Monday, November 6, 2023

An 8th-century apologetic for infant baptism

  Pope Hadrian I to the bishops of Spain (c. 785-792):

Many suppose that the heavenly grace consists simply in the forgiveness of sins; but we have counted ten honours. This is why we baptize infants, so that they should not be stained by sin, so that they receive holiness, righteousness and adoption and be made coheirs and brothers of Christ, so that they may all be his members, so that they may become the dwelling-place of the Spirit. (Codex Epistolaris Carolinus: Letters from the Popes to the Frankish Rulers, 739-791 [trans. Richard Price; Translated Texts for Historians 77; Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2021], 418)