, this is a subject of confusion & conflict.
Amongst those few who claim to be truly Catholic during these days of dark
apostasy, you’d think the matter would be plain.
Unfortunately not.
The
“We teach and define that it is a dogma divinely revealed
[that] the Roman Pontiff [the Bishop of Rome, a Pope], when he speaks ex
cathedra [from the chair, to wit, from the throne of St. Peter], that is, in discharge
of the office of pastor and teacher of all Christians [when he teaches
all Catholics everywhere]… he defines a doctrine regarding faith
or morals to be held by the universal Church [he clarifies a teaching on
faith or morals that should be believed by all Catholics], is… possessed
of [he has]… infallibility [i.e., he cannot be
mistaken]…” (Pius IX’s Pastor
aeternus, as crafted by the Vatican Council
during Session 4 in AD 1870, Chapter 4, Paragraph 9. Emphases & annotations
added.)
What does this mean?
For one thing, only a pope is infallible. No one else can
be infallible for him. If someone else teaches --- for instance, a council
of bishops --- then the pope must join himself to their council as a fellow
bishop (even if he wasn’t present) and, by virtue of his supreme
authority (i.e., from the Throne of St. Peter as the universal leader of all
truly Christian and hence Catholic followers of Christ), approve their teaching
as if it were he himself teaching. Only then can the
council be infallible.
Ergo, officials or offices in the
For another thing, a pope can only be infallible about faith or
morals. Nothing else is guaranteed infallibility like this and thus
nothing else is absolutely & totally irreformable.
For example, the Holy Mass is priceless. It should not be touched lightly.
Nevertheless, from time to time over the last two thousand years, the popes
have made relatively minor yet worthy additions to its sacred text. This is
because the Mass, while impinging on faith & morals, is not itself in
all of its words a dogma or moral.
Likewise canonizations of saints. Their lives, to
be saintly, must have heroically upheld faith & morals. Nevertheless, the
canonization itself is not an irreformable
dogmatic rule or moral law; were further investigation after the
act of canonization to reveal a grave flaw in the purported saint, then the particular act of this canonization could
be amended. It is a disciplinary act resulting from the moral
certainty of a careful investigation --- not a dogmatic or moral
pronouncement guaranteed infallible certainty by the Holy Ghost.
(Which also means, when you think about it --- and applying the
first principle already mentioned above about only a pope being
infallible --- that canonization cannot confer some sort of
‘infallibility’ on the writings or teachings of saints. For
instance, St. Thomas Aquinas upheld the wrong position about the
Immaculate Conception back in the 1200s when he was alive --- please see
Chapters 46 to 47 in this book, Baptismal Confusion, for proof of this
assertion. He did not believe in Her Immaculacy as was later infallibly
defined to be true by Pope Pius IX in 1854. So how could canonization --- which
occurred for him back in the 1300s --- have made his teachings
‘infallible’, or implied that there was never a mistake in his writings?
The careful & official
For yet another thing, a pope must be teaching the whole
Church. That is to say, if he’s writing a private letter to a single
person that --- while not necessarily meant to be kept ‘secret’ or
‘hidden’ from everybody else --- is not intended for anyone
else to read, then he’s not infallible in what he teaches.
(Which doesn’t mean he’s certainly wrong when
teaching privately, only that he’s not certainly right when
doing so.) Or if, for example, he’s preaching a homily to a local group
of Roman Catholics, the text of which he does not require to be copied
and promulgated to all Catholics everywhere, then what he teaches in this
homily cannot be infallible.
For still another thing, a pope must define --- i.e., clarify
--- the teaching. What this means in practice is either, one, that he uses
the word ‘define’ or ‘declare’ or
‘pronounce’ or some similar (and by now, traditional) terminology;
or else, two, that he condemns a particular teaching. If neither
of these criteria are met… if, for instance, he simply repeats a dogma or
moral without ever making it apparent that he is trying to teach the topic
to a greater degree than it has been taught up until that point in time… then,
while he might repeat the infallible definitions or condemnations of a past
time, he is not teaching infallibly in his own person.
(The description just given explains the Extraordinary Magisterium
of the Church, incidentally. There is the Ordinary Magisterium, too, which is
also a source of infallibility. For detailed information on the latter see
Chapters 121 & 153 in this book, Baptismal
Confusion.)
These points are important to realize, my dear reader. Because many people who consider themselves Catholic are very,
very, very confused on this subject. Some of them think that catechisms
are infallible. Others think the Roman Martyrology is
infallible. Still others think (as mentioned above) that the writings of
canonized saints are infallible, that you can never find an error in a
saint’s writings. And others imagine that every single word in every
single papal encyclical is infallible, or that every single thing a pope says
or writes is infallible.
There are all kinds of mistakes when it comes to the matter of
infallibility. Which is only to be expected, since people without
a spiritual shepherd or infallible pope to protect them from error are like
sheep wandering astray at midnight while wolves howl at the moon in hunger for
their souls! Of course, these folks are sincerely mistaken ---
they honestly think they’re helping the Papacy or the Catholic Faith by
doing so. In reality, though, they are hurting the Saving Truth.
Because claiming more for a Pope or the Church than is actually
true does not defend Catholicism. To the contrary, it can make them look
unreliable… and make us look like fools.
+++ 23. Turning
to the Martyrs +++
With that said, let us turn our attention to that which is not
infallible, for which a pope has not used his gift of infallibility to
guarantee that it is absolutely certain. Let us turn to the accounts of the
martyrs. Specifically, to those martyrs that BOD proponents
like to think ‘prove’ their case.
How so?
Very occasionally in these accounts from the earliest centuries of
persecution, it is mentioned that a particular martyr was a
‘catechumen’. Or, conversely, that someone who is apparently not
Catholic --- but who is witnessing the martyrdom of a Catholic --- is then
motivated, on the spot, to profess Christ and become a martyr along with
that Catholic at the same time.
The significance?
“Aha!” say BOD adherents. “This is proof positive
that someone doesn’t have to be baptized in order to enter Heaven. Because these particular martyrs are catechumens. Catechumens…
as in, they haven’t been baptized yet and are still learning the Catholic
Faith. What’s more, those on-the-spot converts who became martyrs
obviously didn’t have time or opportunity for baptism. Their immediate
martyrdom prevented it! And yet the Church honors them as saints in Heaven. How
can anyone know these facts and not admit that ‘baptism of desire’
must be real?”
This is what they say. Is it actually true?
The claim depends on several unrecognized and, for the most part,
unwarranted assumptions. We will examine them one by one and
dispense with them accordingly.
+++ 24.
Out-of-Thin-Air Assumption No. 1: +++
Catechumens
Aren’t Ever Catechumens After Baptism
First of all, BOD enthusiasts assume --- without actually knowing
the facts --- that a catechumen stops being a catechumen as soon as he’s
baptized. Which is the very same thing as saying that every
catechumen is therefore unbaptized.
This is because someone is called a ‘catechumen’ due to
him learning about the Catholic Faith. Once the catechumen knows everything he
needs to know about Catholicism, thinks the BOD partisan, then --- and only
then --- does he receive baptism. After baptism he no
longer needs to learn the Faith and thus he can no longer be called a
‘catechumen’.
End of story.
Or is it?
A simple yet thorough study of early Church history reveals the
truth. For instance, St. Cyril of
Now turn in St. Cyril’s catechism to the section meant to be
studied after Easter Sunday.
“I have long been wishing, O true-born and dearly beloved
children of the Church, to discourse to you concerning [to tell you about]
these spiritual and heavenly Mysteries [Sacraments]; but since I well knew that
seeing is far more persuasive than hearing, I waited for the present season
[i.e., Easter Week, the week following Easter]; that finding you more open
to the influence of my words from your present experience [of having just been
baptized in water], I might lead you by the hand into the brighter and more
fragrant meadow of the Paradise before us; especially as you have been made
fit [ready] to receive the more sacred Mysteries, after having been found
worthy of divine and life-giving Baptism. Since therefore it remains to
set before you a table [a display] of the more perfect instructions, let us now
teach you these things exactly, that you may know the effect wrought
[worked, the word being in the past tense!] upon you on that
evening of your baptism. First ye [all of you] entered [past
tense!] into the vestibule [the entrance] of the Baptistery [the place in a
church where new Catholics are baptized], and there facing towards the
West ye listened [past tense again] to the command to stretch forth your hand, and[,] as [if] in the presence of Satan[,] ye renounced
[past tense!] him…” (Cyril of Jerusalem’s Catechetical
Lectures, Lecture 18, Paragraphs 1 & 2. All emphasis &
annotations added.)
Lo and behold, we find that their instruction continued on for at
least one week beyond their baptism on Easter Sunday morning!
Why?
Because certain mysteries, such as the Most Holy Eucharist, were
thought unfit for (and not able to be properly understood by) the unbaptized
man, who has neither yet received the Holy Ghost in baptism, nor the fullness
of wisdom that the Spirit of God dispenses at this point. Ergo, these
catechumens completed their training in the week after Easter
Sunday. Consequently, they did not fully lose the title of
‘catechumen’ until the Sunday following Easter at the earliest.
Incidentally, Cyril is not only a canonized saint but a bishop,
father and universal doctor of the Church, too. We may thus take his testimony
as a moral certainty.
Which in turn, then, means that martyred catechumens are not
automatically for sure to be thought of as unbaptized.
+++ 25.
Out-of-Thin-Air Assumption No. 2: Catholics +++
Never
Baptize Right Away When Heavy Persecution Strikes
But BOD enthusiasts also assume that Catholics during pagan times
didn’t baptize their catechumens immediately when the
How so?
Most BOD partisans don’t think about it. They have no
learning, study or education in the matter. They just assume, out of thin air
--- and without even realizing what they’re doing --- that it
wasn’t a problem for the ancient Church.
Why?
Because they assume --- again, out of thin air --- that the earliest Catholics were just like them today when
it comes to BOD. That is to say, they think ancient Catholics believed in
‘baptism of desire’ and hence weren’t worried about anyone
dying without baptism in water. After all, if the heavenly benefit
of the sacrament is easily supplied by a mere ‘yearning’ for
it… then why in the world fret about not actually getting it?
This is what they presume. The reality is very different.
Most ancient Catholics had no conception of a ‘baptismus flaminis’
(‘baptism of spirit’ or BOS), what we now call ‘baptism of
desire’ in English. BOD proponents claim St. Ambrose taught it in the 4th
century. This may or may not be so. The correct interpretation of his words is
debatable. But certainly
(Please see Chapters 32 to 41 in this book, Baptismal Confusion,
for more information.)
And that’s it. Aside from a claim that St. Cyprian during the
3rd century taught a kind of BOD, no other Church Father of ancient
times is even said to uphold BOS or BOD. One of them, in fact --- St. Gregory Nazianzen --- explicitly denies it.
(Please turn to Chapters 62 to 71 to find out more about what
Gregory Nazianzen has to say about the Sacrament of
Baptism, dear reader.)
As a result, the truth is clear:
BOD is not part of the ordinary magisterium of the Church.
To be an ordinary infallible teaching, a doctrine must be mentioned outright
and affirmed by all (or nearly all, at the very least) of the Early Church
Fathers in their writings. Three such fathers out of dozens upon dozens of
fathers altogether doesn’t cut it. Not by far.
And one of these fathers seems to blatantly rebut it!
Of course, the clever BOD aficionado will then invoke
‘baptism of blood’ (BOB). Every Church Father believed in this,
they will say. (This is only partly true. I find in my research thus far that
only about half of the Church Fathers, maybe, teach BOB.) Yet while BOB
is, in a sense, a very narrow subset of its broader sibling --- BOD --- the two
are nevertheless extremely different.
BOB, say scholastic theologians of the early 2nd
millennium, makes up for the lack of baptismal water by paying a price that
remits mortal sin, including original sin. This price is a man’s own
life given to God in martyrdom for the Catholic Faith. Whereas
BOD can only be effectual --- in removing the debt of mortal sin --- by a state
of perfect contrition for that terrible sin. A perfect
contrition that… while not impossible to have… is not really easy
to attain, either.
The best theological opinion of the scholastic doctors was, in
fact, that this kind of contrition could only be found in some
catechumens. Very few, perhaps.
Consequently, even if ancient Catholics had believed in BOD
(which the vast majority did not), and even though they may have (many
of them) believed in BOB, it would have been reckless to the point of scandal
to think catechumens would be safe for sure in either case. This could
not be counted on. Perfect contrition is tough enough to maintain for
BOD. In the case of BOB, a man needs every grace he can get in order to face
brutal persecution. Unbaptized catechumens would be at a great disadvantage in
contrast to the baptized catechumen who can draw on his baptism and other
sacraments in the Church so as to combat the devil’s tortures more
courageously.
And so Roman Catholics have, since most ancient times, practiced
what we nowadays call ‘emergency baptism’. That is to say, when a
catechumen is in grave danger of immediate death, water baptism is never
withheld despite whatever training the catechumen is still missing. As a matter
of fact, when death threatens in this dire manner, the Church is so eager to
have converts baptized in water right away that She
authorizes anyone --- be it a lowly layman or a laywoman or
even a non-Catholic! --- to give water
baptism immediately to the threatened soul.
Need we point out how this contradicts the man who presumes
calling someone a ‘catechumen’ means the person is certainly unbaptized?
Or how emergency baptism does not jive with the easy assumption, on a
BOD enthusiast’s part, that salvation is readily available to anyone
seeking to be Catholic but who dies without the actual water of a real
baptism?
Incidentally, evidence for the practice of emergency baptism can be
found in the very scholarly (albeit often modernistic) Catholic
Encyclopedia’s extensive article on Baptism, as well as a simpler article
at Wikipedia on Emergency Baptism itself.
+++ 26.
Out-of-Thin-Air Assumption No. 3: On-the-Spot +++
Converts Couldn’t
Have Been Baptized Before Conversion
Yet BOD supporters make more mistakes.
Because they assume --- out of thin air --- that an
‘on-the-spot convert’ could never have
been Catholic prior to his martyrdom. When, in
reality, we know no such thing if it is not stated explicitly in
the account of this particular martyr.
That is to say, if an historical account of the martyrdom
doesn’t say so straight out, then we have no idea what the background
of this on-the-spot convert was before he became a sudden martyr. In
all honesty --- and to be intellectually accurate --- the on-the-spot martyr
could have been an apostate or lapsed Catholic who is suddenly moved by
the graces of God and the example of a brave Catholic to reconcile with God and
so return to His One & Only Catholic Religion. Or, to put it differently,
he could have been baptized long ago, having converted to the Faith
years earlier. He might even have been raised Catholic from infancy, being
baptized as a baby.
We simply do not know.
Hence, to assume otherwise (that the on-the-spot convert could
never have been baptized earlier) is to assume what we don’t actually
have any real knowledge about. Christianity spread quickly in the ancient
Consequently, there is every possibility that an ‘on-the-spot
convert’ was really just an on-the-spot reconversion…
and not an entirely new conversion out of the blue. Out of the blue converts
are certainly possible; but unless the martyrology
explicitly says so one way or another, we just can’t know for sure.
Therefore, any on-the-spot converts very well could have been
baptized already, prior to their martyrdoms. And, logically
speaking, their martyred lives would have then been the price they happily paid
in order to remit the damnable sin of a former loss of the One True Faith.
+++ 27.
Out-of-Thin-Air Assumption No. 4: On-the-Spot +++
Converts
Couldn’t Have Been Baptized During Martyrdom
But this leads us to another mistake by BOD partisans.
Namely, that an ‘on-the-spot convert’
couldn’t have been baptized in water during his martyrdom. I.e., that
there is little or no way he could have received water
baptism from the moment he decided to publicly align himself with the other
martyrs for the Catholic Faith until the very moment he dies, he himself
physically murdered for the sake of the True Religion.
Why do BOD enthusiasts do this?
Again, most of them don’t think about it. They just assume
--- out of thin air --- that ancient Catholics were exactly like them,
not believing baptism in water is necessary in an absolute way to
enter Heaven. Hence, they just assume, as well --- out of thin air ---
that all ancient Catholics figured BOD (that is, BOS, or ‘baptism of
spirit’) would take care of these on-the-spot converts… and despite
the converts dying without the sacramental water.
Of course, well-educated BOD supporters know that BOS (that is,
BOD) was not a widespread belief amongst Catholics then. Or, rather, they know
they can find hardly any explicit evidence for BOS in the writings of earliest
Catholics (although BODers almost always assume
ancient Catholics believed in BOS, regardless of this lack of evidence).
Consequently, they turn to BOB (‘baptism of blood’), knowing that
many early Catholic writers upheld BOB in writing. And this, they assume
--- out of thin air --- is so similar to BOS that they consider it
‘proof positive’ for BOD… and can’t understand when
intelligent WO persons aren’t bowled over by this ‘proof’.
That is to say, since both BOB and BOS do away with any supreme
‘need’ for water baptism, then the BOD proponent assumes the two
are so identical as to ‘prove’ that BOD
was believed in by ancient Catholics. When, in reality, whilst BOB can be
thought of as a kind of ‘subset’ of BOD, the two are very distinct.
As noted above, scholastic theologians taught that mortal sin is remitted by a perfect
contrition for this sin in the case of BOS. Whereas, in
the case of BOB, sin is remitted by the sacrifice of the martyr’s life
for the sake of the Catholic Faith.
This distinction may seem nominal to the untrained mind; it is
utterly crucial to the learned man. In BOS, it is an act of the mind and
heart alone which remits mortal sin. In BOB, it is an act of the body
in conjunction with the will which attains remission. An
act that --- even if a martyr does not have perfect contrition to begin
with --- achieves remission of sins by the sheer enormity of the ultimate
sacrifice of his life.
Nevertheless, a skeptic might say, what does any of this matter if
no martyrology mentions explicitly that an
on-the-spot convert received water baptism right before his martyrdom? Is not
the BOD camp then justified, at least in part, in believing in some kind of BOD
because of this?
A few simple observations:
First, water baptism stripped of all of its ceremonies is extremely
quick & easy. It takes no more than five or ten seconds to
perform.
Second, water is the most prevalent necessity of life, available
just about anywhere. God has given His Church mere water as the matter
for baptism, a matter so widespread that it is practically sure to be found
wherever human beings live since it is urgent for earthly life.
Third, it only takes a single drop of water to cross
the forehead as the words of baptism are said in order to make the baptism
valid. Anything more than this is purely extra or ceremonial.
Fourth, God is all-knowing & all-powerful. It is
illogical to say water baptism can’t be absolutely necessary lest some
souls die ‘accidentally’ without it, when,
in fact, He is perfectly capable of providing both opportunity and the water
for baptism no matter where someone may be.
And, fifth, where details are given, the accounts of an on-the-spot
convert’s martyrdom can be highly suggestive of water baptism
in spite of an account not saying so straight out.
For instance, St. Alban’s martyrdom (whose feast is June 22nd)
--- as St. Bede tells us in his account --- involved a miracle that converted
his would-be executioner on the spot. During the confusion that followed,
wherein the pagans tried to figure out who would now execute both St. Alban and
his former executioner, St. Alban climbed a small hill nearby and prayed to God
that water would spring forth from the earth. Which it did!
Now, stop and think. Bede gives us no more details about this
sudden flow of water at a totally unexpected spot. Nevertheless, what in the
world could that miraculous water be used for?
How about… baptism?
The point is, we have no infallible
assurance of BOD or BOB. Meanwhile, the accounts of martyrologies
are both fallible (not infallible!) and often skeletal, leaving
out many poignant details. And the assumptions of later Catholic writers in
favor of BOB or BOD, based on their own personal interpretations of these
fallible & skeletal accounts of a few ancient martyrs, are merely human
opinions --- not infallible certainties.
Hence, it is an utterly fallible assertion --- and
thus an assertion that an intelligent man can justifiably doubt as long
as he has most excellent reason to do so --- that supposed ‘on-the-spot
converts’ could not have been baptized in water after their
on-the-spot conversion but before their resultant martyrdom.
+++ 28.
Out-of-Thin-Air Assumption No. 5: ‘Baptism +++
of Blood’ Is
the Same Thing as ‘Baptism of Desire’
Bringing us to the final out-of-thin-air assumption, one
we’ve already touched upon twice in the chapters just above. To wit, that
to believe in BOB is the exact same thing as believing in BOD.
Why would BOD enthusiasts do this?
Again, most of them don’t realize what they’re doing.
They aren’t very learned. They’ve never thought about these things
very deeply, and have probably never taken the time to discuss it with a
well-instructed WO adherent. And, to be fair to them, if they’ve ever
studied it in some detail, they’ve found that some of the greatest of
theologians and leaders of the Catholic Church have plainly upheld BOD ---
although only for catechumens --- and really only in widespread
earnest since the start of the second millennium.
As a result, they just assume --- out of thin air --- that the lack
of evidence for belief in BOD by most ancient Catholics is easily made
up for by early Catholics’ more prevalent belief in BOB.
After all (think these BOD folks), both BOB and BOD operate without
any actual water involved… so if only one is spoken about favorably
to a great degree (namely, BOB by many ancient Catholics) then why on earth
shouldn’t we assume that this means they certainly believed in BOD, too? Neither
one of them requires water --- so if lots of early Catholics supported BOB,
is it really that big of a leap to assume that they believed in BOD as well, which
also doesn’t require water to be involved?
Or that, even if most of them didn’t consciously
believe in BOD, that they might as well have believed in BOD in addition to
BOB, too, since the two are so obviously similar!
This is what the BOD camp reasons, if indeed they even think about
it.
Unfortunately for them, the appearance is superficial. Both BOB and
BOS (the ancient name for BOD, you’ll recall, meaning ‘baptism of
spirit’) are metaphorically called ‘baptism’ and both do away
with, supposedly, the need for sacramental water. Beyond that, the two are
distinct.
Indeed, the scholastic theologians of the early second millennium
recognized right away that BOB and BOS could not be the exact same thing.
Because if not, then why did earlier Catholics call BOB ‘baptism of blood’
as distinct from a ‘baptism of spirit’? And why did
The scholastic theologians concluded, logically, that the efficacy
of BOB lay in the sacrifice of one’s bodily life, whereas the efficacy of
BOS resides in a perfect contrition for one’s mortal sins. Hence --- and
as we’ve noted before --- even if a martyr did not possess this perfect
contrition, nevertheless, the ultimate sacrifice of his life remits all of his
sins. Or, to put it another way, the sacrifice of his life is, as it were, a
kind of ‘perfect contrition’ in the flesh. (Indeed, this is
hinted at by St. Thomas Aquinas where he states that BOB includes BOS or BOD in
itself, and not the other way around! Here he made the point that BOB is an act
of the highest ‘perfect charity’ for God --- Summa Theologica, Book 3, Question 66, Article
12.)
All the same, the distinction remains very stark:
BOS or BOD is an act of the internal forum. I.e., it takes
place inside a man, within the mind and within the heart.
Meanwhile, BOB is an act of the external forum. I.e., it takes place outside
a man, via the body allied with the will --- and regardless of this man
very possibly lacking contrition that is perfect inside his heart
& mind!
This is why, then, BOB and BOS or BOD are not
the same thing. BOB can be thought of --- in a way --- as a kind of narrower
‘subset’ of BOS. However, it is but an allegorical
categorization. Because the two separate things are, at a profound level, substantially
different.
Case closed.
+++ 29. St. Emerentiana Is the Best Evidence the BOD +++
Camp Has for
Their Position When It Comes to Martyrs
Hence, when it comes to the martyrs, St. Emerentiana
is the ‘best’ evidence BOD aficionados have for their stance.
Best not because the martyrological
account is infallible --- it’s not. We have never
yet been guaranteed absolute certainty in the details of the martyrology, only a degree of human moral certainty. And
best not because it’s the only account of a martyr that
makes it plain the martyr supposedly died without water baptism --- there are
actually two more accounts of martyrs that make the same thing plain in the
Roman Martyrology, these being St. Victor, whose
feast day is April 12, as well as St. Plutarch & His Companions on June 28.
(The few others in the Roman Martyrology
to whom BOD enthusiasts refer as ‘proof’ of their position make
no such thing indisputably plain. They merely refer to a martyr as a
‘catechumen’, which can mean --- as we’ve seen --- only that
the martyr was still being taught how to be Catholic at the time of his
martyrdom… and not that he was, for sure, unbaptized.)
Rather, ‘best’ because St. Emerentiana
is the greatest known of the three, having been venerated widely & highly
since ancient times. And since the end of the first millennium most, if not
all, Catholics have openly believed her to be a recipient of the metaphorical
‘baptism of blood’, which they tout --- perhaps unwittingly --- as
a ‘substitute’ for baptism of water in these situations.
Incidentally, the exact words of the Roman Martyrology
for her feast day on January 23rd are as follows:
“At
The “yet” in the quote above is what shows us that the
original writer, or later editor, of her martyrdom thought her unbaptized. This
detail is brought out into the open even more by the account of St. Plutarch:
“At Alexandria, in the persecution of Severus, the holy
martyrs Plutarch, Serenus, Heraclides
a catechumen, Heron a neophyte, another Serenus,
Rhais a catechumen, Potamioena,
and Marcella her mother.” (Emphases added.)
A “neophyte” is what a catechumen becomes when the
catechumen is newly baptized in water, although the catechumen can still be
called a catechumen for a while longer, as we have seen. Ergo, for the writer
or editor of the Roman Martyrology to distinguish
certain martyrs who were “catechumens” from another who was
a “neophyte” tells us that, when it comes to someone who was
“still” a catechumen (St. Victor) or “yet” a catechumen
(St. Emerentiana), he believed them to be unbaptized.
This, therefore, combined with the fact that Emerentiana
was so celebrated in her martyrdom from the fourth century and that Catholics
by the second millennium universally believed her to have died without water
baptism, is what makes the martyrological account of
her martyrdom the most powerful evidence BODers have
for their position based on the martyrs in general.
Nevertheless, this account of St. Emerentiana
is not only not infallible --- and thus permissible to doubt
in some of its details if one has most excellent reasons for doing so ---
but concerns ‘baptism of blood’ (BOB) and not
‘baptism of desire’ (BOD)!
So why are BODers so happy with this
so-called ‘evidence’?
As we remarked earlier, they see practically no difference between
BOB and BOD. Consequently, they just assume --- out of thin air --- that an
account upholding BOB is then somehow ‘proof’ of their
much-cherished belief in an equally waterless BOD.
When, in reality, Emerentiana… even
if her martyrdom really was without water baptism… is thus simply
strong evidence of nothing more than that BOB is true, and not
that the notion of BOD is a slam-dunk certainty.
+++ 30. The
Other Side of the Coin: +++
Miraculous Water
Just to Get Baptized
This is a rather biased use of evidence, taking something that
supports BOB and acting like it ‘proves’ BOD.
However, the BOD partisans are just as biased in the evidence that they won’t
touch. Probably unintentional for most of them, they ignore into oblivion the
circumstantial evidence from the Church’s history that contradicts
their positions of ‘desire’ and ‘blood’.
For instance, the life of
Not surprisingly, these two converts ended up being martyred along
with St. Peter. But before they were martyred and, more tellingly, without
the fact being overlooked or forgotten by other Catholics of the time,
Linus informs us that Peter baptized them with
water while in prison.
Indeed, not only that he baptized them in water, but that he performed
a miracle in order to obtain the precious sacramental water
by which he baptized them!
It doesn’t take too much brain to realize that if God is
willing to perform a miracle so as to provide water for the Sacrament of
Baptism inside a dungeon-like prison during the first major persecution of
pagan Rome against the newly arisen Christians during the AD 60s, then why
is it we’re to believe He wouldn’t do this for other
unbaptized converts during terrible persecution?
In other words, why is ‘baptism of blood’ supposed
to be necessary for the salvation of those who are unbaptized
catechumens or on-the-spot converts when God is obviously willing to
provide miraculous water in the darkest & deepest of horrible prisons for
the Sacrament of Baptism?
What is the point?
Plainly, miraculous water for the baptism of converts or
catechumens tends to argue strongly against the need for an exception
like ‘baptism of blood’. We begin to see that BOB is merely an analogy
for suffering terrible torments for the sake of the Faith --- and not a
supposed ‘substitute’ for real water baptism. It is, were we to
say it properly, a kind of massive & unique application of the Sacrament of
Penance to wipe out all eternal & temporal debts of our sins in one fell
swoop, and thus operate like a ‘second baptism’ in our own
life’s blood.
Incidentally, beware of clever BOD enthusiasts who might challenge
the veracity of the Acts of St. Linus in order
to do away with this powerful circumstantial evidence against BOB. Linus’ Acts is fallible, that’s true.
It’s not canonized scripture and thus inerrant, granted. It is, rather,
part of the ‘apocryphal’ writings, a word here which only means ‘hidden’
(and not ‘unreliable’!) --- that
is, not well-known or widely recognized like the Bible. Nevertheless, kneejerk
Protestant or modernist skepticism against it is unwarranted. Earlier Catholics
knew about this account of Peter’s life and derived many precious
traditions from its narrative.
But even if we were to discount Linus’
Acts out of hand, the archeological remains of the ancient Mamertine Prison itself still exist in
There, to this day, curious tourists may enter underground to the
spot where Peter was in jail. And there, to this day, visitors may see
the fountain of water that Peter, by God’s Power, caused to flow
unexpectedly in that most unlikely of places… and all for the purpose
of baptizing on-the-spot converts in water.
+++ 31. The
Other Side of the Coin, Part 2: +++
Miraculous
Resurrection Just to Get Baptized
BOD partisans usually avoid another line of evidence, too, that
tends to contradict their position of baptismal aridity. We have seen
how BOB is called into question by St. Peter’s first century miracle of
water for baptism in an unexpected place; now we will look at a fourth century
miracle on behalf of a catechumen that calls into question the very idea of BOD
itself!
In the Life of St. Martin, written in ancient times by Sulpitius Severus, we read of a new catechumen at
Martin’s monastery who became very ill and died suddenly. Martin was away
at the time, but, returning to the tragic scene, immediately shut himself up in
the cell with the dead man and prayed earnestly for his recovery. Without doubt
or hesitation, he then waited patiently at the corpse’s side for two
hours. His soul finally returning, the catechumen twitched slightly while his
eyes fluttered.
“Thus being restored to life, and having immediately
obtained baptism, he lived for many years afterwards… The same
man [this catechumen who had died but was resurrected] was wont to relate [used
to say often] that, when he left the body, he was brought before the
tribunal [courtroom] of the Judge [i.e., God], and being assigned to gloomy
regions and vulgar crowds [i.e., hell], he received a severe sentence.
Then, however, he added, it was suggested by two angels of the Judge that he
was the man for whom Martin was praying; and that, on this account [for this
reason], he was ordered to be led back by the same angels, and given up to
Martin, and restored to his former life.” (Sulpitius Severus’ Life of
The implication is clear. ‘Baptism of desire’ was not
an option for this unbaptized catechumen.
Because if his lack of water baptism was not a big deal, then why
did St. Martin pray so earnestly and patiently for the return of his soul to
his body? What’s the point? Isn’t BOD or BOS supposed to be able to
supply adequately in the absence of baptismal water? So why would Martin
be so concerned for the catechumen that he, by his miracle-working faith, would
restore to life this dead man… and all that he might
“immediately” obtain the Sacrament of Baptism!
And why would God cooperate with Martin’s prayer? If BOD is
applicable --- if water baptism is not an absolute necessity --- then
why wouldn’t He instead tell Martin that he had no need to worry about
the unbaptized man’s eternal fate since the Sacrament of Baptism is
merely a necessity of precept and not a necessity of means?
It doesn’t add up.
Moreover, to add insult to injury for the BOD crowd, the editors of
the translation make a small footnote about the “severe sentence”
that the unbaptized catechumen received, he being “assigned to gloomy
regions and vulgar crowds” as a result:
“Here again it is to be noted what fatal consequences
were supposed to flow from dying without receiving baptism.” (Ibid., Footnote 20, emphases added.)
We repeat:
“…fatal consequences…”
In other words, there was no universal teaching of
‘baptism of spirit’ or ‘baptism of desire’ in ancient
times. It was not a common dogma originating with Christ’s Twelve
Apostles. Earliest Catholics presumed simply the absolute necessity of
baptism in water; to die without it was, in their minds, equivalent to hell
forever. The sole exception admitted might be BOB. Whereas the idea of BOD
did not seriously enter into the thinking of members of the Roman Catholic
Church until St. Augustine of Hippo supported it at the very beginning of the 5th
century in one of his writings. Then --- and only then --- did the notion start
to gain traction amongst Catholic leaders & thinkers due to
Augustine’s enormous reputation & theological influence.
A reputation that, however holy & learned, does not
make him a pope with the ability to teach infallibly on matters of faith or
morals. And an influence that, while being both a saint and a doctor of the
Church, does not make his writings free from all error or
mistakes.
Hence, the example of St. Martin of Tours’ tragically
unbaptized yet miraculously resurrected catechumen is not only powerful
evidence against Augustine’s novel hypothesis (for it was indeed a novelty
at that time, not having been explicitly taught in the first century’s
most precious Deposit of Faith) but also a strong argument against BOD to this
very day.
For while we could cite other miraculous resurrections of
unbaptized persons in addition to Martin’s catechumen, a single
noteworthy account like his is all that is needed to show us that --- without
an infallible & explicit ruling in this matter --- the idea of BOD is a fallible
notion and hence open to doubt when both good evidence and valid
reasoning argue against it. As a result, much like St. Emerentiana and her ‘baptism of blood’ is the
best argument BODers have on their side when it comes
to the saints, so St. Martin and his resurrected catechumen is the best
argument WOers have for their ‘water
only’ stance when considering the same.
+++ 32. A
Warning to ‘Water Only’ Purists Lest They Try +++
to Make More Out
of This Point Than Is Warranted
It may seem that we have hammered the ‘baptism of
desire’ (BOD) camp more harshly in the past ten chapters than we have the
‘water only’ (WO) people. However, let neither side take refuge in
pretended certainties, whether merely moral (a fallible human certainty
based on what are thought to be correct facts and valid logic) or even magisterial
(an infallible divine certainty based on dogmatic revelation in conjunction
with facts that have long been known by members of the Church to be correct and
logic that they have long known is valid).
Hence, let this be a warning:
WO folks may seem to have the upper hand over BOD
aficionados when considering such accounts of martyrs or catechumens.
Nevertheless, a clever and honest BODer could rebut
them. The BOD camp, as far as I can tell, doesn’t ever do this since
they are ignorant of the intelligent arguments on the WO side and proudly
assume that their side --- the stance of ‘baptism of desire’ --- is
unassailable. All the same, BODers could, if
they only took the time and weighed their opponents’ arguments carefully,
make a clever response.
For instance, BOD, if true for catechumens, need not apply equally
to every catechumen who might die ‘accidentally’ before he
receives the water of baptism. Scholastic theologians at the start of the
second millennium taught that the efficacy of BOD --- in the Sight of God ---
lay in an act of perfect contrition for his sins found in the
catechumen’s heart. Yet a contrition that is perfect is not
something we can find in every single catechumen’s heart.
Rather, the contrary is true. Only a minority of catechumens who
might die ‘accidentally’ prior to water baptism might be reasonably
expected to have perfect contrition for their sins. Ergo, the fantastic
resurrection of
That is to say, at the powerful prayer of
Similarly the two converted soldiers who St. Peter baptized in
prison.
A clever BODer could argue that God
worked this miracle at Peter’s prayer due to the two converts’
inability --- without the mighty graces of water baptism --- to stand firm in
the face of hideous tortures & threats. That is to say, their wills &
hearts were not strong enough on their own, without being joined
to Christ’s Body in the Sacrament of Baptism, to die for Christ short of
the help they would receive by being washed in the life-giving waters of
God’s
The point is, without an explicit & infallible ruling
regarding this topic, no Catholic can know for absolute certain which
of these explanations might be the right explanation.
We repeat:
Without an explicit & infallible ruling on this topic, no
Catholic can know for absolute certain which of these explanations might
be the right explanation.
And that takes a pope exercising his special charism
as the visible head of Jesus’ Ecclesial Body… not a
non-papal member of this same Church touting his own personal opinion.
For no matter how learned, intelligent or holy that member may be, the Holy Ghost does not deign to operate
through this member infallibly apart from the supreme leadership
of the visible head.
End of story.
+
+ +
Part Two of Baptismal Confusion (Chapters 33-60)
Part Three of Baptismal Confusion (Chapters 61-82)
Part Four of Baptismal Confusion (Chapters 83-105)
Part Five of Baptismal Confusion (Chapters 106-132)
Part Six of Baptismal Confusion (Chapters 133-169)
Part Seven of Baptismal Confusion (Chapters 170-197)
+
+ +
NOTE: If the reader has enjoyed, or
benefited from, this book, you may wish to examine
Baptismal Confusion: Sheepishly Shy or Gaunt as a Goat? and
Baptismal Confusion: Dilemmas of ‘Desire’; or, It Is Foolish
to Presume Either ‘BOD’ or ‘WO’, as of Yet in Our Era, to Be the
‘Inarguable’ Stance, Not Even Bothering to Honestly Study Each Sides’s
Evidence!
, in the Letters & Admonishments and Great Apostasy sections, respectively. The three
deal with similar dilemmas resulting from confusion, during the Great Apostasy, over the
Sacrament of Holy Baptism after the Vatican II Pseudo-Council, resulting in acrimony,
stupidity, cruelty, rashness, impatience, heresy & schism in the fight of
BOD vs. WO.
+
+ +
Pilate’s
query met:
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