Giuseppe Maria Crespi, Confirmation (1712)

About

The Latin and English texts come from Father Phillip T. Weller’s Roman Ritual, volume III.

You may also find the traditional Rite of Confirmation in the following places:

• Fish Eaters
• many rituals, like the Lay Folk’s Ritual
• the Pontificale Romanum

Latin

Ritus servandus a simplici sacerdote Sacramentum Confirmationis conferente, juxta Rituale Romanum Ssmi D. N. Pii Papae XI ad normam Codicis juris canonici accommodatum.

Cum tempus advenerit, quo Sacerdos, utens facultate sibi ab Apostolica Sede, ut supra, tributa, administrare Confirmationem intendit, superpelliceo et stola, vel etiam pluviali albi coloris indutus, stans ante Altare versus ad populum hinc inde dispositum (masculis a dexteris, feminis vero a sinistris), circumstantes admoneat, quod nullus alius, nisi Episcopus, Confirmationis ordinarius Minister est; se vero collaturum esse illam jure per S. Sedem delegato.

Mox, si hujusmodi delegatio per indultum facta fuerit, delegationis Decretum lingua vernacula legatur alta et intelligibili voce; deinde Sacerdos moneat astantes, quod nullus confirmatus discedat, nisi benedictione accepta, quam ipse post omnium Confirmationem dabit. Item, quod infantes, si quos in prima aetate justa de causa (juxta superius dicta I, n. 3) confirmandos existimaverit, per patrinos teneantur in brachiis dexteris, et quod adulti ponant pedem suum super pedem dextenim patrini sui; vel patrinus ponat manum suam dexteram super humerum dexterum confirmandi, sive infantis sive adulti.

Hac altera monitione completa, pariter stans versa facie ad confirmandos, junctis ante pectus manibus, confirmandis vero genua flectentibus et manus ante pectus junctas tenentibus, dicit:

V. Spiritus Sanctus superveniat in vos, et virtus Altissimi custodial vos a peccatis.

R. Amen.

Deinde signans se a fronte ad pectus signo crucis, dicit:

V. Adjutorium nostrum in nomine Domini.

R. Qui fecit caelum et terram.

V. Domine, exaudi orationem meam.

R. Et clamor meus ad te veniat.

V. Dominus vobiscum.

R. Et cum spiritu tuo.

Tunc extensis versus confirmandos manibus, dicit:

Oremus. Omnipotens sempiterne Deus, qui regenerate dignatus es hos famulos tuos ex aqua, et Spiritu Sancto, quique dedisti eis remissionem omnium peccatorum: emitte in eos septiformem Spiritum tuum Sanctum Paraclitum de caelis.

R. Amen.

V. Spiritum sapientiae, et intellectus.

R. Amen.

V. Spiritum consilii, et fortitudinis.

R. Amen.

V. Spiritum scientiae, et pietatis.

R. Amen.

Adimple eos Spiritu timoris tui, et consigna eos signo Crucis Christi, in vitam propitiatus aeternam. Per eumdem Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum, Filium tuum: Qui tecum vivit et regnat in unitate ejusdem Spiritus Sancti Deus, per omnia saecula saeculorum.

R. Amen.

Postea Sacerdos confirmat illos per ordinem genuflexos, primo mares, secundo feminas. Uno ordine confirmato, illi surgunt, et alii genuflectunt, et confirmantur, et sic usque in finem. Inquirit autem singillatim de nomine cujuslibet confirmandi, sibi per patrinum vel matrinam flexis genibus praesentati, et summitate pollicis dexterae manus Chrismate intincta, confirmat eum dicens:

N., signo te signo Crucis quod dum dicit, imposita manu dextera super caput confirmandi, producit pollice signum crucis in fronte illius, deinde prosequitur: et confirmo te Chrismate salutis. In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti.

R. Amen.

Et leviter eum in maxilla caedit, dicens: Pax tecum.

Ligantur mox vittis lineis recenter confirmatorum frontes. Quod sicubi hujusmodi vittae non adhibeantur, Sacerdos, postquam frontes confirmandorum, linierit sacro Chrismate, eas gossypio, postea comburendo, diligenter abstergat.

Omnibus confirmatis, Sacerdos tergit cum mica panis, et lavat pollicem et manus super pelvim; deinde aqua lotionis cum pane fundatur in piscinam sacrarii, in qua reponi debent etiam supradictorum gossypiorum cineres.

Interim dum lavat manus, si adsint ministri, cantatur, vel legitur ab iis sequens Antiphona; alias post lotionem ab ipso Sacerdote dicitur: Confirma hoc, Deus, quod operatus es in nobis, a templo sancto tuo, quod est in Jerusalem.

V. Gloria Patri, et Filio, et Spiritui Sancto: Sicut erat in principio, et nunc, et semper, et in saecula saeculorum.

R. Amen.

Et repetitur Antiphona: Confirma hoc, etc. Qua repetita, Sacerdos stans versus ad Altare, junctis ante pectus manibus dicit:

V. Ostende nobis, Domine, misericordiam tuam.

R. Et salutare tuum da nobis.

V. Domine, exaudi orationem meam.

R. Et clamor meus ad te veniat.

V. Dominus vobiscum.

R. Et cum spiritu tuo.

Junctis vero adhuc ante pectus manibus, et omnibus confirmatis devote genua flectentibus, dicit:

Oremus. Deus, qui Apostolis tuis Sanctum dedisti Spiritum, et per eos eorumque successores ceteris fidelibus tradendum esse voluisti: respice propitius ad humilitatis nostrae famulatum, et praesta; ut eorum corda, quorum frontes sacro Chrismate delinivimus, et signo sanctae Crucis signavimus, idem Spiritus Sanctus in eis superveniens, templum gloriae suae dignanter inhabitando perficiat: Qui cum Patre, et eodem Spiritu Sancto vivis et regnas Deus, in saecula saeculorum.

R.Amen.

Deinde dicit: Ecce sic benedicetur omnis homo, qui timet Dominum.

Et vertens se ad confirmatos, ac faciens super eos signum crucis, dicit: Benedicat vos Dominus ex Sion, ut videatis bona Jerusalem omnibus diebus vitae vestrae, et habeatis vitam aeternam.

R. Amen.

Absoluta hoc modo Confirmatione, Sacerdos sedens patrinos et matrinas monet, quod instruant filios suos bonis moribus, ut fugiant mala, et faciant bona: et doceant eos Credo in Deum, et Pater noster, et Ave Maria, quoniam ad hoc sunt obligati. Hoc Sacramentum potest conferri minus solemniter, et praesertim tunc, cum in privatis domibus, vel extra ecclesiam seu oratorium, pueris aegrotantibus conferendum est, vel etiam adultis, qui ad ecclesiam quacumque ex causa, legitima tamen, accedere nequeunt. In iis casibus Sacerdos ne omittat uti saltern stola, si superpelliceum habere non possit. Cavere etiam debet, ne coram haereticis, aut schismaticis, et multo minus eis ministrantibus, confirmet.

English

The rite to be observed when a priest confers the sacrament of confirmation, according to the Roman Ritual accommodated to the norm of the Code of Canon Law, by authority of His Holiness, Pope Pius XI.

At the time a priest endowed with the faculty granted by the Holy See (see above) purposes to administer confirmation, he vests in surplice and stole or also white cope, and takes his place standing before the altar and facing the people (they are arranged males to the right and females to the left). He reminds them that a bishop alone is the ordinary minister of confirmation, and that he himself is going to confer it only by delegation of the Holy See. Hereupon, if the delegation was granted by indult, the respective decree is read loudly and intelligibly in the vernacular. Then the priest admonishes the bystanders that no one, after he is confirmed, shall leave until he has received the blessing which the minister will impart after all have been confirmed. Moreover, he explains that the infants, if he has decided for a good reason (as explained above in I, 3) that such are to be admitted to confirmation, should be held in the right arm of the sponsors, and that the adult candidates should place one foot on the right foot of the sponsor; or that the sponsor should place his right hand on the right shoulder of the subject, whether child or adult.

After this second admonition, he remains standing and facing the candidates, having his hands joined; the candidates kneel and also have their hands folded. Then the priest says:

V. May the Holy Spirit come down upon you, and may the power of the Most High keep you from sin.

R. Amen.

Then signing himself with large sign of the Cross he says:

V. Our help is in the name of the Lord.

R. Who made heaven and earth.

V. O Lord, hear my prayer.

R. And let my cry come unto thee.

V. The Lord be with you.

R. And with thy spirit.

Then with hands extended over the ones being confirmed, he says:

Let us pray. Almighty, everlasting God, Who hast deigned to beget new life in these thy servants by water and the Holy Spirit, and hast granted them remission of all their sins, send forth from heaven upon them thy Holy Spirit, the Consoler with His sevenfold gifts.

R. Amen.

V. The Spirit of wisdom and of understanding.

R. Amen.

V. The Spirit of counsel and of fortitude.

R. Amen.

V. The Spirit of knowledge and of piety.

R. Amen.

Fill them with the Spirit of fear of the Lord, and seal them with the sign of Christ’s Cross, plenteous in mercy unto life everlasting. Through the selfsame Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with thee in the unity of the same Holy Spirit, God eternally.

R. Amen.

Then the priest confirms them as they kneel in line, first the males, then the females. When one row has been confirmed all rise, and others kneel in place, and so on until the end. As he comes to each candidate who is kneeling and presented by the sponsor, he inquires for the name. And dipping the tip of his thumb in the holy Chrism, he confirms the person as he says:

N., I seal thee with the sign of the Cross, (during these words he has his right hand resting on the head of the subject, while with his thumb he traces the sign of the Cross on his brow, then continues:) And I confirm thee with the Chrism of salvation. In the name of the Father, and of the Son. and of the Holy Spirit.

R. Amen.

And he lightly strikes the confirmed upon the cheek, saying: Peace be with thee.

Hereupon a linen band is fastened around the forehead of the newly confirmed. But if this practice is not observed, the priest carefully wipes the brow with cotton as soon as he has anointed them. This cotton is later burned.

After all have been confirmed, the priest cleanses his fingers with bread and washes them over a bowl. The water together with the bread is poured into the sacrarium, and the same is done with the ashes of the burnt cotton.

During the washing of hands the assisting clergy sing or recite the following antiphon; or if there are no assistants the priest himself says it later:

Strengthen, O God, what thou hast wrought in us, from out thy holy temple which is in Jerusalem. V. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be, world without end.

R. Amen.

The antiphon is repeated. And then the priest, standing with hands joined and facing the altar, says:

V. Show unto us thy mercy, O Lord.

R. And grant us thy salvation.

V. O Lord, hear my prayer.

R. And let my cry come unto thee.

V. The Lord be with you.

R. And with thy spirit.

Keeping his hands joined, the while the newly confirmed are devoutly kneeling, the priest continues:

Let us pray. O God, thou didst give the Holy Spirit to thine apostles, and didst will that He should be handed down through them and their successors upon the rest of the faithful. So now behold with favor our lowly ministration, and grant that the same Holy Spirit may come and abide in the hearts of them whose brow we have anointed with holy Chrism and sealed with the sign of the holy Cross. And by His indwelling, may He graciously cause them to become a perfect temple for His divine majesty. Thou Who livest and reignest together with the Father and the selfsame Holy Spirit, God, forever and ever.

R. Amen.

He then adds: Behold, thus shall every man be blessed that lives in the fear of the Lord.

And turning toward the confirmed, he says as he makes the sign of the Cross over them: From Sion hence may the Lord send you His blessing, so that all your days you may gaze upon the prosperity of Jerusalem, and may come to possess life everlasting.

R. Amen.

In conclusion the priest is seated, and he counsels the sponsors to foster within their godchildren right living, that they may shun evil and do good; moreover, he instructs the sponsors to teach their godchildren the Apostles’ Creed, the Lord’s Prayer, and the Hail Mary, since such is their obligation. This sacrament may be conferred with less solemnity, especially when administered in a private home or outside a church or oratory to sick children or even adults, who for some legitimate reason cannot come to church. In such a case the priest may not omit to use at least a stole, even though a surplice is not available. And let him take heed not to administer confirmation in the presence of heretics or schismatics; much less should the latter act in capacity of assistants.