In a publication addressing the fate of unbaptized infants from a
conservative Roman Catholic, we read the following:
The Pre-Augustinian View
There weren’t many
fathers in the Pre-Augustinian period who addressed the subject of unbaptized
infants and their eternal destiny. Some speak about infants in relation to Adam’s
sin and others speak of infant baptism, but no treatise was specifically
written on the destiny of unbaptized infants. From what we do know, we can
surmise Western fathers prior to Augustine generally believed unbaptized
infants do not suffer in the hell of the damned. (Michael Lofton, Is My Baby in Hell? Hope for Parents of
Unbaptized Infants [West Monroe, La.: Reason and Theology Publications,
2020], 17)
In the entry under "Limbo" in volume ix of the Catholic
Encylopedia, Patrick J. Toner, in 1910, wrote the following about the
pre-Augustinian understanding of the fate of unbaptized infants:
II. LIMBUS INFANTIUM
The New Testament contains no definite statement of a
positive kind regarding the lot of those who die in original sin without being
burdened with grievous personal guilt. But, by insisting on the absolute
necessity of being "born again of water and the Holy Ghost" (John
3:5) for entry into the kingdom of Heaven (see "Baptism,"
subtitle Necessity of Baptism), Christ clearly enough implies that
men are born into this world in a state of sin, and St. Paul's teaching to the
same effect is quite explicit (Rom. 5:12 sqq). On the other hand, it is clear
form Scripture and Catholic tradition that the means of regeneration provided
for this life do not remain available after death, so that those dying unregenerate
are eternally excluded from the supernatural happiness of the beatific vision
(John 9:4, Luke 12:40, 16:19 sqq, II Cor. 5:10; see also
"Apocatastasis"). The question therefore arises as to what, in the
absence of a clear positive revelation on the subject, we ought in conformity
with Catholic principles to believe regarding the eternal lot of such persons.
Now it may confidently be said that, as the result of centuries of speculation
on the subject, we ought to believe that these souls enjoy and will eternally
enjoy a state of perfect natural happiness; and this is what Catholics usually
mean when they speak of the limbus infantium, the "children's limbo."
The
best way of justifying the above statement is to give a brief sketch of the
history of Catholic opinion on the subject. We shall try to do so by selecting
the particular and pertinent facts from the general history of Catholic
speculation regarding the Fall and original sin, but it is only right to
observe that a fairly full knowledge of this general history is required for a
proper appreciation of these facts.
1.
Pre-Augustinian Tradition
There
is no evidence to prove that any Greek or Latin Father before St. Augustine
ever taught that original sin of itself involved any severer penalty after
death than exclusion from the beatific vision, and this, by the Greek Fathers
at least, was always regarded as being strictly supernatural. Explicit
references to the subject are rare, but for the Greek Fathers generally the
statement of St. Gregory of Nazianzus may be taken as representative:
It will happen, I
believe . . . that those last mentioned [infants dying without baptism] will
neither be admitted by the just judge to the glory of Heaven nor condemned to
suffer punishment, since, though unsealed [by baptism], they are not wicked. .
. . For from the fact that one does not merit punishment it does not follow
that one is worthy of being honored, any more than it follows that one who is
not worthy of a certain honor deserves on that account to be punished. [Orat.,
xl, 23]
Thus, according
to Gregory, for children dying without
baptism, and excluded for want of the "seal" from the
"honor" or gratuitous favor of seeing God face to
face, an intermediate or neutral state is admissible,
which, unlike that of the personally wicked, is free from positive punishment.
And, for the West, Tertullian opposes
infant baptism on the ground that infants are innocent, while St. Ambrose
explains that original sin is rather an inclination to evil than guilt in the
strict sense, and that it need occasion no fear at the day of judgement; and
the Ambrosiater teaches that the "second death," which means
condemnation to the hell of torment of the damned, is not incurred by Adam's sin, but by our own. This was
undoubtedly the general tradition before St. Augustine's time.