“Now when the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent them Peter and John, who went down and prayed for them, that they might receive the holy Spirit, for it had not yet fallen upon any of them; they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they laid hands on them and they received the holy Spirit."
The age at which Confirmation is conferred has varied throughout history. In the early Church, Confirmation was conferred immediately following Baptism. At this time, most baptisms were performed on adults. However, as time went by and the average age of baptism became younger, the question was raised about whether infants or young children were capable of understanding what was occurring in Confirmation. During the Middle Ages, the two sacraments began to be separated with Baptism being conferred as an infant and Confirmation being delayed until the child reached the age of reason, generally around seven or eight. By the twentieth century, a movement had developed in some parts of the western Church to delay it further until the early teenage years. This delaying of Confirmation is now standard in the western Church, with the two sacraments only occurring together with adults who are entering the Church. In the eastern Church, both Orthodox and Catholic, the practice of conferring Baptism and Confirmation together has remained.
The ordinary minister of Confirmation is the bishop, connecting the sacrament back to Pentecost and the Apostles. The essential rite of Confirmation is the laying on of hands and the anointing with sacred chrism. Chrism is olive oil mixed with balm which has been blessed by the bishop on Holy Thursday. It represents both strengthening effect of God’s grace (olive oil) and the “sweet odor” of virtue (balm). By making the sign of the cross on the forehead of the Confirmandi, the bishop is sealing them with the gifts of the Holy Spirit and permanently marking them as a member of the Church. For this reason, Confirmation can only be performed once.
The Church has identified five effects of Confirmation:
- it roots us more deeply in the divine filiation which makes us cry, "Abba! Father!";
- it unites us more firmly to Christ;
- it increases the gifts of the Holy Spirit in us;
- it renders our bond with the Church more perfect;
- it gives us a special strength of the Holy Spirit to spread and defend the faith by word and action as true witnesses of Christ, to confess the name of Christ boldly, and never to be ashamed of the Cross. (CCC, 1303)
At Confirmation, the grace we received at Baptism is increased and strengthened. We are called to go forth as a “soldier of Christ” to defend and expand our faith and live it more fully in our everyday lives. By completing our initiation, we accept our faith as our own and promise to truly become the Christians that God wants us to be.