It occurs to me that I did not post a follow up to our wonderful Rite of Confirmation that we had here in the Diocese of Madison thanks to the gracious generosity of Most Reverend Donald, by the grace of God, the local bishop.
On Thursday 27 August, Bp. Donald Hying confirmed, using the Traditional Roman Rite, 112 confirmands and then remained to preside at Solemn Mass coram episcopo.
Here are some photos, which I’ve also posted at the site of the Tridentine Mass Society of the Diocese of Madison.
For those of you out there whose children and your young people were confirmed, I invite you also to make a contribution to the TMSM. HERE
Loading ...
Outstanding!
I am sure those young confirmandi will remember that day…which is as it should be.
Such a blessing.
Madison must be one of the dioceses that confirms children at the common age of First Communion — a practice encouraged by Pope Emeritus Benedict.
Wow! Bless the Bishop for doing them all at one Mass, that looks like a bright future to come.
Was this also First Communion? It would seem to make sense to put First Communion right after Confirmation when doing it at a younger age, much as would be done with adult catechumens at Easter.
It would seem.
In this case, though, the order “Baptism – First Communion – Confirmation” is actually the right one, because there very sense of having a separate Sacrament of Confirmation is that it confers, not the beginning of the life of grace (that would be Baptism) but adulthood in the life of grace (to be sure, it is not the Sacrament of secular adulthood, but still some sort of adulthood) (see St. Thomas, S. th. III 72 I). So, those baptized but not confirmed are spiritually children.
Now, there is separately a bundle of good reasons why they don’t receive Communion (in the West) before a certain age: they receive a spiritual Communion with Baptism anyway, and they ought t0 have an idea what they are doing when they Communicate, which implies some sort of basic knowledge about the Faith and our Lord Jesus Christ. But that they are not adults yet is no such reason; children should be given Holy Communion.
Wherefore, for adult converts, the order is Baptism – Confirmation – Holy Communion, but for cradle Catholics, it is fittingly Baptism – Holy Communion – Confirmation, and it does make sense to wait with the latter until a low-level catechization is complete and, if they (themselves – not parents) don’t spontaneously ask for it earlier or so, wait until they are say ten or twelve. It seems to me, though, that they should not be made to face puberty without the aid of this sacrament.
(It goes without saying that the trend “make it 18 years, let them decide for themselves, or at least put it further and further off so that as much as possible don’t begin to ask for it and perhaps those who do will be better Catholics than those who do now is an utterly flawed one.)
Do I recall that some handy folks built that canopy used by the TMSM? I would love to see the plans.
It was a holy and blessed evening. Thank you your Excellency and Father Z., Inc. I was humbled by a conversation with a mom that flew out from California to get her 3 daughters Confirmed which she couldn’t do there because of limp-wristed Bishops in her area playing patty-cake with the governor. The sheep are hungry. Thank you for feeding us. Thank you for the gift of your priesthood. Deo Gratias.
Good, it looks like the confirmandi are getting younger.
In an age when degeneracy and sex education (aka grooming) is being pushed on younger and younger kids, I think we can make a good case for Confirmation of infants on the same day they are baptized.
Wonderful ceremony.
Terrible sanctuary.
My daughter will be Confirmed this evening.
A Bishop will not be present, so our Priest has been given the duties.
Not sure how they pull this off – maybe Fr Z could shed some light on this.
No, that is an old portable throne, which can be disassembled and moved.
Magnificent photos Fr. Z. God bless Bp. Hying and everyone.