Tuesday, May 3, 2022

Catholic Priest and Theologian Michael Müller (1825-1899) Affirming Baptism of Desire and Baptism of Blood

  

9. What is baptism of desire?

 

An earnest wish to receive baptism, or to do all that God requires for us for our salvation, together with a perfect contrition, or a perfect love of God.

 

An ardent desire of baptism, accompanied with faith in Jesus Christ and true repentance, is with God, like the baptism of water. In this case, the words of the Blessed Virgin are verified: “The Lord has filled the hungry with good things.” (Luke i, 35.) He bestows the good things of heaven upon those who die with the desire of baptism. We read of a very interesting instance, in confirmation of this truth, is the Annals of the Propagation of the Faith. It is related by M. Odin, missionary apostolic, and subsequently, Archbishop of New Orleans, Louisiana: “At some distance from our establishment of Barrens,” he says, “in Missouri, United States of America, there was a district inhabited by Protestants or infidels, with the exception of three or four Catholic families. In 1834 we had the consolation of baptizing several persons there: thus it was that the Lord was pleased to reward the kindness with which one of the respectable inhabitants gave us hospitality every time we journeyed that way. This worthy man, who was not a Catholic, had three little children, who received with eagerness the instructions we never failed to give them. The tallest of the sons, only eight years old, especially showed such a particular relish for the word of God, that he learned by heart the entire catechism. Evening and morning he addressed his little prayer to the good God; and if ever his little sister missed that holy exercise, he reproached her very seriously. Things were at this point when the cholera broke out in the neighborhood. Then this good little boy said simply to his mother: ‘Mamma, the cholera is coming here: oh! how glad I should be if the priests from the seminary came to baptize me! That cruel disease will attack me, I am sure it will, and I shall die without baptism; then you will be sorry.’ Alas! the poor child predicted truly: he was one of the first victims of the dreadful plague. During the short moments of his cruel sufferings he incessantly asked for baptism, and even with his last sigh he kept repeating: ‘Oh! if any one would baptize me! My god! must I die without being baptized!’ The mother, thinking that she could not herself administer the sacrament, although there was evident necessity, was in the greatest trouble; neither would the child consent to receive it from the hands of a Protestant minister. At least he died without having obtained his ardent wish. As soon as I heard of the cholera being in that part of the country, I hastened thither; but I only reached there some hours after the child’s funeral. The family was plunged in the greatest affliction. I consoled them as much as I could, and especially in relation to the eternal destiny of their poor little one, by explaining to them what the Church teaches us on the baptism of desire. This consoling doctrine much assuaged their grief; after giving the other necessary instructions, I baptized the mother and the two young children, and some days after, the father failed not to follow the example of his family.” (“Catholic Anecdotes,” p. 547.)

 

Although it be true that the fathers of the Church have believed and taught that the baptism of desire may supply the baptism of water, yet this doctrine, as St. Augustine observes, should not make any one delay ordinary baptism when he is able to receive it; for, such a delay of baptism is always attended with great danger of salvation.

 

10. What is the baptism of blood?

 

Martyrdom for the sake of Christ.

 

There is still another case in which a person may be justified and saved without having actually received the sacrament of baptism, viz.: the case of a person suffering martyrdom for the faith before he has been able to receive baptism. Martyrdom for the true faith has always been held by the Church to supply the sacrament of baptism. Hence, in the case of martyrdom, a person has always been said to be baptized in his own blood. Our divine Saviour assures us that “whosoever shall lose his life for his sake and the gospel, shall save it.” (Mark viii, 35).) He, therefore, who dies for Jesus Christ, and for the sake of his religion, obtains a full remission of all his sins, and is immediately after death admitted into heaven.

 

St. Emerentiana, while preparing to receive baptism, went to pray at the tomb of St. Agnes. While praying there, she was stoned to death by the heathens. Her parents were greatly afflicted, and almost inconsolable, when they learned that their daughter had died without having received baptism. To console her parents, God permitted Emerentiana to appear to them in her heavenly glory, and to tell them not to be any longer afflicted on account of her salvation, “for,” said she, “I am in heaven with Jesus, my dear Saviour, whom I loved with my whole heart, when living on earth.” (her Life, 23d Jan.)

 

St. Genesius of Arles is also honored as a saint, because, for refusing to subscribe to a persecuting edict of Maximillian, he was put to death, though, at that time, he had not been baptized. (Michael Müller, God the Teacher of Mankind: A Plain, Comprehensive Explanation of Christian Doctrine. Grace and the Sacraments: Baptism, Confirmation, Extreme Unction, Holy Orders and Matrimony [New York: Benziger Brothers, 1882], 219-22)

 

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