Confirmation

Confirmation is sometimes treated as a graduation from religious education, the point at which young people are "done". It is nearly the opposite. Confirmation completes the grace of Baptism and pours out the Holy Spirit on the baptised, binding them more closely to the Church and giving them a special strength to live and witness to the faith (CCC 1285). It is a beginning, not a finish line.

Pentecost, for each Christian

At Pentecost the Holy Spirit came upon the apostles, and they went out boldly to preach (Acts 2:1–4, 14). That outpouring was meant to continue. When the apostles heard that people in Samaria had been baptised, they sent Peter and John, who prayed for them and laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit (Acts 8:14–17; cf. Acts 19:5–6). The Church has always seen in this laying on of hands the origin of Confirmation (CCC 1287–1288).

Very early an anointing with perfumed oil was added, to express the gift of the Spirit more clearly. The name "Christian" itself means one who is anointed, after Christ, the Anointed One (CCC 1289). In the West the sacrament came to be called Confirmation, because it confirms and strengthens baptismal grace; the Eastern Churches call it Chrismation, anointing with chrism (CCC 1289).

Oil, a hand and a word

Confirmation uses chrism, olive oil mixed with a fragrant balsam, which the bishop consecrates for his whole diocese at the Chrism Mass in Holy Week (CCC 1297). In the Latin Church the rite runs like this. The bishop extends his hands over all those to be confirmed and prays that God will send them the Spirit with his seven gifts (CCC 1299). The bishop lays his hand on the candidate's head and anoints the forehead with chrism, saying, "Be sealed with the Gift of the Holy Spirit" (CCC 1300). The newly confirmed answers "Amen", and the bishop offers the sign of peace (CCC 1301).

A seal is a mark of ownership and protection. The anointing marks the confirmed as belonging wholly to Christ and enlisted in his service (CCC 1295–1296). Like Baptism, Confirmation imprints a permanent character, so it is received only once (CCC 1304).

What Confirmation gives

The Catechism lists its effects (CCC 1303). It roots us more deeply as children of God and unites us more firmly to Christ. It increases the gifts of the Holy Spirit in us and strengthens our bond with the Church. And it gives a particular strength to spread and defend the faith by word and deed, and never to be ashamed of the Cross.

The seven gifts of the Holy Spirit

The prophet Isaiah described the Spirit who would rest on the promised Messiah:

And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD.

— Isaiah 11:2

The ancient Greek and Latin translations of this passage name seven gifts, adding piety, and that is the list the Church uses. These gifts belong in their fullness to Christ, and through the sacraments he shares them with us as lasting dispositions that make us quick to follow the Spirit's promptings (CCC 1831). In plain terms:

• Wisdom: seeing things as God sees them.
• Understanding: grasping the truths of faith more deeply.
• Counsel: judging rightly what to do.
• Fortitude: courage to do good when it is hard.
• Knowledge: seeing created things in their true relation to God.
• Piety: loving trust towards God as our Father.
• Fear of the Lord: awe and reverence, not dread.

Who confirms, and when

In the Latin Church the ordinary minister of Confirmation is the bishop, a sign that the sacrament joins us more closely to the Church and to its apostolic origins. A bishop may give priests the faculty to confirm when there is need (CCC 1312–1313). A priest who baptises an adult, or receives a baptised adult into full communion, normally confirms them in the same celebration. Anyone in danger of death, even a young child, should be confirmed, and any priest may do it (CCC 1307, 1314).

In the first centuries Baptism and Confirmation were one celebration. As the Church grew, the Western Church wished to keep the completion of Baptism for the bishop, and so the two came to be separated in time. The Eastern Churches kept them together: there a priest chrismates the newly baptised, infants included, straight after Baptism, using chrism consecrated by the bishop, and gives them Communion too (CCC 1290–1292, 1233). Each practice expresses something true. The Eastern one shows the unity of Christian initiation; the Western one shows the bond with the bishop (CCC 1292).

In the Latin Church the "age of discretion" is the usual reference point (CCC 1307), but practice differs from place to place. Some dioceses confirm children before First Communion, others in the teenage years.

Preparing: sponsors and names

Preparation aims at a closer union with Christ, a livelier familiarity with the Holy Spirit and a stronger sense of belonging to the Church (CCC 1309). Candidates should be in a state of grace, and it is fitting to go to Reconciliation beforehand (CCC 1310).

Each candidate has a sponsor, a confirmed and practising Catholic who will support them in the Christian life. It is fitting for this to be one of their baptismal godparents, to show the link between the two sacraments (CCC 1311). In many places candidates also take the name of a saint as a confirmation name, someone whose life they want to learn from. This is a custom, not a requirement.

Going deeper

• Read The Holy Spirit for who it is we receive.
• See Baptism and the Eucharist, the other sacraments of initiation.
• In the Catechism: CCC 1285–1321 on Confirmation, and CCC 1830–1832 on the gifts and fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22–23).